St Martin de Belleville, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France

4Iain S 5:00 PM Apr 28, 2013

Beginners lifts in Les Menuires
Before we came away we really struggled to find the debutant/beginners ski information, so I thought I'd post it here. In the 2012-2013 season, in Les Menuires the free lifts were: Magic carpet 1 - In Les Menuires centre. You can then ski over the snow bridge, and down a very gentle green run called bd de la masse. This will take you to a series of bubbles and chairs, but the free lift is the croisette bucket lift. This takes you back to the village, however it's a flat 5 minute (in ski boots) walk back to the snow bridge. Once back at the snow bridge, you can ski down bd de la masse again, but don't go all the way to the bottom. If you take a sharp right (also green), you get to the next free lift called Preyerand. Preyerand - This is a set of 3 telecabin lifts, which take you back to the village level, however you can catch the glass lift up to the Brelin hotel, which takes you above the village. From here you can ski back into the village, and over the snow bridge without any walking. As your confidence grows, you can tackle the top of a blue called Bettex which is immediately after the snow bridge. This looks steep to beginners, but its really a confidence thing and achievable if they are brave enough. Magic carpet 2 - There is another magic carpet at the bottom of the Preyrand lift. If you're staying in Les Menuire central you're better off on the 1st magic carpet, however if the resort is very busy you could take the Preyrand lift down and use the 2nd carpet as this tends to be quieter. There are other free lifts in Reberty, however these are not worth the effort of getting to, if you are staying in Menuire central. After you've milked the free lifts, you can move on to the debutant pass, which costs 23euros including cart niege (insurance). For this you have access to the following lifts: Montagnettes chair - takes you above the village and has a steeper nursery slope to practice on. This chair tends not to run late in the season. Menuires chair - This follows a similar route the Montagnettes chair, however it is longer and you have to do some work on a steepish blue before you reach the safety of the green nursery run. Roc des 3 marches 1 - a fast bubble that takes you pretty high. There is a superb green called Violette, and takes a novice 20-30 minutes. As you progress you can also take a blue called petits creux, however this is much tougher on the beginner and can get busy and choppy at times as it joins with other runs and returns you above the village. My preferred blue is Bd Giraud which joins the bottom of Violette. There is also a red available called Grand Combes however this was closed at the end of the season to save on piste machines. Doron chair runs from below the village where you can also catch the free bucket (croisette), however Doron will take you higher in the village saving you from having the walk the flat section. If you ski over the snow bridge and down the free pistes, you can continue from bd de la masse and down bd du doron, catching the tortollet chair which drops you at the same point as the top of the glass lift, where you can ski back down to the village. By purchasing the debutant pass, you also have the ability to ski and easily return from Reberty, which gives you the sense you are starting to travel (and a new range of cafes and restaurants to lunch in). These arrangements usually stay the same from season to season. After you have exhausted the debutant area, the next step is to buy a Les Menuires pass which allows you to explore a vast area, and stretch down to St Martin. After that you can extend to the Valley de belleville pass which also allows you to ski Val Thorens. The full 3 valley pass will let you ski the whole area, which is so massive that I know someone who has skied 15 seasons here and still isn't bored. The sky is the limit. I hope you enjoy skiing and have a great holiday!

4ionutvasilescu 5:00 PM Apr 12, 2014

Nice little & tranquill Savoyard village
Stayed in St. Martin for a ski vacation in Les 3 Vallees. It is a very nice place to stay. No crowds from Val Thorens or Les Menuires. No millionaires chalets from Meribel & Courchevel. Just a nice village. It still doesn't look like the wonderful Austrian mountain villages of Tyrol, but is a very good spot to hit the slopes. It has a FREE tele-ski, that you can take and then ski to the gondola. It is not crowded at all, no even at the end of the ski day, when you want to ski back home. From the top of Grand Lac slope (Grange chair-lift), you can ski down to St. Martin for 8.5 km. And there is no one on the slope. PERFECT. It is positioned on Bellevue Valley, but its position is very good also for easily reaching the Meribel Valley. Actually it takes less to reach even Courchevel than Val Thorens (which is on the same Bellevue Valley). Nice small local shops, with traditional products! The accommodations....well - typical French: extremely small apartments, not very cosy, just small, but that's a price to pay if you want to be close to the slopes at a reasonable price, and to ski on the best slopes in the world (which are in France). Totally recommend to anyone who wants to ski in Les 3 Vallees.