Saint-Lary is the heartbeat of the Vallée d’Aure. Bordering the vast national park area on the French/Spanish border, surrounded by 3,000 metre peaks and adjacent to the famous Neovielle lakelands, Saint-Lary Soulan has all the charm of a true mountain village. Although enlivened by the annual influx of skiers, this is not a resort which lives just from tourism. It’s a real place with its own history and economic life, based on agricultural production in the nearby valleys.

The character of the village derives from its history, expressed in its traditional stone and wood architecture, and from its rich religious heritage. Preserved through its isolation during religious wars and the French Revolution, the Vallée d’Aure contains some superb Roman churches with magnificent baroque altar pieces as well as famous frescos. In summer people come to this area to sightsee and to walk and trek by lakes and in winter they come to access the 1000 kms of piste skiing just above the village. The lakes are still visible but frozen, blue, eery and haunting.

As a ski resort the village is popular with French skiers and families - a clientele which understands the fine line between ‘lively’ and ‘yobby’. There is plenty of bustle here though – lots of little shops, small bars which extend out into the street and restaurants touting their different specialities. It is a great place for evening strolling. Its narrow side streets lead naturally into a lively central pedestrian area where you will be tempted by the smell of pre dinner snacks and pizza slices, often cooked directly at street level.

The village of St Lary is at 800 metres above sea level but its skiing stretches from 1600 m to 2500 m. The pistes are accessed directly from the centre of the village by a cable car or by a short, free bus rides of about ten minutes. The buses run constantly all day and, outside peak season, waits are short. (In peak weeks we recommend either that you start skiing a little later in the day or that you take advantage of our own early morning free minibus service or direct access to the first cable car. If you’ll get up early, we’ll get you there before the rest!)

It is also possible to stay at the resort level at the base of the slopes (and we can book accommodation there if you prefer) but, as with the best alpine resorts, it is more fun to join in the convivial life of St Lary and thus mix an excellent skiing experience with some French culture. It is in the main village that the best hotels and self catering accommodation are to be found as well as bars, banks, cafés, chemists, supermarkets and clothes shops.
Saint-Lary is constantly updating its amenities. There are new ski lifts and artificial snow production (see skiing pages). There is also a brand new spa and fitness centre which uses the natural warm volcanic water which issues from the rocks here to create a series of fantasy aquatic environments, rivers, grottos and waterfalls, in which you can swim or undertake a variety of thermal treatments.

Besides skiing there is plenty to interest both adults and children. You can book onto a snowshoeing excursion or, if you haven’t had enough of falling over for the day, head for the skating rink. There’s also a bungy and trampoline area for the children and a museum dedicated to the now virtually extinct Pyrenean bear. There’s a cinema, a sports centre, a toy shop, a merrygoround for the smaller children and a number of pottery shops with colourful displays. As you walk around the town you’ll also notice several references in paintings, stuffed toys or postcards to the village’s symbol and mascot - the huge, white Pyrenean Mountain dog or ‘patou’. You’ll probably meet some real ones too as this huge loyal, massively powerful but gentle creature is much loved in this part of the Pyrenees and, according to local people, represents the character of the village and its residents.