Photo : Nouill / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Parc national de la Vanoise
Created in 1963 to preserve the last ibex of the French Alps, the Vanoise national park was the very first national park in the country. It now extends over about 535 km² of core zone, between the Isère valley to the north and that of the Arc to the south, covering most of the Vanoise massif and part of the Grées Alps.
Backed against the Italian border, the park adjoins the Gran Paradiso national park, with which it has formed, since 1972, one of the largest protected natural ensembles in Western Europe. This territorial continuity benefits an emblematic high-mountain fauna, ibex, chamois, marmots and bearded vultures, which finds here an exceptional space for movement.
The park is discovered by a vast network of hiking paths, including the Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise, as well as by the resorts and villages that mark its entrance gates, like Pralognan-la-Vanoise or Termignon. Summer, between July and September, remains the most favourable period for crossing its high plateaus and passes.
