National parks of La Vanoise & Grand Paradis
In France and Italy, there are plenty of walks and hikes to suit everyone! From La Rosière, you can explore two outstanding National Parks in the Haute-Tarentaise and Aosta Valleys. The Gran Paradiso (Italy) and Vanoise (France) National Parks encompass 270,000 hectares of protected landscapes.
For many years, this vast area has been closely regulated; an initiative that was born from a desire to protect the Alpine ibex. Set off to discover the wealth of flora and fauna, not forgetting the stunning cultural and scenic heritage, contained in these two parks.
Vanoise National Park
Created in 1963, the Vanoise is France’s oldest National Park. It stretches across the Vanoise massif, from the Isère and Tarentaise Valleys to the north down to the Arc and Maurienne Valleys to the south. With 600km of footpaths and 107 peaks reaching an altitude of over 3,000m, the Vanoise National Park offers easy access to the different mountain passes. In summer, the Vanoise is extremely popular with hikers, who flock from all over the globe to explore the park’s glaciers, high altitude lakes and innumerable species of plants and animals.
Start of Vanoise hiking trails nearest to La Rosière: La Gurraz, Val d’Isère or Tignes:
Map of hiking trails in the Vanoise National Park
Gran Paradiso National Park
Adjoining the French-Italian border and straddling the Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions, the Gran Paradiso National Park covers an area of 70,318 hectares of essentially Alpine terrain. With a base altitude of 800m (valley floors) and a peak altitude of 4,061 metres at the summit of the Gran Paradiso Mountain, the park boasts 857km of footpaths. It is the ideal habitat for a wide variety of fauna, with forests of larch and pine trees, vast Alpine meadows and glaciers.
Activities and events in the Gran Paradiso National Park
How to access the park from La Rosière (subject to snow cover):
- Italy: Degioz, Cogne or Valgrisenche
- France: Val d’Isère, Pont-Saint-Charles car park (follow the hiking trails up towards the Prariond refuge)
Useful info about the National Parks:
- Day-long hikes and excursions over several days: contact a mountain guide for more information about the excursions available.
- Official websites for the Vanoise and Gran Paradiso National Parks