The resort of Méribel was founded in 1938 by British skier Peter Lindsay, when he visited the town of Les Allues. He imagined how the area would be perfect for a ski resort. The development of the area continued to create five villages. Les Allues (1,100m in altitude) is the original site of the Méribel resort. The village is filled with Savoyard chalets and refurbished barns along narrow streets. Méribel-Village sits at 1,400m in altitude and has been growing in size and importance since the 1990s. Before then, only a few chalets were in place in the area, but now it is connected by the Golf Ski lift and has easy access to Méribel Centre.
Méribel Centre is the heart of the Méribel area, and arguably the centre of Les Trois Vallées region. At 1500m in altitude, it hosts cinemas, pools, spas, shops and restaurants and boasts the best nightlife in the area. Méribel Les Hauts (1,600m in altitude) houses the first airport in high altitude (1,700m), but the village is more on the quiet side. It has a golf course and stunning views, and generally offers a vast amount of hiking trails. The highest village is Méribel-Mottaret, set at 1,750m in altitude. The pistes are directly linked to the village, so you pop out of your chalet with your skis on and ski back home for a cosy chimney fire straight from the pistes – the ultimate luxury for many skiing and lifestyle enthusiasts.
Another major attraction of Méribel is the Vanoise National Park, 2,700 acres that stretch from the Lake Tuéda to the Gebroulaz glacier. Beyond its natural beauty and large landscapes, Méribel Centre can get quite boisterous in the evenings. The rest of the villages in the resort tend to attract skiing and mountain lovers looking for a more peaceful and traditional environment.
Méribel Village
Located above 1,400m in altitude and right in the heart of Les Trois Vallées ski region, the village of Méribel Village is idyllic. Like the rest of the Méribel region, Méribel Village has housed some beautiful Savoyard-style architecture and a very friendly community since its inception in the 90s. Served by the Golf chair lift, the village is nearly always sunny and the terraces of the two main restaurants are usually packed with skiers. There are some relaxing après-ski options, but for those looking to take part in the nightlife, there are many free shuttles to and from the different villages. Méribel Village is quite young, but is sure to continue to grow in popularity, so purchasing a property in the village could be a great investment opportunity.
Méribel Centre
Méribel Centre is the heart of the Méribel ski area. Everything is close together, from tourism offices, to cinemas, to pools, to bars and restaurants, and it is always lively. Set at 1,500m in altitude, it is the largest village of the Méribel resort. Properties that make up the village are beautiful chalets and private houses, and they are set to a backdrop of the Savoyard landscape. Within the Méribel skiing area, more than 150km of ski pistes can be found and the village is linked to 600km of pistes found in Les Trois Vallées. The village hosts some of the region’s wildest parties and properties here always have a high rental demand.
Méribel Les Allues
Méribel Les Allues, made up of eight smaller villages starting at 1,100m in altitude, is the lowest resort to be found in the Méribel ski area. These are the villages that inspired the creation of the larger domain of Méribel back in 1936. It is where the charm, and the atmosphere, of the region stems for the rest of the Méribel ski resort. The villages are traditional and the architecture is typically Savoyard. The properties for sale in the region offer some great links to the higher ski pistes, but also provide a quieter and more authentic sense of the Alpine culture. In the summers, many chose to rent out properties in Les Allues since it offers some great hiking trails at the lower-end of the mountain, but also provides more challenging hikes higher up quite easily thanks to the Olympic chair lift that was installed in 1992.
