Tignes

Geography

The main villages of Tignes sit within a base of a high altitude valley with the Grande Motte at the furthest point and an array of other peaks wrapping around the valley. The other end is open, and drops away to the Lac du Chevril. This geography is described as having the feeling of being in a large open stadium, and Tignards (locals) often refer to the area as the "Stade Naturel", or Natural Stadium in English. Tignes comprises 5 Villages; Tignes Val Claret, Tignes le Lac, Le Lavachet, Tignes Les Boisses and Tignes-les-Brévières. The first three are close together at 2100 m with Les Boisses and Les Brevieres further down the valley, above and below the dam respectively. All the towns located above the dam are linked by a free continuous shuttle bus. The only village located below these villages, Tignes Les Brévières, is accessible to the others via a free gondola service which operates late into the evening. Les Brévières remains the only remaining part of the original town, with all the others created as part of the dam construction or development of the ski resort. All the villages are part of the ski resort known as Tignes. The original village of Tignes (at 1700m) was in the Isère valley below Val d'Isère. After the second world war, France needed electricity and it was decided to build the hydro-electric Tignes Dam in the Isère valley. Whilst this was a great achievement for French engineering and was for the greater good of France, it meant that the old village of Tignes was drowned. The dam was completed and the village was submerged in 1952. A replica of the original church was created in Tignes les Boisses. Once every 10 years the lake behind the dam (Lac du Chevril) is drained for maintenance work and the remains of the old village becomes…

Most-observed species

• Yellow-billed Chough

  Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  913
• Edelweiss

  Leontopodium nivale (Ten.) A.Huet ex Hand.-Mazz. · Magnoliopsida
  795
• Alpine marmot

  Marmota marmota (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  771
• Dark Vanilla Orchid

  Gymnadenia rhellicani (Teppner & E.Klein) Teppner & E.Klein · Liliopsida
  719
• Black Redstart

  Phoenicurus ochruros (S.G.Gmelin, 1774) · Aves
  672
• Northern Wheatear

  Oenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  664
• White-winged Snowfinch

  Montifringilla nivalis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  607
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  570

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2026-01-12
  4 km SSW of Les Houches, France
• M 3.3 — 2025-05-06
  8 km W of Chapareillan, France
• M 3.2 — 2024-05-09
  9 km SW of Evolène, Switzerland
• M 3.3 — 2022-09-25
  7 km ESE of Ar?ches-la-Frasse, France
• M 3.3 — 2022-05-02
  6 km SW of Crissolo, Italy
• M 4.5 — 2022-03-12
  3 km S of Faverges, France