Megeve

Megève is a beautiful medieval Savoyard town with a traffic-free centre, cobbled streets, and horse drawn sleighs. Established as a resort by Baroness de Rothschild in 1916, it has developed quite a reputation boasting fabulous shops, wonderful gourmet restaurants and luxury hotels.

Set in a lovely sunny position and part of a 300km ski region, Megève has retained its traditional charm with rustic chalets everywhere you look. There are even still over 200 working farms in the area. Megeve is one of the most convenient resorts in the Alps to access, with Geneva airport just a 1 hour drive away.

Megeve is also surrounded by a number of less audacious neighbours including Saint Gervais and Combloux.

An historic spa town, Saint Gervais boasts pretty stone buildings, an authentic French Alpine charm and wooded slopes that skiers of all abilities can enjoy. The town remains something of a hidden gem, and Saint Gervais enjoys a fantastic range of mountain restaurants as well as a number of lively bars, restaurants and shops.

The traditional French village of Combloux is only five minutes from Megève and offers a low key, more relaxed atmosphere, with picturesque Mont Blanc views and plenty of activities for skiers and non-skiers alike. The resort is an excellent dual season location, with an ecological lake that is open for swimming in the summer.

Megève has a substantial ski area with 325km of pistes served by 80 ski lifts. There are some good nusery slopes for beginners, but Megeve is mainly suited to intermediates. Especially those who enjoy long, cruising runs with panoramic mountain views. There is so much outstanding terrain to explore that there is no point suggesting a certain sector. Just try it all!

For experts there is some excellent off-piste skiing on offer, with some of best powder in the Alps. While on the piste, there are over 30 mountain restaurants, many of which are gourmet standard and easily accessible for non-skiers to head up for lunch.

While Megève is low compared to some its neighbours, there are over 170 snow canons that keep churning out the white stuff all season long. Therefore you can be sure you will be able to ski right down into the town centre from opening day to closing. Chamonix’s world famous ski area is also just a half hour drive away, which provides an additional 115km of slopes including glacier skiing at 3840m.

Megève is an ideal dual season resort and, as plenty of residents live here year round, there are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants that are open almost 365 days a year. Megève also has a great selection of Summer activities, most notably the beautiful 18-hole Mont d'Arbois golf course. Set at 1320 metres overlooking the resort, the course is one of the oldest in the Alps and often hosts both amateur and professional competitions.

For the non-golfers out there, you can enjoy over 150km of marked hiking trails and 80km of biking trails, all the while surrounded by stunning Alpine scenery. Megève is well known as a very expensive destination, so luckily perhaps its most valuable feature, the views, come free of charge.

There are plenty of other activities to keep all ages satisfied including a High Ropes Adventure Park, Summer Luge, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor pools, white water rafting, canyoning, hot air ballooning etc etc. If you aren't in the mood for something active, then there are plenty of spas to relax and pamper yourself in.

Megève is mostly known for its stunning individual chalets which you can find  scattered across the resort. All offer luxury interiors built to the very highest standards, and some come with fully equipped wellness areas and even indoor swimming pools. Each chalet reflects the glamour and of its parent resort and represents the very pinnacle in Alpine living.

If your budget cannot stretch this high, then the nearby resorts of Combloux and St Gervais can offer you similarly stunning chalets but for a more reasonable price tag. St Gervais is directly connected to the Evasion Mont Blanc and has a number of luxury resale chalets as well as some lower priced chalets built to order.

Combloux has some similar resales and new chalet projects meaning no matter where you want to be or what you want to buy, you are well catered for. Combloux also has some new low budget leaseback apartments available showing that the Megeve ski area is not just for the high end client anymore.