Les Arcs Ski Hire: Where to Rent and How to Book

Les Arcs ski hire at a glance

Book your equipment before you travel if you want a specific tier or a popular boot size, especially for February half-term and the Easter weeks. Pre-booking online through a network such as Skiset locks in a category and a pickup shop, and the published tables show the online rate sitting well below the walk-in price. Walk-in still works outside peak weeks, but you take whatever is left on the rack.

The main decision is not which shop is cheapest but which shop is closest to your bed, your ski locker or your lesson meeting point. Arc 1950 is pedestrianised in the centre, so hire shops there are within a short stroll of most accommodation, while Arc 1800's shops cluster around the Chantel and Edenarc residences and the main commercial centre.

If you are hiring because you are flying in, weight and baggage matter as much as price: boots are the item most worth renting well rather than cheaply, since a poor fit ruins a week faster than a dated ski. Our Les Arcs piste map guide helps you judge which terrain you will actually ski before you choose a tier.

How the villages shape your shop choice

Think of Les Arcs as four linked bases at different altitudes rather than a single town. Arc 1600 sits lowest and is reached by funicular from Bourg-Saint-Maurice; Arc 1800 is the largest and most spread out; Arc 1950 is a compact car-free development; Arc 2000 is highest and closest to the Aiguille Rouge cable car. Each has hire shops at the foot of the slopes or in its commercial centre.

Your village choice also drives how you get to the snow. Staying in Arc 2000 puts you high for early-season cover and close to the glacier sector, while Arc 1600 and 1800 suit families who want easier runs and a shorter transfer from the valley. Hiring in the village where you sleep removes the daily bus-and-boots routine entirely.

If your group is split between villages, pick the shop in the lowest village you will pass through each morning, and plan to collect on arrival day rather than the first ski morning. Skis and boots carried on a crowded shuttle at 8.30am is the classic way to start a holiday badly.

Arc 1950: the car-free centre

Arc 1950 was built as a pedestrian resort, and the Alpine Answers review notes that the centre is car free and that any hire shop is no more than about a seven-minute walk from the accommodation. That makes it the easiest village in Les Arcs for collecting and swapping kit, since you are never dependent on a bus or a drive to reach the shop.

Ski Service Intersport Arc 1950 sits on the village square, opposite the French ski school and in front of the start of the children's race course, and it runs a rental section alongside accessory sales. The resort listing gives its season as 12 December 2026 to 24 April 2027, open daily from 9am to 7pm, which is worth knowing when you plan an evening collection.

Skishop 1950, the Skiset outlet, is described as being in the heart of the pedestrianised centre, and the area also holds branches of Ski Republic, Skimium, Sport 2000 and Precision Ski alongside smaller independents. Booking a shop on the same side of the village as your residence saves you dragging boots across the square in ski boots.

Because the centre is flat and traffic-free, lockers and ski rooms are the practical answer to gear storage here. Leave boots and skis in the shop's or residence's ski room overnight, keep a dry pair of shoes in a bag for the walk back, and you avoid carrying equipment through the village twice a day.

Arc 1800 and Le Chantel: shops at the foot of the residences

Arc 1800 is the biggest and most dispersed of the villages, so where you hire depends on which residence you are in. Intersport Le Chantel – Edenarc is based at Les Alpages du Chantel in the Pierre et Vacances residence and at the foot of the Odalys Edenarc buildings, with ski and snowboard rental, accessory sales and a repair workshop on site.

That position is a real advantage if you are staying in either residence group: you can walk out of the apartment, collect skis and be on the snow without a shuttle. The listing describes the shop as accessible by ski and close to a shuttle stop, so it also serves guests staying further along the 1800 ridge who would rather ride than walk in boots.

Arc 1800 also has Alpiski Discount Tournavelles and other independent and network shops in and around the main commercial centre, which is where you will find the widest choice of brands and the busiest fitting queues on a Saturday. If you want a discount range or a specific model, book ahead rather than assume it will be on the rack.

Arc 2000 and Arc 1600: convenience for early starts

Arc 2000 is the highest village and the launching point for the Aiguille Rouge cable car, so it suits skiers whose week is built around long descents and high-altitude snow. Its hire shops sit among the residences and the commercial centre at the foot of the slopes, which means short carries but also heavy demand on the first morning of each changeover day.

Arc 1600 is smaller and lower, served by the funicular from Bourg-Saint-Maurice, and its shops are concentrated near the arrival point and the main lift base. For anyone arriving by train and staying in 1600, hiring on arrival day before the funicular ride up or at the base is simpler than hauling kit through the village later.

Wherever you stay, the timetable that matters is the first lift. Collect boots and skis the afternoon or evening before your first ski day, allow time to walk in and walk out of the binding adjustment, and keep the first morning free of shop admin so you can be on the hill when lifts open. Ski season dates and lift opening times are published by the lift company rather than the hire shops, so check those separately.

Rental tiers explained

Skiset splits its fleet into Economy, Evolution, Performance and Excellence, and the tier descriptions are genuinely useful for matching kit to ability. Economy is the budget option; Evolution is aimed at skiers comfortable on green and blue runs with a few weeks' experience; Performance targets fast, confident intermediates who ski regularly; Excellence carries the newest stock.

For a first-week adult, Evolution is usually the sensible default: the skis are forgiving enough to learn on and responsive enough not to hold you back by day four. Performance only pays off if you will ski reds and blacks at speed for most of the week; renting it for a cautious beginner wastes money on a stiff ski that is harder to turn.

Excellence is worth it for strong skiers who care about recent models, and the booking tables note that equipment in this category is no more than a year old or around 45 rental days, while Performance is capped at roughly two years. Families hiring for mixed abilities should book tiers individually rather than putting everyone on the same package.

Indicative online prices

The published Skiset tables for Les Arcs 1950 give a useful sense of how the tiers and hire lengths compare. For example, six days of adult skis and poles are listed at around £73 for Economy and £129 for Excellence, while skis, poles and boots run from about £98 to £172 across the same range; the same sets for two days are roughly £30 to £52 and £39 to £69.

The pattern across the tables is that daily cost falls as the hire period lengthens, so a six-day rental is proportionally cheaper per day than a two-day one. If you are skiing five days out of seven, check whether a six-day booking costs less than five separate days plus a rest day, and whether the shop allows a free rest day within the period.

These figures are online booking rates in pounds sterling and are indicative rather than a quote for your dates; rates shift with season, availability and category. Check current prices on the SKISET site before you commit, and remember that boots are where a small upgrade in tier tends to make the biggest difference to comfort. Lift passes are a separate purchase entirely; our Les Arcs Ski Pass guide covers the products.

Children's hire

Children's equipment is banded by size and age: Mini Kid for four and five year olds, Kid for six to twelve, and Rider Junior for experienced younger skiers beyond ESF level 3 and for twelve and thirteen year olds regardless of ability. Child skis and poles for six days are listed from around £47 in the two younger bands, with Rider Junior at about £63.

Half-term is when the small sizes disappear first. If you need two or three sets for children in the same week, book as soon as your accommodation is confirmed and enter their ages and approximate sizes accurately so the shop can reserve the right lengths. Shops can adjust bindings on collection, but they cannot conjure a size that is out on hire.

Children's boots are the other pinch point. Bring their actual foot length in centimetres if you are booking online, expect to try on a couple of pairs in store, and do not accept a boot that is generously big on the grounds they will grow into it; a loose boot is cold, hard to control and can put a child off the sport.

Book online or walk in

Pre-booking online means a voucher or reference that you present at the shop's collection desk, where staff then fit you from the category you booked. The Alpine Answers page notes that you do not need to supply shoe size, weight or height when booking, only your first ski day, the number of days and the category, which makes the process quick but means the fitting happens in resort.

Walking in gives you the chance to see the actual skis and try boots before you pay, and it works well in quiet weeks, but you pay the shop's walk-in rate. The published guidance puts the online discount at up to around 45 per cent off walk-in prices, which is a wide gap; assume something in that direction rather than a guarantee, and check what your chosen shop offers for your dates.

Rental insurance is usually not included in an online booking and can be added in store, with the published cost around one euro per day. Check whether your travel policy already covers theft or damage to hired equipment before paying twice; if it does not, the in-store cover is inexpensive and settles claims directly with the shop.

Boot fitting and swapping kit

Allow more time than you think for fitting, especially in a group, and do it in the afternoon if you can. Wear the socks you will ski in, or thin socks of the same thickness, and tell the fitter honestly how you ski and where you get pressure points. Boots that feel tight but not painful in the shop are the right starting point; boots that feel comfortable and roomy will feel loose once the liner packs down.

Skis can be swapped mid-week at most shops if conditions change or the tier turns out wrong, but the terms vary. Ask at collection what the swap policy is, keep your receipt or voucher, and return the original equipment clean rather than leaving it in a snowbank overnight. A quick word on day one avoids an argument on day five.

Bring a small bag with a dry base layer, thin socks and your own goggles or helmet liner if you prefer your own. Shop helmets are available for hire in many branches, but personal fit matters most for helmets and boots, so pack those if you own them and save the luggage allowance on skis.

Skis or snowboard

Snowboard ranges are thinner than ski ranges at the entry and top tiers: the published tables show snowboard options at Evolution and Performance but not at Economy or Excellence for Les Arcs 1950. If you need a board, book earlier than you would for skis and expect to choose a category one step above the cheapest.

Boarders should also think about terrain. Les Arcs has long, rolling groomed runs and a good park network, and the village you choose affects how much flat traversing you face at the end of the day. If you are staying in Arc 1950, the centre is flat, so a dedicated locker near the slope edge saves a walk carrying a board.

Hire and ski school together

Lesson meeting points sit close to the shops in Arc 1950, where the Intersport faces the French ski school and the children's race start. That proximity matters: book your child's ski lessons for a time that allows boot fitting and a warm-up before the class starts, rather than the earliest slot on the first morning.

For adults, group lessons usually run morning or afternoon blocks, and afternoon lessons pair well with a morning collection and a relaxed first-day warm-up. Private lessons are more flexible and are worth booking ahead in peak weeks, especially in Arc 1800 where demand from several residences converges on the same meeting points. Our Les Arcs Ski lessons guide covers the school options in more detail.

Getting kit around a car-free village

In Arc 1950, plan for walking. Ski boots are not comfortable on hard surfaces, so carry them and change at the slope edge or in the shop, and use the residence ski room or a paid locker for the day's gear. A boot bag with a shoulder strap is worth the luggage space if you are staying in a car-free village.

Elsewhere, the free resort shuttle connects the villages and stops near most hire shops, and both Intersport listings note a nearby shuttle stop. If you are staying in one village but skiing out of another, hire near the lifts you will use in the morning and accept one bus ride with equipment rather than two.

If you are comparing this trip with another French resort, the logistics are broadly similar but the shop layout differs; our Alpe d'Huez Ski Hire guide covers how that resort's rental is arranged around its own villages.

Two Intersport shops, different jobs

The two Intersport branches in Les Arcs serve different purposes. The Arc 1950 branch is the one to use if you are staying in the car-free centre, collecting near the square, the ski school and the children's race start, and it opens daily from 9am to 7pm across the season. The Le Chantel – Edenarc branch at Arc 1800 suits guests in the Chantel and Edenarc residences and offers a repair workshop alongside rental.

Neither branch publishes prices in its resort listing, so request a quote for your dates, party size and tier rather than relying on a rack rate. For repairs, the Arc 1800 shop's workshop is convenient if you damage an edge or need a binding checked mid-week and are staying on that side of the resort.

Booking timeline

For Christmas, New Year and February half-term, book equipment as soon as your accommodation and travel are fixed, and aim to have it done several weeks ahead. Those weeks sell out of popular sizes and higher tiers first, and the fitting queues on changeover Saturdays are at their longest.

Easter is later and quieter but still busy around the school holidays, and late-season snow can be firm in the morning and soft by afternoon, which makes a mid-range ski more versatile than a specialist carver. Book by early spring for the Easter weeks and check the shop's season closing date, since some branches shut before the lifts do.

For January and March, a few days' notice is normally enough for standard tiers, though specific models and children's sizes still benefit from earlier booking. If you are travelling in a large group, send the shop your party's heights, weights and abilities in advance so the fitting is short.

Final checklist for hire day

Before you travel, confirm the shop, its opening hours and whether your booking is a voucher or a direct reservation, since collection desks differ. Pack your own boots if you have them, bring ski socks, and note each person's height, weight and ability so the fitter can set bindings correctly.

On collection day, arrive with time to spare, try boots on both feet and walk around, check the skis' length against your height and ability, and ask about the swap policy and insurance. Keep the paperwork in your jacket, and note the shop's closing time so you are not retrieving gear after the doors shut. Arc 1950's Intersport, for instance, closes at 7pm.

Then enjoy the skiing. Les Arcs rewards those who plan the week around the terrain they want, and our piste map guide to the named sectors and lifts is the place to start building a plan.

Plan Your Visit

Les Arcs ski hire is straightforward once you accept the village-first logic: choose the shop in or beside the village where you sleep, book the tier that matches how you actually ski, and collect before your first morning on the hill. Arc 1950's car-free centre makes fitting and swapping easiest, while Arc 1800's residence-based shops and the upper villages' slope-side branches serve their own guests well.

Book early for half-term and Easter, ask about the swap policy and insurance at collection, and check current rates and shop opening times directly with the rental shop before you commit. With equipment sorted, the rest of the week belongs to the mountain.