Les Trois Vallées

Les Trois Vallées link the resorts of Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens and others into one of the largest connected ski areas in the world. At around 2,300 m, Val Thorens is one of the highest ski resorts in Europe and accordingly snow-sure. In summer the region becomes a vast hiking and mountain-biking area.

Highlights

• One of the largest ski areas in the world
• Val Thorens, one of the highest ski resorts in Europe
• Fashionable resorts Courchevel and Méribel
• Summer: hiking and mountain biking

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Practical info

Background & History

Les Trois Vallées in Savoy form the largest contiguous ski area in the world, a tremendous network of slopes and lifts connecting the valleys of Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens. Behind this modern superlative lies an older history: the high-lying valley floors were once settled only by shepherds and mountain farmers, whose alpine pastures and stone hamlets lay abandoned through the winter, before, after the Second World War, an ambitious state planning transformed the region in the course of the “Plan Neige” into a centre of winter sports.

Val Thorens arose in the process as one of the highest-lying resorts in Europe, planned on the drawing board to make use of the snow reliability of the high altitudes, while Courchevel developed into the epitome of luxurious ski tourism with its own altiport. Above the slopes rises the glaciated world of the Vanoise massif, whose core is protected within the oldest national park in France, a refuge for ibex and chamois, which was once founded precisely for their rescue. Thus in the Trois Vallées the traces of the old Savoyard shepherd culture, the post-war vision of a ski tourism for the masses and the rugged high-mountain nature of the Vanoise meet in an impressive way. In summer the slopes transform into a wide network of hiking trails and bike routes high above the old valley hamlets.