MERIBEL
Ski & Snowboard Resort Review
The picturesque Meribel Valley is located in the heart of Les 3 Vallees France with Courchevel on the east side and Les Menuires/Val Thorens on the west.
Meribel Skiing and Snowboarding Terrain
The skiing and snowboarding terrain in the Meribel Valley is magnificent with steep powder filled pistes, tight chutes and natural gullies, fast mogul runs, 150 kilometres of long linking groomed trails and beginner runs. The valley is serviced by a fast and efficient lift system.
Meribel is part of Les 3 Vallees which are the largest interlinked resorts in the world with 600 kilometres of endless marked trails plus unlimited off piste terrain. You could ski or snowboard Les 3 Vallees terrain for weeks and not cover it all. For information on Les 3 Vallees click here
Lift passes can be purchased for just the Meribel Valley or for the entire Les 3 Vallees area. In the winter of 2006/2007 a new 'Hands Free' ski pass was introduced to Les 3 Vallees and Meribel which automatically enables lift access without staff manually checking passes ensuring less crowd congestion.
Advanced Skiing and Snowboarding
In the Meribel Valley from almost every peak in all directions there are countless challenges for advanced skiers and snowboarders.
If you stand in the town of Meribel looking up towards Mont Du Vallon the left hand side of the valley is the sunniest aspect with fast steep and fun runs on either side of the Pas Du Lac Gondola. The right hand side of the valley generally has better deep powder off piste skiing and snowboarding as it receives less direct sun.
On a clear day make your way up to the top of Mont Du Vallon for awe inspiring views of Les 3 Vallees before picking your marked or off piste path down into the valley. From the top advanced skiers and snowboarders can zig zag there way up and down the entire Meribel Valley.
After a good snowfall catch the Loze Chairlift from Altiport to access the long Boulevard de la Loze trail, after a few fast groomed runs head off piste into the exciting surrounding terrain filled with natural kickers, rollers and mini windlips.
In bad weather conditions the upper sections of the Meribel Valley can suffer from white outs forcing skiers and snowboarders down into the lower sections, head for the treed area and natural obstacles around the Combes Chairlift.
Intermediate Skiing and Snowboarding
Intermediates can access a lot of long groomed quite steep linking trails throughout the Meribel Valley. They should feel confident to go and explore the intermediate trails and terrain across Les 3 Vallees which generally has gentler intermediate terrain than found in the Meribel Valley.
For a long early morning warm up run catch the Tougnete Gondola from Meribel to the top station before skiing or snowboarding down the groomed fast Faon trail leading to the halfway station, from there keep going all the way back down to Meribel or head across to the Meribel Mottaret terrain.
From Meribel Mottaret the Combes Chairlift and the Plattieres Gondola access intermediate level open powder terrain leading down into the trees, in good snow conditions it is great fun.
Beginner Skiing and Snowboarding
The slopes at Meribel rise quickly from the villages making the terrain more suited for intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders.
The main beginner skiing and snowboarding area of the Meribel Valley is around Altiport. From Meribel take the Rhodos Gondola to access the wide open gently sloping runs under the Altiport Chairlift. Some of the runs wind down through the trees back to Meribel; they get steeper as they get closer to Meribel so only confident beginners should attempt them. Those not so confident take the Rhodos Gondola back down to Meribel.
The neighbouring resort of Courchevel has a lot more wide gentle beginner terrain, to access the Courchevel Valley catch the Loze Chairlift from Altiport.
The Meribel ski and snowboard Schools have over 400 professional bilingual instructors with group, private and day long lessons available for all levels of ability and age group. Freestyle and off piste powder lessons are also offered with guides taking you to hidden powder stashes and giving you a few powder skiing and snowboarding tips along the way.
First Tracks Skiing and Snowboarding at Meribel
Every Thursday morning at 8am skiers and snowboarders have the opportunity to make first tracks on the slopes in the Meribel Valley. Reserve a spot the night before to get out early with the ski patrol, after a light breakfast at the top cruise down the newly groomed untouched trails back down to the base area.
Meribel Terrain Park and Halfpipe
Meribel has two terrain parks the Plattieres Snowboard Park and the Arpasson Park.
The Plattieres Snowboard Park is located at Meribel Mottaret it has various jumps, rails, tabletops and kickers for beginner, intermediate and advanced freeriders.
The Arpasson Park in Meribel has a well maintained competition level halfpipe and a beginner halfpipe. The park has jumps, rails and tabletops of various sizes and a long boardercross course.
Other Activities at Meribel
Other outdoor activities to enjoy at Meribel include ice skating on the Olympic skating rink, snow shoeing, dog sled rides, snowmobiling, swimming, winter walking trails, paragliding and scenic flights.
Indoor activities include climbing walls, bowling, cinema and massage and beauty treatments.
Meribel Shopping
Meribel is full of ski and snowboard equipment and rental shops, fashion boutiques and gift and souvenir shops. There are eyewear shops, newsagencies, pharmacies, leather and jewellery shops, homeware shops, children’s clothing boutiques, book shops and beauty salons.
Food wise there are grocery markets, butchers, patisseries (bakeries), delicatessens and cheese shops.
Meribel Restaurants
The majority of restaurants in Meribel serve beautiful French cuisine and local speciality dishes.
Cheese lovers must go to La Fromagerie Chez Fromton restaurant located beneath the cheese shop, the fondue, raclette and wine list is excellent.
For fine dining go to the elegant main dining room in Le Grand Coeur Hotel serving regional specialty meat and fish dishes, choose a wine to accompany your meal from the old cellar stocked full of top European wines.
The popular La Galette Restaurant is great value for money serving traditional meals, crepes and gourmet pizzas.
Don’t miss the bakeries selling sweet and savoury takeaway quiches, tarts, baguettes and croissants and the small crepe stalls selling hot sweet crepes and drinks.
Meribel Nightlife
Meribel has a really lively nightlife with crowded bars, loud pubs and popular nightclubs all remaining open until the early hours of the morning.
The stylish Barometer bar plays good music, has good service, opens early for après ski cocktails and remains open late serving wines by the glass.
Le Pub is one of the largest and most popular pubs in Meribel; it has an après ski happy hour with live band performances regularly and live screenings of the English football (soccer) matches.
Dick’s Tea Bar nightclub has dancing all night long as does Le Loft nightclub with well known DJs playing both old classics and funky new music.
New for 2007/2008 at Meribel
The Tougnete 2 Gondola has been replaced with a high speed chairlift with protective weather shields. The new chairlift will carry 3,300 passengers an hour and eliminate the need to remove your skis or snowboards when leaving the Meribel Valley to access the rest of Les 3 Vallees.
The Arpasson Terrain Park has a new children's beginner freestyle area. The new slope has a 50 meter vertical drop with mini-tables and mini-jumps spread over 200 meters.
The Parc Olympic in the Meribel Village has had a facelift. Now as well as the existing ice skating rink the Parc has a swimming pool, climbing wall, Turkish baths, saunas, bowling alley and a nightclub.
More About Meribel
Your Meribel Ski & Snowboard Resort Reviews
Ellie Conrads, UK. Feb 2006 THANK YOU MERIBEL.....My girlfriends and I spent a week in Meribel this year and have decided to make it a ritual! We had an absolutely fabulous time! Skiing and boarding all day (well after 11-am!) then partying all night with the locals and some unnamed others! (what happens on a girl's trip stays on a girl's trip!!!) We stayed in Meribel (Mottaret is a bit quite for us, but the ski in ski out will appeal one day), at a lovely apartment, it was tiny but still quite lovely, just up the road from the tourist office. At night we spent most of our time either at Dicks Tea Bar or Le Loft, both were equally as fun as each other. Dicks had more of our country men but it was very fulfilling creating international relations at Le Loft!!!!! Rond Point was also fabulous for the apres ski start on the way back to the village. Skiing wise we stuck mainly to the Meribel Valley in the mornings then headed over to Chourchevel in the afternoons. I love the groomed pistes that go forever, some are so long and really well interlinked, there's nothing worse than having to traverse back and forth to get from one place to another. Also a great thing is that the maps are easy to read and the pistes have good signs, we found that one of us generally had a clue where we were. and if we didn't there was always a sexy instructor or patroller to flag down and ask!!! A downfall I've had in the past is that the skiing in the Meribel valley gets really over crowded during the school holidays, and in busy times I would head to Les Menuires and Val Thorens. It takes quite a while to get to Val Thorens, it is a long way from Meribel however you will be rewarded with uncrowded pistes. Well the girls will be back to Meribel next year SO LOOK OUT FOR US!!!!
B Cobb, Australia. Jan 2006 I recently took my family to Meribel and throughly enjoyed every moment of the experience. Our apartment was a bit shabby and a bit of a squeeze but my wife still produced delicious meals every night. Aaahhh the food was tops, every morning I would go to the bakery and buy warm croissants and baguettes, and they actually tasted real! - in Sydney there would not be a croissant that would come even close to the Les Fee Verte bakery. I originally chose to stay at Meribel mainly because it was slightly cheaper than Chourchevel but having been to Chourchevel I'm happy that I chose Meribel it seemed snobby and didn't have the amenities and shops that Meribel does. With 3 children under the age of 11 the ski school was our savour! The instructors were so good with the kids and there english was better than mine, My wife and I would ski out of the Meribel Valley every morning to the upper areas of Chourchevel before having lunch on the mountain, yes some days we paid way too much and others we struck it lucky at only having to pay around $30, it was still worth it though! The afternoons were spent in the Meribel Valley on the lower slopes with the kids, they loved it, the Pas-du-Lac 1 gondola a particular favourite! I must mention the overall beauty of the area, my wife took literally hundreds of photos of the scenic views and they don't even begin to do it justice! Meribel was also appealing off the skis, we went ice skating as a family, swimming and even snow shoeing! Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable holiday and I would rather not ski in Australia for a couple of years in order to save the money to return for a few weeks every couple of years.
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