Val d'Isère shuttle buses: free buses, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Tignes and taxis

In Val d’Isère, the car stays in the car park all week. Free buses run up the avenue Olympique from La Daille to Le Fornet until late at night, a shuttle heads off to Tignes, and a regional coach comes up from Bourg-Saint-Maurice station. What you need to know is which line serves your chalet, how late it runs, and how to get here from the station or the airport. Here is the network, line by line, with the timetables published for this winter and, where those are not yet out, last winter’s.

Val d’Isère’s free shuttle buses, line by line

The network is called Val bus, and each line goes by a colour. The resort stretches for several kilometres along the main road: the Rouge is its backbone, while the others serve the outlying hamlets.

• Rouge, from La Daille to Le Fornet: it starts at La Daille, runs past the bus station and the Funival, Le Crêt, the centre and the tourist office, then climbs via Le Laisinant to the Le Fornet cable car. A branch goes to the Rond-Point des Pistes. It is the only line serving Le Laisinant and Le Fornet.
• Bleue, from the Rond-Point des Pistes to Legettaz: a short loop via La Calabourdane and the Club Med, every 15 minutes.
• Jaune, from Le Coin to Le Manchet: via the aquatic centre, Le Joseray and Le Châtelard, up to the Manchet valley, every 20 minutes.
• Violette, to Tignes: from the bus station to Tignes 1800, a few times a day.

The buses, electric or running on biofuel, are low-floor, with a removable ramp for wheelchairs, and dogs are allowed on board on a lead. From one end of the resort to the other, La Daille to Le Fornet, allow about 20 minutes.

Shuttle bus times: from the first bus to the last

This winter, from 28 November 2026 to 2 May 2027, the tourist office gives the first Rouge departures as 7am from La Daille and 7.30am from Le Fornet, then a bus roughly every 10 minutes. In the evening, according to the town hall, it carries on every 20 minutes until 2.30am in high season: it is the only line still running after midnight. The Bleue runs from 8.30am to 11pm, the Jaune from 8.28am to 11.20pm, when it makes its last arrival at the Rond-Point des Pistes.

Full timetables are posted on a board at every stop, and the Val d’Isère Ski app tracks the buses in real time. The town hall has its own app, Vivre à Val d’Isère, which does the same.

AEC tip. If you plan to eat out in the village, check which line passes the chalet: the Rouge will bring you home until 2.30am in high season, whereas the last Bleue and Jaune buses come by around 11pm.

Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Val d’Isère shuttle: the S82 coach

The railway station for Val d’Isère is Bourg-Saint-Maurice, about 30km away. From there, the regional S82 coach leaves from the bus station, just outside the SNCF station. It runs via Séez, Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise and two Tignes hamlets on the shore of the lac du Chevril, and in winter it stops at the La Daille bus station, at the entrance to the resort. The free Rouge line takes you on from there to the centre. The tourist office stop is used only in spring and autumn.

This winter’s timetable has not yet been published. Last winter, the journey took 50 minutes to an hour, with the first coach at 6.15am and, from late December to late March, six to eight departures on weekdays, thirteen on Saturdays and eight on Sundays. The last one left Bourg at 6pm on weekdays and Sundays and at 7pm on Saturdays, plus a 9.30pm coach on Fridays, which had to be booked. Skis and luggage are included in the ticket: two items in the hold and one carried on. You are not, however, allowed to board wearing your ski boots. Tickets can be booked online on the line’s page on the Altibus site and, for this winter, through the Montagne shop on oura.com announced by the regional authority; you can also buy a ticket from the driver, though a seat is not guaranteed. For wheelchair users, the regional authority offers adapted transport, which must be booked at least 48 hours ahead.

For the train to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, see our guide to getting to Val d’Isère.

Val d’Isère to Tignes shuttle: the Train violet

Yes, a free shuttle links the two resorts: the Train violet, open to everyone, with no ticket needed. It leaves from the Val d’Isère bus station, at the Funival, and reaches Tignes 1800 in about ten minutes, stopping on request at La Reculaz and Le Villaret du Nial. The bus has only 22 seats, so in high season leave yourself some margin if you have a time to keep to. Last winter it made six return trips a day, in the morning and late afternoon, with no service in the middle of the day or in the evening. The tourist office will publish this winter’s times shortly.

No shuttle goes directly to Tignes le Lac or Val Claret. At Tignes 1800, Tignes’s own free shuttle takes you on to Tignes 2100, which covers Le Lac, Le Lavachet and Val Claret. If you ski, the most direct route is still the ski area itself: Val d’Isère and Tignes are linked by the pistes. If you are torn between the two, see our comparison Val d’Isère or Tignes.

Taxis in Val d’Isère: Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Geneva, Lyon

At Bourg-Saint-Maurice station, taxis wait on the left as you come out of the bus station. If you would rather leave nothing to chance, the tourist office’s booking service sells taxi transfers from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, from the stations and airports of Chambéry, Geneva and Lyon, and from Grenoble airport. The price depends on the number of passengers, up to eight, with tolls and luggage included, and waiting is free if your train or flight is late. From the airports, a night rate applies between 8pm and 7am.

As for driving times, the tourist office allows 40 minutes from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, 2 hours from Chambéry, 2 hours 30 minutes from Grenoble, and 3 hours from Lyon or Geneva. On Saturdays during the French school holidays, book your taxi before you get on the train.

Val d’Isère bus from Geneva and Lyon: the airport coaches

From Geneva airport, the coach line to the Tarentaise, formerly Alpskibus, runs daily from 11 December 2026 to 26 March 2027. From Lyon airport, the LYS’Express runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 December to 3 April, and tickets to Val d’Isère are already on sale. Both go all the way to Val d’Isère without a change, with a break at Moûtiers station. From Grenoble, no direct line has been announced, and Moûtiers is the wrong station: for Val d’Isère, you want Bourg-Saint-Maurice. In summer and between seasons, no coach runs directly up from the airports.

The shuttle buses in summer

Last summer, from 4 July to 30 August, the free shuttles ran too. The Rouge came every 25 minutes, from about 8am to 8pm, and some services went up as far as the Pont Saint-Charles, gateway to the Parc national de la Vanoise. The Bleue and the Jaune ran every 15 minutes. The Train violet went down as far as Les Brévières, via Tignes 1800, seven or eight times a day.

There is no regular service up to the Col de l’Iseran. Last summer, a free outing with a mountain leader went up on Thursdays, by shuttle from the centre, opposite the tourist office. Outside winter, the S82 still has five departures a day from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, with a free bike rack, which must be booked.

Where to stay

All our Val d’Isère chalets are gathered on one page, and those right on the pistes in our selection of ski-in ski-out chalets in Val d’Isère. To pick your hamlet by shuttle line, see our guide to choosing an area in Val d’Isère; and to fill the week, what to do in Val d’Isère in winter.

The simplest way is still to write to us: tell us your dates and how many of you are travelling, and our agents will send you a selection of chalets.

And on the last evening, you wait for the Rouge in the falling snow, skis already put away, and realise you have not touched the car all week.