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One of my favorite weeks of the year: our annual skiing trip. To me, it is the perfect combination of being active and relaxation. The fresh mountain air makes you feel rejuvenated, and you sleep like a baby after having moved your body all day. And hello guilt-free daily cheese platters and wine tastings! There is no other week where my skin can handle that much dairy and alcohol and remain calm. Being in these mountains just makes me feel alive, but as always while traveling the question remains: what will I be able to eat?
As this was our third time skiing in La Norma, France together, I have a pretty good idea on what food will be offered, what you should look out for and what you should do when you plan your next skiing trip to the French Alps. More importantly, I am more than ready to share them with you (and the scrumptious pictures) below. From what type of accommodation to book, to supermarkets, best practices in restaurants, and even travel day snacks: I have got you covered. So, keep on reading if you want to know more about what it is like to ski in the Savoy region as a gluten-free traveler.
Where to Sleep (the Most Important Question in a GF Diet)?
We left Amsterdam on a rainy Saturday ‘morning’ (do we call 4:30 AM morning or night?) with a car full of ski and snowboarding gear, and most importantly, goodies from my favorite gluten-free bakery in the world. Knowing I would be eating stale gluten-free supermarket bread for the coming week I splurged a little on croissants, a muffin, and different types of bread. I can generally recommend this for going on roadtrips: pack yourself a delicious lunch, because no highway restaurant will fully cater to your needs! This way you will get your daily dose of healthy food, without the struggle. Plus, it will make sure you only need to stop to use the bathroom and fill up the tank, meaning you will get to your destination quicker!
Although that is a general gluten-free roadtrip best practice, I think, what is most important on your skiing trip as a gluten-free traveler is your accommodation. The restaurants are the most fun to think about of course, but what type of accommodation you book will greatly determine your flexibility and your gut health. Here is why: most restaurants on the mountain will not have a separate kitchen, and lots of the food is wheat-based. Think of pasta, burgers, you name it. Although there are gluten-free options on the menu, it is not guaranteed they are safe for the celiac travelers among us due to possible cross-contamination.
“But Amber, why is accommodation so important then?” Because booking an apartment with your own kitchen will make sure you have a safe place to cook meals! The kitchen might still have traces of gluten, but if you are willing, you can give the countertops, the stove, and the oven a proper clean and you are good to go. I personally love to come back to the apartment for lunch some days, or to prepare a GF sandwich just in case the restaurant we visit does not have anything for me. And if they do, it will be so cold outside that you can eat that same sandwich the next day.
Some hotels might be very good at providing gluten-free food, but they generally cost more, and you will most likely not be able to pack your own lunch. If you want to stay at a hotel anyways, I recommend going to bigger ski resorts than we did, as there are more options there. We were lucky enough to stay in Wessel’s family’s apartment in La Norma, but if you are not so lucky, I have conjured a list of three fabulous apartments which will be shared in my La Norma Skiing Guide, next week!
A Guide to Grocery Shopping in the Savoy
To minimalize my jealousy of the fresh croissants Wessel would get at the bakery, I bought a bag of frozen croissants and a pains au chocolat from Schär, which I could definitely recommend! They are flaky, have the right texture, but are very small, as are all things gluten-free. As they were not enough to sustain me, we went to our favorite supermarket, the Intermarché in the valley, for most of our groceries. Besides having a large isle with gluten-free products, grocery shopping in Southern Europe is just fun! With fresh cheeses, cold cuts, vegetables, and fruits on display, it is a foodie heaven. Besides that, they seem to have everything else: from spare tires to your new summer attire, and even all types of appliances!
The other supermarket in the valley below the village is the Casino, which has gluten-free food as well, but I would not recommend it: the fruit and vegetables always seem like they are about to expire, the gluten-free isle is very small, and is way more expensive than the Intermarché. The only upside is, is that they are open on Sundays. The last option for you as a gluten-free traveler is the small supermarket Utile in La Norma itself, which does not offer gluten-free bread, pasta, etc. They do sell amazing local cheeses, genépi (a local digestive), wine and sausages though! This place is great for your après ski drinks and snacks. But if all that home-cooking is not your style, do not worry, I have listed all the restaurants we visited below!
Tartiflette and Coffee at Val Fréjus
The restaurant at the top of the Punta Bagna in Val Fréjus, the ski area included in our La Norma ski passes, might just be my favorite place for a cup of coffee and tartiflette! Val Fréjus is known as a great place for ski-BASE jumping, with the Punta Bagna as the ideal site for take-off. Maybe that is why the Punta Bagna Restaurant has a surfer feel to it: laid-back and creative, I felt like I was in Mundaka all over again. One morning, a group of friends was jamming together on the piano, cajon and guitar in the corner, while others were reading in the tiny library by the window. There even was an inflatable hot tub on a platform! I could imagine locals or frequent visitors staying here overnight and partying the night away.
If you have read my previous France blogs, you know I think coffee is not their greatest point, but the coffee at this place was just phenomenal! On our second day, we also stayed here for lunch, which was delicious as well. Wessel ordered a burger, and I ordered a tartiflette, a traditional oven dish from the Savoy with potatoes, lots of cheese, onions, and lardons. If you get the chance to go to this region of France, make sure to order this one. Furthermore, the 360 views of the mountains just made this lunch incredible.
The Best Risotto in Val Cenis
When we went out to eat, it was usually for lunch, and our second lunch did not disappoint! Val Cenis is one of the regions you can choose from for a day visit when you get the 7-day skiing pass, and it is much larger than Val Fréjus and La Norma, combined. We knew we did not want to eat at one of the big self-service restaurants, so when we skied past La Ranova for some coffee, we knew we had to come back here for lunch.
Chalet La Ranova is a small restaurant hidden at the end of a short pathway from the red slope that runs under the Arcelle skilift. It was packed with people and the menu looked amazing. Wessel had a burger again, while I ordered the blue cheese and lardons risotto. This was mindblowingly good! If you do not like blue cheese, this might not be for you, but it is the comfort food you want. I was a little scared on the slopes that day due to the increasing crowds, but this put me right back into the good skiing vibe. Although you can only do a red run from here, which might put some people off, you must try their food when you come to Val Cenis. The red run is also fairly easy, as it is very wide and well prepared, so you will even manage after a glass of wine or two!
Lunch and Dinner in La Norma
We only went out to eat in La Norma twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. For lunch we went to Le Grizzli this time, a semi-self service bar and restaurant on the left side of the resort. The weather was nice, the terrace large, and the prices cheap, so we decided to go for it this time. Usually, we go to Restaurant l’Éterlou, which is a little pricier but very delicious. We decided to switch it up though, so I got an omelette and Wessel a pain américain: literally bread with fries. He enjoyed it, but I preferred my omelette and was not disappointed that I could not order his dish. The meal was decent, precisely what you would expect at le Grizzli, but I would not recommend it for celiac travelers! They run at a high speed and the chances of cross-contamination were high.
On our final night in La Norma, we made dinner reservations at Le Dahu: another tradition we kept up this year. The classic skiing chalet interior with old wooden skis on the walls and dimmed lighting make it the perfect spot for a romantic dinner. We were the first to arrive that night, but ten minutes later the place was completely packed. Wessel and I both could not figure out what to order, so we decided to share. We had a steak with bleu de bonneval cheese and a pork stew which was terribly delicious. They also cook several traditional Savoy dishes, like raclette (cheese fondue) and croziflette, which is similar to a tartiflette but swaps the potatoes for buckwheat pasta. We paired it with some nice local wine and finished the evening with a pistachio crème brûlée, which is as good as it sounds. It was the perfect ending to a lovely week of skiing!
Final thoughts
All in all, eating gluten-free for gluten intolerant travelers can be easy in the Savoyard kitchens of La Norma. For my celiac friends it might get a little trickier: cross-contamination will be a real struggle, but supermarkets tend to be forgiving. So, make sure to choose your accommodation wisely and call ahead to restaurants to make sure they do cater to your needs. Has all this talk of skiing in France stirred your wanderlust, and made you wonder whether you could get there? Then tune back in next week Friday for a full guide on everything you need to know about skiing in La Norma: from costs to different skiing passes. Follow me on Instagram to catch the latest updates. Prefer to get monthly summaries and other bits and bobs? Then sign up to my newsletter and get a gluten-free world map for free!
