Known equally by very similar French and English names, the Three
Valleys, in the French region of Savoie, simply constitutes the single
largest and best inter-linked ski area in the world.
It has 600km of pistes — not to mention very substantial areas of off-piste
terrain — and a total of 180 lifts (that figure used to be higher, but now old,
slow drag lifts have been replaced by high-speed chairlifts in many places).
There is a huge variety of accommodation to suit absolutely every taste and
budget, located sometimes in characterful old alpine villages and sometimes in
super-modern state-of-the-art developments.
There is a more-than-imaginable amount of skiing to fulfil the greatest
expectation of every level of skier or boarder, plenty of it at very snow-sure
high altitudes — there’s even a glacier — and much of it is covered by
snow-making equipment. The standard of the piste- grooming here is frankly the
highest in Europe and among the best to be found anywhere in the world. Cool
corduroy fans love it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find taxing mogul-fields
if that’s what you prefer.
COURCHEVEL
Courchevel actually consists of four resorts, each taking the name of their
altitude in metres: 1850, 1650, 1550 and 1300.
Courchevel 1850 is the highest and largest station. It has an
abundance of four-star hotels, not to mention a remarkable collection of
luxurious private chalets. Much of the accommodation is located piste-side, so
that you can virtually ski out of your bedroom in the morning and back into it
in the afternoon.
Some might find 1850 a little swanky and glitzy (it was created with
Parisians in mind, remember), but most just love it for being the definition of
skiing convenience: almost no walking or schlepping. Many find spending the
evening in their own hotels (often equipped with alluring bars and even
piano-bars) or chalets, but there is also a lively centre, which gets
better-looking by the year. There are two two-star Michelin restaurants and
plenty of more reasonable options. The mountain dining opportunities are of the
standard you would expect. However this certainly a place where you are obliged
to pay for what you get pay for: the best.
Courchevel 1650 is less glamorous than its higher neighbour but is
nevertheless at a very respectable altitude with smooth (much- improved in
recent years) access to the Three Valleys ski area. It’s large enough to have a
decent selection of bars and restaurants, as well as a great choice of
good-value chalets and also a handful of decent but family-friendly
hotels.
Courchevel 1550 is the smallest and quietest of the Courchevels, but
it boasts easy gondola access to the heart of 1850 and pleasant pistes on the
homeward runs. Nightlife is quiet but by no means non-existent, though nocturnal
links to 1850 are tricky and/ or expensive. There’s plenty of good value
self-catering accommodation here.
Courchevel 1300 , which often prefers to be known as Le Praz, is a
traditional mountain village of great character, housing plenty of pretty
chalets and a handful of small, modest hotels. Getting into the main part of the
ski area is a bit laborious and late- or early-season skiers may need to return
here by lift or bus. It’s a fine, friendly place for families with young
children.
LA TANIA
La Tania is a modern, chalet-style development originally built for the 1992
Olympics, but now much-expanded. Comprising mostly apartments and chalets, it is
located at 1350m on the road between Courchevel 1300 and Meribel Village. There
are good links into the main ski area and some lovely, steepish cruising pistes
back to the resort. Nightlife in this family-friendly place is essentially low-
key, but there is a Michelin-starred restaurant.
MERIBEL
Meribel rightly styles itself as being “The Heart of the Trois Vallees”,
since that is precisely where it is located. The station was founded by a
Scotsman, Peter Lindsay, in 1938, after he had made extensive research into ski
resorts around the Alps, especially Austria, so it has a distinctive alpine feel
and charm, not to mention continuing historical links with the British.
Meribel Village is a cluster of chalets, some of them quite luxurious,
at the entrance to the main resort, with a handful of shops and
restaurants/bars. It has a direct chairlift link with the Altiport and hence
into the main ski domain. You can ski back home to here on an agreeable blue
run.
Meribel Les Allues , often known simply as Meribel, is the main
settlement. It comprises lots of traditional-looking wooden chalets (and a very
few hotels), many of them luxurious and in superb piste-side locations, arranged
vertically on the sunny mountainside. Although the main collection of shops,
bars and restaurants is located at the bottom, there are other places grouped
together higher up, as you make your way round the snake bends to the Altiport
and Plateau de Morel levels. Do not be surprised to hear more British than
French voices here.
Meribel-Mottaret is a higher altitude satellite of Meribel. Its large
apartment and hotel buildings may lack the charm of the Les Allues village, but
its location does provide faster and easier access to the very best
high-altitude snow conditions. There is a limited après-ski scene here.
BRIDES-LES-BAINS
This is a former spa resort below Meribel that is now linked with Meribel and
the Three Valleys ski area by a gondola. It is not the liveliest of places and
skiing back to this low-altitude destination is by no means always easy or even
possible. But for those on a very tight budget who yearn to have access to some
of the world’s greatest skiing, it is certainly worth considering.
ST-MARTIN-DE-BELLEVILLE
This is the first resort in the third valley. An attractive old mountain
village, built of stone and wood rather than concrete, with a pretty old Baroque
church at its centre, it has been sensitively developed and expanded in the past
quarter-century or so. It has excellent links into the main ski area and some
lovely rolling intermediate pistes on the way back home. Nightlife may seem a
bit limited, but it makes up for what it lacks in size with intimacy and
conviviality.
LES MENUIRES
Often formerly mocked as the ugliest of the resorts in the Three Valleys, Les
Menuires is actually located at the very respectable altitude of 1800m and gives
easy access to the glacier ski area of neighbouring Val Thorens, as well as the
slopes of La Masse — one of the most overlooked and under-rated of the many ski
areas in this region. Architecturally it is not the most beautiful ski station
in the Alps, but there have been considerable improvements in recent years. Some
of the more recent outpost settlements, such as Reberty and Les Bruyeres,
constructed in the chalet style, are very pleasant and can almost be seen as
mini-resorts in their own right, with their own modest bar/restaurant scenes.
(Meanwhile some of the earliest design mistakes of the 1960s have lately been
demolished. Not before time.) Accommodation here is mainly in apartments, but
Reberty has a good clutch of British-run chalets, as well as some pleasant
hotels.
VAL THORENS
At an altitude of 2,300m, this is not only the highest ski resort in the
Three Valleys, but also in the whole of Europe. It has a glacier, lots of
snow-making facilities and plenty of north-facing slopes, which all combine to
make this the very best choice in the Alps for snow-sure skiing very early or
late in the season. There’s also plenty of off-piste terrain and, thanks to the
altitude, the snow stays powdery for longer. (Val Thorens’s only disadvantage is
that the resort and much of the immediate ski area lie above the tree- line,
which can make things tricky in a white-out, although you can always head down
to the Meribel area which has some woodland.)
Although purpose-built, this is far from the ugliest ski station in the world
and some of its newer buildings are remarkably attractive. The resort is
car-free (or at least as near as possible) and much of the accommodation faces
directly onto the slopes, giving ski-out/ski-in access. Mountain restaurants,
resort restaurants and the après-ski scene are all of a notably higher standard
than you might expect to find in such an apparently remote resort and beside all
the apartments there are a few very high quality hotels.
Lastly, Val Thorens is also the gateway to the so-called “Fourth Valley”,
otherwise known as the Orelle area in the Maurienne, which offers excellent
intermediate skiing in mid-season.
For more information on everything that the 3 Valleys has to offer, click here.
