Located proper in the midst of France’s expansive Les Trois Vallées area in Savoie, Méribel is the proper place to discover one of many greatest mixed piste areas on the planet. The resort enjoys an advantageous place between Courchevel and Val Thorens, and sees probably the most sunshine of the world – making it the perfect location for those who take pleasure in a fast espresso between runs. Méribel can also be one of many liveliest ski areas within the Alps, with buzzy bars and slope-side eating places to your subsequent fondue repair, in addition to a thrumming aprés ski scene.

In the event you’re seeking to e-book a snow-dusted break, we extremely advocate seeking to these excellent pistes– here is our edit of the place to remain, the eating places to go to and the bars to hit in Méribel for 2024…

The place to remain

The lounge at Purple Ski’s Chalet Concord

If you wish to do a ski vacation the unique (and greatest) approach, you’ll be able to’t go improper with Purple Ski, which not solely handpicks the best chalets in Méribel, Courchevel and Val d’Isère, however does all the onerous be just right for you, from arranging your itinerary to caring for all the catering, the housekeeping and aiding with in-chalet gear rent and fittings. Your celebration can even have a chauffeured minibus to move you to and from the airport, and across the resort (helicopter transfers are additionally accessible). The concierge workforce shall be prepared to help with restaurant reservations, ski classes, spa remedies, childcare and actions similar to paragliding, ought to snowboarding not be exhilarating sufficient for you.

A chef, skilled in a Michelin-level kitchen, shall be available all week to prepare dinner for you, getting ready hearty breakfasts to set you up for the slopes and afternoon tea to await you in your return. Dinners start with canapés and champagne, then company shall be seated for a four-course meal every evening, which could embrace celery vichyssoise, cured salmon with ponzu shiitake and Hollandaise, and duck with beetroot and forest fruits. One evening shall be left free so that you can dine out in one of many ski resort’s many traditional Alpine eating places.

Chalet Concord’s main bedroom

New to its Méribel choice this season, the four-storey Chalet Concord is as serene as its identify suggests. It is likely one of the greatest chalets within the resort, and inside strolling distance to the centre of city. The decor is as historically alpine as it’s attainable to go with out totally embracing the reindeer motifs and twee carved picket hearts. As an alternative, it’s slick, trendy and comfy, with a lot of pale wooden. By huge home windows (particularly scenic on the spa ground), you’ll have the ability to regularly marvel on the mountains.

There are seven bedrooms in complete (the chalet sleeps 15 company). Every is cosy and cosy, with wood-lined partitions, tactile furnishings and cleverly designed cupboard space, together with a piste-showcasing balcony. The 70-square-metre grasp penthouse, which takes up the complete prime ground, is prone to require a shotgun contest for its allocation.

Chalet Concord’s pool

The employees are at all times available to whip up cocktails, pour some champagne or inventory the cinema room with snacks forward of your chosen screening. Good for whiling away a day after a morning on the slopes, the indoor pool space has a mountain-facing sizzling tub, a fitness center, a sauna and a steam room finishing the spa suite. Even the boot room is overflowing with treats – company are inspired to hit the slopes armed with a Mars bar prepared for these wobbly moments on a crimson run.

A seven-night, catered keep at Chalet Concord begins from about £35,855.

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The Beefbar terrace at Le Coucou

In the event you’d want to remain in a lodge – and one with ski-in, ski-out privileged piste entry at that – test in to Le Coucou, the brainchild of the French trend household who gave us Naf Naf. The daughters of the dynasty have turned their consideration to resorts, with a bit assist from star designer Pierre Yovanovitch on this case. The fashionable tackle a traditional alpine chalet has irreverent design particulars all through, together with snowflakes on the carpets, teddy-shaped armchairs, grandfather clocks with footwear on and critically tactile sheepskin chairs. Terracotta is Yovanovitch’s paint color of selection, and it really works surprisingly properly right here.

The ski-room has charming employees who’ll assist you get out and in of your boots gracefully – its location at 1,650 metres and proper on the piste is unbeatable. And even for those who don’t wish to hit the powder, the view out of your terrace, out onto the mountains and chair lifts, will imply you’re in on the motion. There are self-contained chalets throughout the lodge, with doorways that open straight onto the piste.

Après ski actions are prone to revolve round meals: afternoon tea that includes a pancake trolley circulating the room awaits within the lounge, or you’ll be able to handle your post-skiing calorie deficit at Beefbar, well-known the world over, from Mykonos to Monaco, for its 50:50 butter-to-potato-ratio mash and supersize steaks.

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A room at Le Coucou

The place to eat

Ski up (or hop on the horse-drawn sleigh) to Le Clos Bernard close to the altiport for some vin chaud on the deckchairs outdoors, or heat up indoors with tartiflette, tuna tataki and big hunks of Wagyu grilled on the open fireplace. It additionally serves sharing boards of charcuterie within the unlikely occasion you are not completely famished after a morning on the slopes.

In the event you’ve made it so far as Courchevel throughout the Trois Vallées runs, cease for refuelling at La Cave des Creux, a former cheese-ripening cellar and sheepfold at 2,112 metres, with an out of doors fireplace so you’ll be able to benefit from the views of the valleys and Mont Blanc with out worrying in regards to the temperature. Or ski right down to Adray Télébar within the coronary heart of Méribel, close to the Rond Level, which serves a creamy veal and mushroom signature dish, huge omelettes and big vats of chips for each desk.

And for those who love mushrooms, there isn’t any higher place to pay homage to all issues funghi than at Le Cèpe, which works tasty toadstools into all the things from the apéritif to a mousse-textured chestnut soup and a dish of stone-cooked fish sourced in an area river; even the sugar served together with your espresso shall be mushroom-shaped (and the chocolate mushroom-flavoured).

The place to après ski

La Folie Douce is a great spot for daytime clubbing within the mountains

In the event you’re extra in regards to the après than the ski, you’ll be happy to listen to that Méribel has its very personal La Folie Douce, which has been facilitating daylight raves in ski boots for greater than 50 years now, full with barely seen daytime fireworks, dramatic moments when anyone orders a jeroboam of rosé and dwell performers strutting their stuff from noon onwards.

The present is clearly the principle spectacle, however the meals within the La Fruitière part is basically reasonably good too, with the menu protecting all the things from traditional dishes similar to tartiflette, croque monsieurs and French onion soup to burrata salads, truffle pizzas and burgers with raclette cheese.

There are numerous bars on the town and on the slopes, together with Jacks, which has dwell music, a piste-facing terrace and milkshakes if you wish to keep away from the onerous stuff. And for those who haven’t handed out out of your 4pm celebration and wish to preserve going into the evening, head to L’Abreuvoir within the centre of city (close to the vacationer workplace) for some vigorous après après-ski.