Has anyone been to Méribel Valley France

[guidon]

I guess this isn't really a report, but maybe someone could add one if if they have time.

Anyway Myself and 5 friends are thinking of renting a place there next year for a week, or if we can get the cash together maybe even a 2nd week.

Also is going at the end of march a bad idea ?

[imported_admin]

hi guidon & welcome.
A few Q's
Are you skiers or snow boarders ?
How many years of experience do you have ?
Is AprésSki important ?
(these would be the main factors in my mine when choosing a location to ski in)

As for Méribel Valley I don't know the first thing about it. But maybe someone has skied there recently.

[john510]

hiya,

I was there in 2005 and we had a great laugh. But there wasn't much night life to talk about to be honest. If you are looking for the best Apresski I would have to recommend St. Anton in Austria. St. Anton is near Innsbruck, we flew in there and then got a train and it was great. It even has a snowboard park if you are in to that

[guidon]

As we are all under 30 we would like a lively place. I saw on some site that Méribel Valley was a bit cheaper and easy enough to get to.

We are all skiers, none of that fancy snowboarding for us. :)

[pete railing]

Guidon , I think march would be a little late for getting the best conditions. And at the end of march you will certainly be taking a risk IMHO.

How high is Méribel Valley ?

[tomas]

March would be really late. I've been to somewhere close to Méribel, and it was great. I miss the Fench Alps !

[Karl]

Hi Tomas, The Meribel is 2925m high and is linked to Val Thorens & Courchevel with about 600k of piste combined, Iam planning on going there this year and it looks good to me. March is to late, you will start to get Spring snow, it can be wet and sticky.I find its best to go last 2 weeks in Jan or Feb

[phil]

Karl, seeing as you know this place, do you think it's more a boarders or skiers place ?

I normally take the last week in January for my skiing trips, as I think there are school holidays sometimes in February which can make things a bit hectic on the slopes.

[Karl]

I'm a skier myself, but i'm told Meribel in peticular is supposed to be good for borders.and your right Phil, I should have said the last 2 weeks in Jan or the first week in Feb. The week of the 14th I think is mid term, went once in mid term, never again. But for snow quaility I find anythime from mid Jan to the end of Feb you should get good snow.

[imported_admin]

welcome to the message board Karl !

[up to much]

you should try and hit the slopes around mid Jan to mid Feb, other times of the year are a real gamble IMHO

[Neiltoo]

As we are all under 30 we would like a lively place. I saw on some site that Méribel Valley was a bit cheaper and easy enough to get to.

We are all skiers, none of that fancy snowboarding for us. :)

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Meribel Valley' but if you mean down the valley from Meribel i.e. Brides Les Bains then it is a cheaper option - often a lot cheaper BUT:

A lot of tour operators describe Brides Les Bains as being in the 3 Vallees. This is stretching things a bit. Brides is a spa town, very traditionally french with little in the way of night life, pretty town though. There is a long gondola (25mins+ from memory) which takes you up to Meribel. Dont forget that you have to take this down at the end of the day (there is no way to ski down) It closes at 5pm (again from memory) and its in the shade i.e. cold after a long days skiing.
It is a budget option for skiing in the 3 vallees but the lack of night life and long gondola ride need to be taken into consideration.

As for the other resorts in the 3 vallees they all have something for everyone.

Courchevel is lots of villages, the higher you go the more expensive they get, 1850 being the highest and full of Russians.

La Tania is a small resort between Courchevel and Meribel, built as an accomodation village for the Olympics it has good access to the whole area but limited nightlife.

Meribel is most central of all, a number of levels, Motterets being the highest and best situated for skiing imho.
Meribel is full of chalets and very english! South facing so lower slopes can suffer late season.

Les Menuires is very French, very purpose built and very ugly imho.

Val Thorens is the highest resort(village) in 3 Vallees (and in Europe) Purpose built and car free, ski to your door. Can be very cold early season due to height and above tree line (exposed) but snow reliability is good.

As said Meribel is most central you can ski to Courchevel or Val T fairly quickly. Depending on how fast you ski, it can take a long time to get from Courchevel to Val T or vice versa.

I worked in Meribel for 1 winter, but a few years ago now so I hope my info is up to date!

[theskibug]

Realise this is an old thread but as I live in Courchevel and know Meribel well thought I would give my two pence. Meribel is the middle valley of the Three Valleys. As such it can be rather a bottle neck and the snow coming down into it can get very slushy later on in season. Meribel itself is split into lower villages of Les Aulles (sorry probably spelt wrong) and smaller hamlets, more traditional but not much by way of nightlife. Meribel village is also smaller and more family orientated but quite a nice place. Meribel-Motarret is the new, purpose built collection of chalets and apartments at the base of the main meribel ski area. Very spread out and some accommodation is a long way from the pistes but there are ski buses. Has some well know party hot spots and often little concerts on the pistes etc. Mottaret higher up valley is a collection of a few purpose built apartments and thus more for self-catering families.

[lenmeister]

Meribel is the largest ski area in the world. I'd well believe it because I was there back in 2006, my 1st time at a resort and it's great. We actually stayed in Brides and I advise you to stay out of it. It's fine if you want to retire early to bed every night in a quiet little town. Nearly 300 runs or trails mean you won't be running out of places to go for a long time. 200 lifts mean you won't get stuck anywhere either. There's also 3 or 4 parks with some awesome jumps and rails etc if you're into park stuff.

You need to get a Gondola all the way up to the mid base of the mountain where the rest of the little towns are. This takes 30-40 minutes to get up there. Also, if you miss the last Goldola down the mountain - 5pm I think - then you must get a taxi down which is anywhere from €40 upwards.

There's some nice bars in Meribel and you can hop a free bus that takes you to a few other villages at night. The bars are good, like any other bar if you've the right crowd you'll have a good time.

I'm basing all this on 2006 when I was there but it should still be accurate. TheSkiBug should be able to update anything I've said that's out of date.

So bottom line is don't stay in Brides, try Meribel itself. Even if it's more expensive it's still worth it.

[theskibug]

Yes Brides Les Bains is a pretty quiet place to stay. It does have a few night spots - most people head for the big casino and there are a few nice bars. My other half played a regular live guitar gig in a hotel down there last season. It is a long bubble ride up to Meribel though. There are buses down but a long way. Personally I don't really like Meribel (resort) although Meribel village is nice, but then we are not out clubbing to the early hours as we have to be up to work at 8am!