Champagny-en-Vanoise and the national park

The air bites at 1,450 m, spruce resin hangs in the nose, and a thin torrent hush follows you into the Champagny-le-Haut valley. A listed natural site, it strings together former summer pastures beneath limestone walls and the Vanoise glaciers. Stop at Saint‑Sigismond Baroque church (17th c.) to read sailors’ ex‑votos brought back by peddlers, then walk to the Py waterfalls, which turn into fluted ice in winter. Six kilometers from central Champagny-en-Vanoise, a farmhouse lunch in a refuge tells the story of mule tracks and long winters.

From there, logistics fade into the background: pick‑up at your La Plagne hotel, a Mercedes at your disposal, and flexibility all along the D91a up to Laisonnay and Friburge. While your private driver in La Plagne handles the hairpins, you switch between snowshoes and hiking boots depending on snow cover, visit the Glaciers Interpretation Center, and sample local tomme while bags are watched. It’s about 25 minutes to Champagny, then another 10 to the Laisonnay car park; a pre‑booked alpine lunch sits neatly between two outings.