Skiing in the 3 Valleys in France is a skiers paradise - there are 600km of groomed slopes across the 3 Valleys. The Valleys are Val Thorens, Meribel and Courcheval. We stop in the Val Thorens Valley but not in Val Thorens itself - this tends to resemble a bit of a concrete jungle. We stay in the little village of St Martin de Belleville which is at 1450m above sea level and now has a gondola serving the village - it used to be a chair lift which was a bit chilly first thing in the morning. St Martin does not have bars staying open all night but rather is a quiet, civilised place. For a more lively time, you want to consider Meribel.
We always stay at the Ski L'Alpage chalet (http://www.alpage.co.uk/) run by Alison and Rob. The accommodation is very comfortable, the food is great and Rob and Alison always make everyone feel so welcome - Rob's jokes could do with improving! Most days Rob and Alison offer to show you around the slopes, avoiding the queues and taking us to out of the way, but great places for lunch. Its a fantastic package that they offer. You have to get your own way there either by flying, by train or as we do, by car. It takes about 11 hours door to door but we usually stop around Dijon on the way down.
Slope down to MeribelFrom the top of the St Martin gondola, there's a 4 man chairlift that whisks you to the top, from here you can ski to anywhere within the 3 Valleys with Meribel being the next valley over. It's quite possible to be in the Courcheval Valley by 10:30am without any effort at all. Be careful not to miss your last lifts out of Courcheval or Meribel as its an expensive taxi ride round the valleys back home!
Once back to St Martin de Belleville, there is a drink waiting for you at any of the watering holes in the village - our favourites being either L'Eterlou at the bottom of the nursery slope or the Piano Bar just behind the church.
In 2009, Helen and I had jumping lessons to try and master the art of "getting air". See Helen putting this into practise above - she even landed it, honest! This was great fun and our instructor was very helpful. We hired him for just 2 hours one day and he gave us tips on our technigue aswell as showing us how to get air - its a confidence thing more than anything.
My favourite slope in the 3 Valleys? Well there are several, Jerusalem is a good run down to St Martin at the end of the day - great rollers that you feel like your flying over but for me, one of the best slopes (when its not crowded) is Combe Saulire in the Courcheval Valley (pictured above and below). It can get crowded but is beautiful if you catch early in the morning after its been bashed overnight. It has a steep entrance from Saulire but this shallows out quite soon after. After a burn down Combe Saulire, try the bowls on the righthand side of the green piste into Courcheval, they're great fun.
The 3 Valleys is probably one of the best ski resorts in Europe, once you've been there you'll be spoiled and the only other places to go for the range of slopes is then America or Canada!
