Next Winter Olympics: French Alps 2030 Dates, Venues, Host & Everything to Know

Quick answer: The next Winter Olympics is French Alps 2030, officially the XXVI Olympic Winter Games, scheduled for February 1–17, 2030 in France. It follows Milano Cortina 2026 and will be the fourth time France has hosted the Winter Games. Following venue changes approved by the IOC in June 2026, competition will be spread across four zones (Lyon, Haute-Savoie, Savoie, and Briançon), with speed skating held at Thialf in the Netherlands, making this the first Winter Olympics split between France and the Netherlands under the current plan.

Updated August 2026 to reflect venue changes approved by the IOC on June 24–26, 2026. Ice sports moved from Nice to Lyon; speed skating moved from the earlier Turin, Italy plan to Thialf. Ceremony venues remain undecided as of this update.

Host: French Alps, France — the fourth time France has hosted the Winter Olympics, following Chamonix 1924, Grenoble 1968, and Albertville 1992.

Dates: February 1–17, 2030.

How it was decided: the French Alps bid was nominated as the IOC's preferred candidate on November 29, 2023, and formally approved at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on July 24, 2024. The detailed venue plan, however, changed significantly in 2026, well after that initial approval — which is the update this page reflects.

The original 2030 masterplan (from the 2023–2024 bid) planned ice sports for Nice and speed skating at Turin's Oval Lingotto in Italy. Neither is happening anymore. Here's what actually changed and why:

• Ice sports (curling, figure skating, ice hockey, short track) moved from Nice to Lyon. The trigger was a dispute over Nice's Allianz Riviera stadium, which was meant to be temporarily converted into an ice hockey venue, after the city elected a new far-right mayor, Éric Ciotti, and negotiations broke down. Organizers said the "alternative solutions sought in Nice have proven unsatisfactory" and that Lyon offered a more central, cost-effective, and compact solution.
• Speed skating moved from Turin, Italy to Thialf in the Netherlands. This was confirmed by the IOC in June 2026, pending final agreements with venue owners. It keeps the Games' international character, just with a different partner country than originally planned.
• Alpine skiing is now confirmed for Courchevel and Val d'Isère. Méribel, which had been part of earlier plans, is not included in the final venue list.

The full venue plan was formally approved by the organizing committee (COJOP) on June 19, 2026, and ratified by the IOC Executive Board on June 26, 2026.

Why speed skating is abroad at all: France doesn't have a suitable existing long-track speed skating venue, and the IOC gave organizers dispensation to hold it outside French borders rather than build a new facility with no clear long-term use afterward. To help Dutch-based athletes feel connected to the Games despite the distance, the Dutch Olympic Committee and government are reportedly planning a satellite mini Olympic Village and a dedicated medals plaza in the Friesland region.

As of this update, neither the opening nor the closing ceremony location has been finalized. The original plan had the opening ceremony in the north and a closing ceremony on Nice's Promenade des Anglais as a signature Mediterranean moment. That plan collapsed along with the rest of the Nice cluster.

• Opening ceremony: organizing committee president Edgar Grospiron has hinted it could move to Lyon, with the home stadium of Olympique Lyonnais (the city's soccer club) considered a candidate venue.
• Closing ceremony: now genuinely unresolved. Briançon, Serre-Ponçon, and Marseille have all been mentioned as possible alternatives, but no decision has been announced. A final answer is expected sometime later in 2026.

If you see older articles (including earlier versions of pages like this one) confidently stating the closing ceremony will be in Nice, that information is now out of date.

Under the current plan, French Alps 2030 will use five Olympic Villages: one each in Lyon, Briançon, and Haute-Savoie, plus two in Savoie. This replaces an earlier plan that included a village in Nice.

The French Alps 2030 Organising Committee (COJOP) is led by president Edgar Grospiron, a French freestyle mogul skiing Olympic champion. The project has also seen some organizational turbulence, including executive departures and a new director general, alongside the venue disputes described above.

The Winter Paralympics will follow, officially the XV Paralympic Winter Games. Exact Paralympic dates are subject to the same ongoing venue-planning process as the Olympics and should be confirmed alongside the final ceremony announcements.