Oct. 13, 2025
La Folie Douce stands out as the only proper après-ski chain in the Alps - a remarkable achievement in a world where most mountain bars remain fiercely local. Founded in Val d’Isère in 1981 by Luc Reversade, La Folie Douce began as a single slope-side restaurant with live music. Over the decades, it has evolved into a full-blown entertainment experience, blending cabaret, DJs, live performers, and quality dining - a unique mix that has come to define French après-ski.
While traditional venues like the Krazy Kanguruh in St Anton or the Rond Point in Méribel built fame on their local authenticity, La Folie Douce built a scalable experience. By combining high-energy entertainment, gourmet cuisine, and modern design, it created an atmosphere that could be exported to other resorts such as Val Thorens, Méribel, and Morzine-Avoriaz. Each new venue kept the signature vibe — part nightclub, part festival, part brasserie.
The world's finest proponent of après ski, Austria has been relatively immune to the influence of the La Folie Douce powerhouse. Après ski kingpins in Austria will be acutely aware of the riches that pour into La Folie Douce tills each day. But as business models go, the Austrian template takes some beating commercially. Venues such as the Goaßstall in Saalbach-Hinterglemm see masses of revellers folk daily to their vast terraces. Beer flows from the bars in mind-blowing volumes and for those rooted to the peripheries of the terraces, there are self-serve beer automats scattered around. Gourmet food would be a spanner in the works of one of the best lubricated party machines in the Alps. It is a similar picture in the après ski goliaths of Ischgl, Sölden and St Anton – try asking for a menu there and await a bemused reaction.
The fusion après ski model of La Folie Douce has had immense success in France and similar concepts have sprung up in Switzerland. In Italy, Super G offers a similar concept with expansive main stages and theatre and live music in the afternoon. There is a merchandise shop and restaurant as part of the offering, with the concept following a very Folie theme. So far, Super G seems to have a stuck keyboard with venues in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Cervinia, Courmayeur and Cortina.
The many strings to the La Folie Douce bow have made it an institution woven into the fabric of the French Alps. Unless the market shifts greatly for Austrian, German, Dutch, British and Eastern European skiers, expect the Austrians to stick with their current model – world-beating volumes of beer consumed to Euro-pop remixes and revellers sliding off tables. It works.