Purpose-built Isola 2000 is the highest skiing resort in the southern Alps and its lofty altitude means that snow cover is guaranteed throughout a long season that runs from December to April, as Mark Latham found on a recent trip.

LARGELY overlooked by the international ski set, the mountain resort of Isola is one of France’s best kept secrets. Lying at the south-western tip of the Alps in the Mercantour National Park, Isola is just a 90-minute bus ride from Nice on the Côte d’Azur and lays claim to be one of the few resorts in the world where you can ski in the morning and swim in the sea in the afternoon.

If you are looking for the chi-chi après-ski of Verbier, St Moritz or Courchevel, the challenging slopes of a St Anton or the heavy-duty partying of Tyrolean resorts such as Ischgl or Mayrhofen, forget it. What Isola does offer is excellent value for money for those on a budget, easy slopes suitable for beginners and intermediate skiers, and good regional cuisine.

Unlike the mega alpine resorts further north, Isola has another big advantage: it doesn’t attract the tens of thousands of Brits that flock annually to resorts such as Méribel and Val d'Isère, where you can spend an entire holiday eating fried breakfasts and Pukka Pies in British-style pubs without hearing a word of French. By contrast, Isola mostly attracts a low-key set from the Alpes-Maritimes and Provence regions of south-eastern France as well as a smattering of visitors from nearby Italy.

Another plus is the quality of the snow. At 2,000m (6,560ft) above sea level, Isola is the highest resort in the southern Alps, which means snow is guaranteed late in the season – the resort has held the French snowfall record several times.

One of the most exhilarating runs involves taking a cable car up to the 2350m (7,710ft) Col de la Lombard on the Franco-Italian border, from where there are dramatic views into Italy and from where a 3km tree-lined run leads back to the resort.

The fact that Isola does not – other than during the French school holidays – attract massive crowds means most of the pistes remain perfectly groomed right up to late afternoon with no moguls or ice patches on the lower runs.

The low number of skiers compared with the big resorts has other advantages: no queueing to buy lift passes, no queuing for the lifts themselves and no queuing for a table at the cosy piste-side cafes, which are delightful places to drop by for a hot chocolate, a schnapps or a tarte aux myrtilles while sun-bathing on the deckchairs outside.

Isola's position at the dead-end of a high valley affords it north, south and west-facing pistes spread around a horseshoe bowl of dramatic peaks, so, depending on the time of day, it’s nearly always possible to ski in the sun. Being the southernmost alpine resort means it can claim more sun than the Swiss, Austrian and German resorts further north and east.

Once you have mastered Isola’s 120km of pistes, you could also visit the nearby resort of Auron which offers 135km of slightly more challenging runs (eight blacks, 16 reds, 16 blues and two greens) and is only a 30-minute drive away.

But don’t bother going to Auron late in the season: its lower altitude (1,600m/5,250ft) meant the spring snow was icy and thin when we visited in late March in contrast to the powdery snow of Isola.

So far, so good, then. If you are looking for lively night life in Isola, however, you will be disappointed. Other than a bowling alley, some small bars and a cinema, a stroll around the town in the evening reveals little sign of human existence, with most visitors opting to spend downtime in their hotels or chalets.

Perhaps visitors are deterred by the less than handsome 1970s concrete shopping mall cum accommodation block which is the resort’s centre piece. Thankfully the timber chalets above the compact resort are more trad-looking and linked to the centre by a funicular train.

Like many of the purpose-built high-altitude French resorts, Isola was designed around the “ski-in, ski-out” concept, which – if you are staying in the centre – allows you to ski out from the doorstep of your hotel without the hassle of waiting for ski buses.

Another thing missing from Isola – for those who like to unwind in a sauna after a day on the slopes – are the often enormous “wellness” spa complexes which are now de rigueur in German-speaking alpine resorts. In Isola there is not even a community swimming pool.

Thankfully Isola is more lively during the day. The cafés and restaurants we visited – such as the excellent Cow Club – serve decent traditional alpine fare, with prominence given to dishes such as tartiflette or the classic raclette where cheese is melted with an electric element on to a tray from which the cheese is taken and eaten with pickles, meat or potatoes.

Isola also offers, unusually, the possibility of making an evening trip by skidoo to a mountain-top alpine hut. After some rudimentary training on driving the two-seater snowmobile – powered by caterpillar tracks at the back with skis at the front – we headed up a piste we had skied down during the day, only this time in total darkness apart from the twilight and the headlights of the snowmobile.

Half an hour later we arrived at La Valette chalet where we sat down at a long wooden candle-lit table next to a roaring log fire where, at 2235m above sea level, we were served an apéritif followed by a four-course meal, including blackened chicken in lemon sauce with sweet potatoes and a uniquely French take on Beef Wellington, all washed down with some excellent local wines. The all-in price for the trip was a very reasonable €110 (£ 80), including a bizarre coffee liquor which guests drink directly from a large clay bowl with eight spouts.

If your thirst for skiing is finite or you value variety in your holidays, add a day or two in the lively city of Nice on the French Riviera to your itinerary.

After a few days in the mountains staying in accommodation with giant icicles hanging from the eaves it was a pleasant shock to walk along the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, which follows the city’s four-mile horseshoe bay, in which the yachts of the super-rich sat regally in the sparkling azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Look up, however, and you could see the snow-capped Alps in the distance.

You'll also find wonderful flower, food and fruit markets, where you can stock up on the famous locally made soap or onion tart with olives and anchovies.

The evening was given over to fine dining in the private flat of Michelin-starred celebrity chef Christian Plumail. After years of running his own restaurant in Nice, Plumail recently sold up and decided that in future he would only cook for a limited number of paying guests in his own swish city centre apartment.

Plumail says he wants to offer a unique and intimate gastronomic experience closer to that of a private dinner party than that of the traditional restaurant meal. The personable Plumail cooks in front of his guests (if you like you can join in and help with the preparation) and then sits down to dinner and conversation.

The exquisite four-course meal was topped off with the lightest lemon soufflé I have ever tasted. Including wines, canapés and hand-made after-dinner truffles the bill came in at €100 a head.

Besides the busy bars, book markets and boutiques that line the twisting lanes around the Place Garibaldi (the Italian general was born here in 1807), Nice is also home to two internationally acclaimed museums dedicated to the artists Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, who both lived in the city.

For those fed up of transiting through Zürich, Geneva or Munich airports en route to their annual skication, Nice makes for a pleasant and warmer alternative.

ISOLA 2000 STATS

Isola 2000 runs: 3 blacks, 11 reds, 21 blues and 7 greens.

Pistes: 120km over 42 runs plus 3km of cross-country skiing track.

Lifts: 24

Highest lift: Cime de Sistron at 2,610m

Snow cannons: 240

Resort altitude: 2,000m with lowest piste at 1,840m and a maximum vertical drop of 770m.

A snow park offers a boarder-cross piste and a half-pipe. Heli-skiing is available across the border in Italy but is forbidden in France.

Lift pass: €33.50 a day, €137.80 for six days

Getting there

The closest international airport is Nice from where several buses a day (Number 750) make the 90-minute trip along twisting mountain roads to Isola for just €8 return. Visit lignesdazur.com. If you are time-poor but cash-rich you could also get to Isola from Nice airport in 20 minutes by helicopter.

British Airways flies to Nice from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow from £180 return via London. KLM flies to Nice from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow from £137 return via Amsterdam.

Where to stay

A one-bedroomed self-catering apartment (sleeps 4) at Les Terrasses d’Azur starts from £255 a week. Call 0870 026 7145 or visit pierreetvacances.com.

Other information

Learn to ski at the ESF French Ski School from €46 an hour for up to two people. Group classes are cheaper. The ski school also offers off-piste guiding from February. Visit esf-isola2000.com.

The Isola tourist office website is winter.isola2000.com