Courchevel and the Three Valleys

Linked Ski Area Of The Tarentaise Valley, Often Described As The Largest In The World, With Courchevel, MéRibel And Val Thorens · Courchevel, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes

The Three Valleys, Les 3 Vallées, is a huge linked ski area in the Tarentaise valley of Savoie, often described as the largest in the world, where lifts and pistes join the valleys of Courchevel, Méribel and Les Belleville so that a skier can cross from one resort to the next without taking off their skis. Courchevel sits at the eastern end. Its highest village, Courchevel 1850, is among the most expensive ski resorts anywhere, with palace hotels, designer shops and a tiny mountain airstrip, while the lower villages of Moriond, Courchevel Village, Le Praz and nearby La Tania are calmer and cheaper. Méribel, in the middle valley, is a chalet resort long loved by British skiers. At the far end, Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Europe, with snow that usually lasts from late November into May. The area suits every level, from wide beginner slopes to steep couloirs. In summer the lifts partly reopen for hiking and mountain biking, and the Col de la Loze road has become a famous cycling climb.

Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens, Savoie, Courchevel, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France

The Three Valleys is a seasonal ski area. The winter season usually runs from early December to mid or late April, with Val Thorens often opening earlier, in late November, and closing later, into early May, because of its altitude; the lower villages can lose their snow first at the end of the season (confirm the dates each year). Lifts run every day through the season from morning to late afternoon, with the last links between valleys closing earlier than local lifts, and a missed link means a long, expensive taxi ride back round by road. Peak weeks are the Christmas and New Year holidays and the February French school holidays, which are staggered across the country's zones and fill the resorts for about a month; prices and crowds peak then. Accommodation is usually let by the week, Saturday to Saturday. In summer a reduced set of lifts opens for hiking and biking, roughly July to late August (confirm), and many hotels and shops close between seasons, in May, June, October and November.

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