Orcières

Discover the charming village of Orcières and its ski resort

Orcières is a village in the Hautes-Alpes region, situated at an altitude of 1,400 meters in the upper Drac Noir Valley, in the heart of the Champsaur.

The municipality covers nearly 9,800 hectares, half of which lies within the core zone of the Écrins National Park. It is not merely a tourist ski resort. It is first and foremost an authentic mountain village, with a main town and 22 hamlets whose settlements are spread across an elevation range of 1,257 to 1,875 meters.

The area’s charm lies in the preservation of traditional mountain life: each hamlet retains its communal oven, chapel, and fountains. The hamlets of Prapic, Serre-Eyraud, and Les Audiberts reveal an Alpine heritage that many tourists from Provence or the French Riviera are unaware of.

Here is all the information you need to plan your vacation in Orcières, whether in winter or summer.

The Orcières Merlette Ski Resort

Above the village, the Orcières Merlette resort takes over during the ski season. The ski area stretches from 1,850 to 2,725 meters in altitude with 52 runs—10 green, 17 blue, 18 red, and 7 black—and snow coverage guaranteed 70% of the time by snowmaking systems.

Facing due south, the resort enjoys a level of sunshine rare for the Southern Alps: days on the slopes remain bright even in the middle of winter. A Champsaur pass also allows you to ski in the valley’s five other resorts—Ancelle, Chaillol, Laye, Saint-Léger, and Serre-Eyraud. And for families looking to take a break between runs, the Grande Ourse complex offers a swimming pool, ice rink, bowling alley, wellness area, and movie theater. Downhill and cross-country skiing coexist: 43 kilometers of cross-country trails connect the Orcières recreation center to the Champoléon Valley.

The resort doesn’t close its doors when the snow melts. In July and August, the area transforms into a playground for hikers and mountain bikers.

Three T-bar lifts ascend to 2,650 meters at the summit of Drouvet, providing access to the famous “World of the 6 Lakes” route and the Roll Air Câble zipline—a 1.8-kilometer headfirst descent between the summit and Lac Long.

The hamlet of Prapic

10 kilometers from Orcières Merlette, at the bottom of the Drac Noir valley, Prapic is well worth a visit in its own right. The hamlet is distinguished by its stone houses built in the 17th century, its fountains and basins once used as wash houses, and its Sainte-Anne church flanked by the Saulce chapel.

It was once said of Prapic that it was the village where even the flies were shod—a way of saying that its inhabitants lived in near self-sufficiency, far from everything. At an altitude of 1,550 meters, the place has retained that “end-of-the-world” atmosphere that makes it so endearing.

The La Casse Museum, open since 1987, traces local life of yesteryear through everyday objects, traditional trades, and the folk traditions of the Champsaur region. Two inns offer a chance to sample local specialties: tourtons, oreilles d’âne, local lamb, creuzets, and fruit tarts. Prapic also serves as a direct gateway to the Écrins National Park, with hiking trails for all skill levels starting from the village. A 150-space parking lot has been built upstream from the hamlet to preserve its character: from the mountain, the cars remain out of sight.