Auron

Why Auron Ski Resort?

The Auron ski resort, sitting at 1600m, belongs to the town of Saint Etienne de Tinée located in the Alpes Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Auron has become the largest ski area in the region and is less than 1hr 30 mins from Nice and its international airport. It is located at the gates of the Mercantour National Park.  

The National Park extends over 28 municipalities (more than 2,000 km2). The Tinée valley extends over approximately 80km, from its confluence with the Var (La Mescla), to the sources of the Tinée at the foot of the Col de la Bonette.

Ibex, chamois and mouflons cohabit there. Deer, roe deer and wild boar frequent the lower wooded areas. Ornithological wealth: the black grouse, the rock ptarmigan, the nutcracker and large birds of prey such as the golden eagle and the bearded vulture are the most remarkable birds that inhabit the territory. A few packs of wolves have settled in Haute Tinée since 1992.

More commonly found are the marmot, the ermine and bats. Thanks to multiple climatic and geological influences, composed of a mosaic of environments at various altitudes, the Mercantour is proud to have a unique flora in Europe with more than 2,000 plant species out of the 4,200 known so far in France. Among them 220 are considered very rare, including 40 said to be endemic, such as the many-flowered Saxifrage which is found nowhere else in the world!

In order to appreciate the exceptional panoramas of the Mercantour National Park, you can visit Saint Dalmas le Selvage. It is very close to Auron, being just a few kms away. It’s a huge area perfect for ski touring, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

Since 2003, the resorts of Auron, Isola 2000 and Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage, which were all keen to develop as resorts, have come together to form the Joint Association of Mercantour’s Resorts (255km alpine skiing, 600km of marked trails) with an ambitious development plan. Substantial investments have made it possible to modernise and develop the ski areas of Auron and Isola 2000 and to preserve the historical heritage and authenticity of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage.

St Etienne de Tinée (1140m) is directly linked to the ski area of Auron by the Pinatelle gondola. At 1140m above sea level, Saint-Etienne de Tinée is at the crossroads of the alpine and high mountain roads, with the col de la Bonette, the highest in Europe (2802m). This traditional village with 1300 inhabitants is known for its beautiful historical and cultural heritage. It has religious buildings dating back to the 13th and 17th centuries.