Serre Chevalier — Serre Chevalier Map Poster & Print

המפה

Serre Chevalier Map Poster & Print

Serre Chevalier stretches along the Guisane valley in the Hautes-Alpes, running northwest from Briançon toward the Col du Lautaret. Rather than a single resort centre, it is a line of villages spaced along the valley road, each with its own lift base. From above the pattern is linear and easy to read: river, road and villages on the valley floor, and the ski area climbing the slopes beside them.

The villages are Briançon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve and Le Monêtier-les-Bains, the last with thermal springs that have been used for centuries. Much of the lower ski terrain runs through larch forest, unusual for a large French resort. A Serre Chevalier map poster follows the valley from end to end, so the composition has a clear direction, read from one village to the next like a line of text.

At the southeastern end lies Briançon, one of the highest towns in France, whose fortifications by Vauban are part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing. Its old walled centre appears as a tight, angular shape on the map, very different from the looser resort villages up the valley. Together they show how a historic frontier town and a modern ski area have grown along the same thread of road.