Shopping in Alpe d'Huez

Within resort the shopping is pretty much divided into two main areas: the Les Bergers Commercial Centre and Avenue Les Jeux.

At the bottom end of town by the Marmottes lift station, Les Bergers Commercial Centre is a large purpose-built fairly modern building with a large supermarket on the ground floor, a pharmacy, a couple of bars and cafés, a SATASKI lift pass office, several ski hire shops and a few clothes shops.

Avenue Les Jeux is the main street area around the ice rink and swimming pool, and is where you'll find a number of shops with ranges to suit all styles and tastes.

There are many shops in Alpe d'Huez that offer high street fashion lines from surf wear giants Billabong, Roxy and Quiksilver, as well as fashionable slope wear for men, women and children. Labels such as Teddy Smith, Bench, Dockers and Dolomite, Scotch & Scotch, School Roy, Fred Perry, Superdry, Levis, Ugg, NoName, Napapijri and Killiwatch.

If you're after some perfume and beauty goods you can head to the pharmacies - there's nothing quite like the French pharmacy beauty brands, they are known for their high quality with a whole host of great brands that are unavailable in the UK.

If you fancy venturing more high-end, and if your wallet can handle it, then there is a smattering of designer stores that will easily separate you from the best part of €1,000 for a ski jacket that wouldn't look amiss on the terraces of Verbier or Courchevel.

Every Saturday morning down in the lovely alpine town of Bourg d’Oisans is market day. Starting at around 09:00 and going on until around 14:00 a vast array of stalls and stands pop up in the main town square and a whole plethora of local produce is on sale. It’s a bustling market with everything from rotisserie chickens to chainsaws.

It’s great if you are on your way up to resort on a Saturday and is well worth a stop off to stock up with local produce for your stay in Alpe d’Huez. Local cheeses, sausages, breads, jams and tartiflettes abound and you can even get curries and Asian dishes as well.

Local vegetable growers sell gloriously fresh produce and the smell of roasting chickens fills the air.

There is no shortage of sports stores stocking lines such as The North Face, Salomon, Descente and Rossignol slope and casual wear, plus accessories from brands such as GoPro and Oakley eyewear.

If it’s a ski related bargain that you’re after, keep your eyes open for sale signs. Many shops will have bargain rails and baskets, and the closer to the lifts closing that we get (around third week of April) then the more bargains are likely to be found.

Opening hours vary to the UK with many shops and all service providers (banks, post office etc) closing for lunch.

You will also find that banks are closed on Mondays, although they are open for business on Saturday morning to compensate. Most of the shops open between 09:00-10:00 and then close from 12.30 until 14:00-15:00 for lunch, re-opening again until 19:00-19:30pm, which allows you to browse the shops of an evening or on your way to dinner.