3 Vallees

Is the 3 Vallees worth it?

For a good skier, it is the best ski area in the world. Everything is here and everything is well kept: grooming every night unless there is a storm, modern lifts, great food on the mountain and places to stay at every price.

The nuances are size and cost. Beginners will not use most of it and are better off in a smaller resort. Courchevel especially is very expensive. Big snowfalls can close the links between valleys, and getting here means a flight to Geneva or Lyon and a three-hour drive, usually by car.

Which village to choose

Courchevel is the best, if you can pay for it. For a week of serious skiing, Meribel-Mottaret is the best base. On a budget, Les Menuires is the most underrated village in the area.

1850 mCourchevel 18505.0The place to be. Superb skiing and food, the most expensive ski resort you can think of.

1650 mCourchevel 16504.5A small step down from 1850: the same skiing, a little more village and a little less money.

1550 mCourchevel 15504.5Another bend in the road below 1850, quieter and cheaper, with the same mountain above it.

1300 mLe Praz4.0The lowest Courchevel village, at the bottom of the valley. Fine skiing, but the snow goes first.

1400 mLa Tania4.0A low, quiet village with one big gondola into the system and room to park.

1450 mMeribel5.0A proper village in the middle of everything. Premium, but not extravagant.

1750 mMeribel-Mottaret5.0The best base in the 3 Vallees for keen skiers. Central, practical and cheaper than its neighbours.

2300 mVal Thorens4.5The highest village in the area: open terrain, young crowds and the most famous après in the Alps.

1850 mLes Menuires4.5The most underrated village in the 3 Vallees: great skiing, real prices.

1450 mSaint-Martin-de-Belleville4.5An old Savoyard village below Les Menuires, linked into the system by chairlift.

900 mOrelle4.0The fourth valley. Long reds, the highest point in the area, and a long way from everything else.

The skiing

Experts

Two runs stand out. The Grand Couloir, off the top of the Pas du Lac gondola, curves into Courchevel like a huge half-pipe. Coqs, under the Combes chair in Mottaret, is a long, perfectly built red to the village. Then make a sunny-day trip to Orelle.

Find a run you love near where you stay and be on it when the lifts open. That first hour sets up your whole day.Our insider tip

Intermediates

Stick to the Courchevel and Meribel sectors: lots of wide, interconnected pistes, groomed every night. Buy the full area pass and explore.

Beginners

You will not feel most of the advantages here. Stay local, buy the valley pass, and ask your instructor before you pay for more.

Snow and when to go

Late in the season, go high. Val Thorens and Courchevel keep good snow into April, and our March and April trips have been fine.

Avoid basing yourself low from late March. La Tania, Le Praz and the lower runs melt first: crisp in Courchevel, watery at La Tania on the same warm day.

Lift pass and getting around

Buy the full 3 Vallees pass if you are an intermediate or better. Seeing how different the valleys are is the point of coming here. Beginners can save the money and buy a valley pass.

Queues form at the ridge crossings, worst between Val Thorens and Mottaret just after lunch. Go early, or go late and race the last lifts home if you are a strong skier. The biggest first-timer mistake here is getting stuck on the wrong side of a ridge.

Getting there

Fly to Geneva, Lyon or Chambery, then drive up the Tarentaise valley. Trains run to Moutiers, with buses and taxis up to the villages, but most people hire a car or book a transfer. Saturday traffic up the valley is heavy.