Summer

The typical summer activity are walks to alpine lakes, mountain huts, or a whole host of places where you admire the splendid views or simply the surrounding nature.

For those looking for more of a challenge, alpine guides can assist you on a trip up to one of the surrounding peaks, the most appealing of which is without doubt the Gran Paradiso: the normal route is one of the least demanding.

All sorts of mountain sports can be practised everywhere: mountain bike for amateurs and those who enjoy downhill acrobatics, rock climbing at various levels along the vie ferrate equipped routes, rafting or canyoning and angling; there is also an adventure park where you can swing from one tree to another in complete safety.

Those who fancy taking a closer look at ibex, chamois, deer, fallow deer, marmots, wild boar, owls and other animals, albeit in captivity, can take a look around the "Parc animalier" in Introd.

If you are more interested in flowers and mountain herbs, then you should not miss the "Paradisia" alpine botanic garden inValnontey, where you can admire around 1000 plant species from the mountains of the Valle d'Aosta and other mountain groups from all over the world. Visitors can follow two routes through the garden: the first runs through the central part and is characterised by boulders and the reproduction of a number of different environments, while the second touches upon the areas at the sides of the garden. Both routes can be followed with the help of a written guide or a recorded guide on a walkman.

Winter

This area is a cross-country skier's dream. The large Cogne Basin, the head of the Rhêmes Valley, Dégioz and Pont in the Valsavarenche, the fields of Saint-Nicolas and the Valgrisenche all offer long, fun trails along which you can enjoy the landscape and often encounter wild animals, particularly common in this area.

The most prestigious of the competitions held here is undoubtedly the Marcia Gran Paradiso in Cogne, where athletes pass through the villages of Valnontey, Lillaz and Épinel, for a total distance of 45 km: this is a route well worth trying, although perhaps not at the speed of the professionals.

Downhill skiers, meanwhile, will find several small and medium-sized ski areas that offer runs suitable for all levels, as well as numerous snow parks where you can have fun whizzing down the snow on a range of “vehicles”.

This area also offers a whole host of other activities on the snow: snow boarding, snow-shoe trips, horse drawn sledging or sled-dog, ski mountaineering, snow-cat riding in Vetan, not to mention the fact that between Cogne and Valsavarenche there are about 180 frozen waterfalls to climb, or that the Valgrisenche is the land of heliskiing.