Méribel is a ski resort in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps, situated near the town of Moutiers. Méribel refers to three neighbouring villages in the Les Allues commune of the Savoie département of France, near the town of Moûtiers (), called Méribel Centre, Méribel-Mottaret and Méribel Village. The villages are within the Vanoise National Park and a part of the Les Trois Vallées interlinked ski system.

History

Méribel Les Allues is a ski resort that was developed adjacent to the traditional hamlet of Morel, with its centre situated at about 1400 metres above sea level. The original skiing development was promoted by British Colonel Peter Lindsay, who spotted the potential of the valley in 1938; his family continue to have a financial stake and his grandchildren now ski in Meribel. Peter Lindsay's ashes and those of his wife are scattered on the Burgin mountain. Under his guidance the resort was developed in a "traditional" chalet style.

Meribel was home to the 1992 Winter Olympics (Albertville). It hosted the Ice Hockey and the Women's Downhill. Today Méribel is the site of the much acclaimed Altitude festival. A festival of music, live stand up comedy and DJ's. Acts from around the world perform in many of the resort bars and night clubs.

The ski resort is part of the Trois Vallées ski area. The Three Vallees area comprises over 200 lifts, 293 Marked Runs (over 600 kilometres) and over 130 km of Cross Country Tracks. The Three Vallees was expanded about ten years ago to incorporate a fourth valley, though the area kept the name 3 Vallees. There is now the Courchevel Valley, The Meribel Valley, The Val Thorens Valley and The Orelle Valley. The Trois Vallees is the world's largest ski area.

Meribel resort offers a broad range of holiday accommodation from large tour operators to more personal independent chalet companies.

Meribel Mottaret

A more modern village, Méribel-Mottaret, has also been built near the head of the Allues valley at an altitude of 1750m.

Méribel Village

Méribel Village is the much less developed (Though it is becoming much more so) traditional village located on the road to Courchevel, also located at about 1400 metres. Over the past few years, a lot of the traditional chalets have been bought by developers and rebuilt.

Tarentaise Valley Skiing

Within the Tarentaise Valley you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. Most well known neighbour systems are Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes). A weekly lift ticket in Meribel/Les Trois Vallées offers a choice to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the - by far - largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park.

See also

• List of ski areas and resorts in Europe

External links

• Méribel at Skiinfo
• Vanoise National Park
• Panoramic virtual tour at top of Mont Vallon gondola
• Winter & Summer activities available in Meribel

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