Car Parking in Alpe d'Huez
In summer you'll probably find it easier to find a space to park your car in Alpe d'Huez. In winter, a covered or underground parking spot is the ideal place to leave your vehicle as it will save you all the hassle of digging it out after a snowfall, scraping your windows and trying to start a frozen car. However, parking in ski resorts can be tight and so you’ll more than likely end up leaving your car outside.
A few things to remember:
Traffic wardens or “Police Municipal” are regularly seen patrolling the streets on the look out for illegally parked vehicles. Parking in ski resorts can be very problematic especially during high season, so it is always worth reserving a parking space in advance wherever possible to ensure you have a suitable spot to leave your car. Foreign plates do not give you diplomatic immunity from parking fines so if you do leave your car in an inappropriate spot then you should expect to be ticketed or even towed away and impounded.
Parking fines vary from €11 to €135, with €45 being then norm. If you receive a fine through the post you have 3 options: throw it away (although the French authorities are cracking down on non-payment of penalties by foreign drivers), pay it, or contest it. If you decide to pay it then the sooner the better as the fine is lowered if paid within 15 days. You can do so either by buying a “timbre amende” from a tabac or tax office, attach it to the ticket and send it off; or by credit card on this website. Should you choose to contest it, then you need to complete the form attached to the fine and send it off to the Police Municipal.
Always pay attention to signs placed around parking areas in resort that may indicate a market or snow clearing taking place the following day. When there is snow to clear, ploughs show very little respect for things in their way and on more than one occasion have been known to scrape up the sides of errant vehicles causing significant damage. If you don’t move your car it will be towed and left elsewhere in resort, generally on the outskirts of town.
A few tips for parking your vehicle:
- Park facing downhill and turn your wheels towards the kerb to act as a brake.
- Leave your car in gear with the handbrake off as it can freeze and you can snap the cabling.
- Lift the windscreen wipers away from the window so that they don’t stick to the glass and get damaged. If there has been heavy snowfall, clear the snow from your windscreen by hand rather that with your wipers – the weight of the snow can be deceptive and you’ll probably just end up burning out your wiper motor. You certainly don’t want to be without functioning windscreen wipers in winter with all the salt from the roads that sprays over your car.
- Remember where you parked! – this sounds stupid, but it can be very hard to identify your car under a metre of snow!
Free parking
The free parking in Alpe d'Huez is uncovered and is accessible all year round, every day of the week. Some of them are time limited to 1h30 between 09:00 nad 12:00 and 14:30 and 19:30.
Here's a list of all the Free parking areas, which you can locate on the Alpe d'Huez Town Map:
- Avenue de Brandes (J6)
- Chemin de Font Morelle (motorhomes) (N5)
- Place Paganon (F7)
- Avenue de l'Eclose (D7)
- Chemin de la Chapelle (H6)
- Les Bergers (L/M5)
- Avenue du Rif nel (I3)
- Place du Cognet (H3)
In Oz en Oisans there are 8 outdoor free parking areas, the largest of which are at the bottom of the Poutran gondola and the Alpette gondola. As you'd expect the free parking spots get filled up pretty quickly, so be prepared to get there early on a Saturday to grab a space, or go for P2 parking which involves a bit more of a walk and is therefore less popular.
Lots of accommodation providers offer parking spaces on property or nearby, so check to see if they have space before you set off.
Also see: Car Hire Alpe d'Huez
Indoor / Covered parking
There are a 6 pay and display covered car parks in Alpe d'Huez.
- Huez Village, Route de Villard-Reculas (D13) - 133 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 80 32 32)
- La Patinoire, Avenue des Jeux (G5) - 114 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 11 21 16)
- Le Coulet, Rue di Siou Coulet (F5) - 97 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 80 23 59)
- La Palais des Sports, Avenue de Brandes (J6) - 136 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 44 21 41)
- Les Bergers, Route de l’Altiport (M4) - 264 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 11 21 75)
- Le Rif Nel, Avenue du Rif Nel (I3) - 235 spaces (+33 (0)4 76 11 21 17)
Prices for these covered car parks are as follows (although subject to change year to year): €2 per hour; €14 per day; €70 per week and €335-380 per winter season/year. Most indoor parking will have a height limit of 2m.
At Les Bergers
the parking is barrier accessed and there's an automated machine for 24/7 access. There is also a manned office inside by the machine but this is only manned from around 9-5.
In Oz en Oisans there's a pay & display car park next to the ice rink, across the open air car park from the bottom of the Poutran gondola lift, which you can use in winter & summer.
A number of chalets, apartments and other holiday residences offer secure covered parking, so please check with who ever you are booked in with.
Also see: Car Hire Alpe d'Huez
Outdoor parking
There is paid outdoor parking on Route de l'Altiport at the Dalle du Parking des Bergers. Prices are €1 an hour, €6 a day and €35 for a week.
Also see: Car Hire Alpe d'Huez
Motorhome parking
Not only does Alpe d’Huez offer a huge array of wonderful hotels, cosy chalets and apartments but it also has a truly fantastic “motorhome/camper-van park.” Located in the Les Bergers/Altiport area of town, it's right next to the runway of the Altiport and underneath the Auris “scare-chair”.
So if you have a camper van why not bring it with you the Alpes and spend a few days travelling down here before setting up home in the stunning surroundings of Alpe d’Huez. Open 365 days a year, the camper van park offers safe and secure parking in a floodlight tarmac area which has parking for around 75 camper vans/pitches. It can accommodate anything from the smallest of VW type camper right up to 35’ American style RV’s, so whatever you've got why not drive it to Alpe d’Huez, you won't be disappointed.
It only costs 10€ per day plus a local tax of 0.83€, and this includes your water as well, so it's great value for only 10.83€ per day.
The facility also provides a toilet and shower block, bin area, recycling bins, waste point and hook ups.
Access to the park is provided by an automated barrier system and the park is completely automated so no need to worry about a “check-in” time, as all you need to enter is a credit card. It's a double barrier entry system, all you have to do is enter the code, wait for the first one to raise up, drive forward, let the barrier drop behind you and then the one in front pops up and you can drive in and get your pitch. The “machine” for the entry code is located in the little wooden hut next to the entrance barriers, and all the information for the park is contained inside the hut in a number of different languages (including English). All you have to is insert your credit card, follow the prompts and get the access code to punch into the keypad by the barriers.
The park is in a truly fantastic location around 150 metres away from the Les Bergers Commercial Centre which has a large supermarket (open all year), loads of shops, SATA ski pass office, ESF ski school office, cash-point machines, bars, restaurants and a medical centre.
If you’re here in the summer months why not bring your clubs and take advantage of the lovely 9 hole golf course which is right next to the camper-park and also the local tennis club which is also literally next door to the entrance barriers. It's also very interesting to watch the small planes take off and land at the Altiport, which is also next door to the camper-park area – so there's plenty going on right on your door step.
The golf course really is a gem, with 6 tricky “pitch and putt” holes to start and 3 genuinely tough par3’s to finish, with fantastic views from every hole. The tee box for the 6th hole is literally on the runway, right next to the control tower – very cool!.
The vista from the motorhome park is absolutely fantastic, with views up towards the medieval fort of Alpe d’Huez and beyond to the Sarenne and across to the ski slopes of Auris-en-Oisans.
Lift access from the park couldn't be easier, simply walk the short distance back to Les Bergers from where you can get the Auris “scare-chair” over to Auris, the Marmottes lift up the Sarenne or the Rif-Nel Express and Romains to access some lovely rolling greens and blue runs back down to Les Bergers. From Les Bergers the whole of the Grande Domiane ski area is really easily accessed.
The camper-park gets really busy at peak times (Christmas/New Year/All of February/and of course Tour de France time and indeed the summer months as a whole).
In summer there is also additional parking at the bottom of the DMC gondola (at the top end of town) which is popular for people staying for the Megavalanche mountain bike race. There are no facilities though, it's literally a field so you'll need to use the public facilities in resort.
Motorhomes, caravannes and camper-vans can also park up in Auris-en-Oisans. Located near to the village centre there is a swimming pool nearby and water, electricity & drainage are available for just 2 euros.
Down in Bourg d'Oisans the Casino supermarket parking offers a water point and a place for drainage, but that's all in terms of facilities – the “point-bleu” is located on the forecourt of the petrol station adjacent to the supermarket.
Also see: Car Hire Alpe d'Huez