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The village of La Salle sits just a few minutes walk off the main N91 road leading up the valley. The old village is pretty and it's quite and natural. There are a lot of narrow little village streets, some "paved" with grass, running closely beside the houses, almost like private walkways. We've visited (and stayed) here on both of our vacations (both working vacations), in 1998 and 2003. Our main interest during our visits, other than hiking, was discovering sundials, so we may mention them a bit much.
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Nearby: |
24 km |
Briancon 7 km |
3 km |
Embrun 57 km |
12 km |
21 km |
Monêtier-les-Bains 6 km |
Below: |
Villeneuve-La-Salle |
Le Bez |
Villard-Late |
History |
O.T. |
Lodging Hotels |
Down at the end of the Descent des Choulieres, still in the old village, at the house called "Chez Le Grange", there's a pair of sundials up on the chimney of the house.
There's no commerce in the old village of la Salle. The Boucherie-Charcuterie is a small truck that stops on its way through - blowing its horn to let the residents know it's there. There is some commerce down the hill, in the hamlet of Villeneuve.
The Place du Cadran Solaire has a small evergreen garden, a pink-marble fountain, and a magnificent 1811 sundial (cadran solaire). The sundial is on the side of the 15th-century church, and the church, Eglise Saint-Marcellin. The Briançionnais-style Saint-Marcellin has a tall, pointed clock-bell tower, wood-shingled roofs, and a rather ornate stone-pillared porch with vaulted ceiling. One of the three pillars is supported by a crouching stone lion in the same style at those at Embrun and Guillestre.
A Cybercafé at the Office de Tourisme (email access but no printing). There is a "Multiservice" just down the road, with Internet access and printing (a business run out of someone's home).
There are two laundromats (laveries automatiques): one in the old-village hamlet of Villeneuve, at the bottom of the road down from La Salle; another in the "mall" on the southwest side of the highway. The laundromat in the old hamlet was 10 euros for a large load; drop it off in the morning and pick up that evening; or and evening drop-off and next morning pickup.
Villeneuve-La-Salle
This is a holiday resort village, summer and winter, part of the commune of La Salle.
A large, commercial part of Villeneuve is on the southwest side of the highway, with an enormous parking lot, shops, a grocery store, the Office de Tourisme, and vacation apartments.
On the northeast side of the highway, the old part of Villeneuve is mainly a long street running beside the river. The street, a continuation of the road down from the village of La Salle-les-Alpes, is lined with shops and outfitters for hiking, skiing, rafting and biking,cafés and restaurants, most of them quite good. (We sampled a fair number!).
There's an underground pedestrian passage connecting the two parts of Villeneuve, so you don't need to dodge traffic to get from one to the other.
Le Bez
This little hamlet is in the commune of La Salle, and is located on the on the west bank of the river, just a couple minutes drive up from Villeneuve. The hamlet is old and quiet. There are a few newer houses, but it's still quite authentic.
We found 4 sundials in Le Bez. The hamlet is also a popular starting point for walking and hiking. Among the many trails marked, we found:
- Sentier Botanique, starting a few hundred meters from the hamlet, going out through the woods to the north.
- "Les Balcons de Serre Chevalier", going up higher onto the flank of the Encrins
- Tour de la Tete du Grand Pré, 13 km
- Sentier Belvédere Chapelle St Elisabeth.
Villard-Laté
 Villard-Laté is a hamlet in the commune of La Salle-les-Alpes. It's located about 2 km southeast, on the hillside opposite Chantemerle. It's a typical little mountain village, and quite nice, but now much more residential than farming. It has an old stone church with tall, pointed steeple. The communal bread oven (four communal) wasn't open while we were there, but there were signs that it's still used [interior photo]. No commerce at all, but a hotel, and a brocante-antique shop in one of the homes. Several little streets for strolling up and down the hillside of the village.
History
Name
First record, 1118
Gallo-Roman:
There are traces of the Roman road (voie romaine) that passed through the valley.
Office de Tourisme
Tel: 0492 24 71 88; Fax: 0492 24 76 18
Located in the "mall" on the southwest side of the highway, across from the village.
Lodging - Hotels
Beyond's Thumb-Down prize of all time goes to the Xxxxxxxx hotel we stayed in here. The first "2-star" hotel we've seen with no cleaning, no towels, sheets and pillowcases so ancent all are torn from overuse, broken and badly fitted bed slats, reception closed most of the time, most notices and menus printed in Swedish only (no French, no English). Most of their clients seem to be "bubble" tours from Sweden, where the visitors doen't want to be confronted with a foreign culture.
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Photo gallery of 10 photos for Villeneuve-la-Salle
