Planning a ski trip to Meribel? Browse our collection of visitor-generated reviews that rank the mountain and ski town on a scale of one to five stars in the following categories: Overall Rating, All-Mountain Terrain, Nightlife, Terrain Park and Family Friendly. See how Meribel stacks up to others in terms of skiing and après, and read up on pros, cons and comments from fellow skiers and snowboarders. Don't forget to submit your own Meribel review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your ski area experience.
Skier & Snowboarder-Submitted Reviews for Meribel
Total (3.9)
A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
The slopes are beautiful but very poorly maintained, with too many bumps and too few signs and names. The blue slopes, which are mostly for beginners who need safety and easier rides, are particularly neglected. The chairlifts lack covers, making them very uncomfortable when the wind blows, and they also don’t have heated seats, which should be expected for these prices and this ski resort. Ski resorts in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy are definitely better.
Everything else is fine... The prices are what they are because marketing has done what it needed to justify these rates. Meribel is a much prettier town than Courchevel. Courchevel only has a lot of exclusive shops, hotels, and restaurants, but Meribel feels more lively, prettier as a town, and more pleasant overall. I don’t think I’ll return—it didn’t impress me.
James
Returning again this year for another go! Mottaret provides best ski in/out.
Baz
I first skied 3v in 2001. Stayed in Meribel. The area has and always will be massive and great from that point of view. However a common thread of recent years is the number of people on slopes as a result of increased volume of accommodation and high capacity uplift, it can get rather dangerous and i've personnaly seen numerous collisions where people aren't paying enough attention or get crowded out where pistes merge. There are also now some pony lift queues in the resort centres around 3v not just Meribel. Another sad fact is that the large number of people combined with new fat skis meeans the whole area of 3v can be tracked out on a single morning on a good powder day. Another dissapointment is what has happened to the snowparks in Meribel Valley. There used to be 2 good sized and well equiped parks. Moon Park above Meribel and what became Area 43 above Mottaret. Moon park is basically just a few rollers now. And sadly it seems Area 43 is going the same way this season. They only have a few small kickers and a really poorly shaped mid sized kicker where the XL stuff used to be. The mid sized is way to poppy for the landing gradient meaning high impact landings even in the sweet spot. Its just poor performance for a world standard resort with respect to the snowparks. They really should have more to offer in that department, particularly when the lift pass is about as expenssive as they get in Europe. I used to always tout 3v as THE best place to go, but will be changing my tune after this season.
anonymous
eLeh
great for intermediate skiers. great to be between Corchevel and Val Thorens if on a longer holiday of more than a few days. can be quite busy in places.
not a lot of places you can go if you're a complete beginner.
Nick
A very nice resort with an expansive ski area. So much to ride in one week. Lots of off-piste, but for some reason when we traveled it was completely un-tracked, which I found surprising compared to other resorts. Parks were average at best.
Paul
Really liked the location, and didn't find it too crowded, but serious shame that we chose to stay with Ski Total and Chalet Matterhorn. Countless issues with their service and the quality of the chalet, including 7 people sustaining major rashes from their hot tub. Avoid Chalet Matterhorn, but Meribel is a nice town.
abi_skier
We skied in Meribel last year during the Altitude festival and had a fab time. I think the blend of live entertainment, hollistic treats and skiing is the ideal holiday and Meribel has it all. All this and the children were kept occupied whilst us olds discovered the delights of the apres ski (we drank the best hot chocolates in the world (with rum) in the revolution bar next to Jacks). We're definitely going back for more this year!
Just returned from a four day trip to Meribel, staying at Hotel Le Roc right in the centre (if you dont mind it basic, then this is a good place to be based with the piste 50m away).
It was very quiet. We virtually never queued for a lift or gondola, and some of the more distant pistes were empty. It did get busier on the Sunday, with many French visiting for the day - but this is to be expected. Some of the Meribel locals said that the economic conditions are affecting the resort - perhaps that's because its developing a bad reputation for being so expensive - quite rightly.
Its a pretty and comnpact village (unlike Les Muniere & Val Thorens which are just plain ugly and busier). The nightlife was good, but not outrageous like Sauze D'oux for those of you who have been there. Le Taverne sold 5 pint jugs of Amstel for 17 euros, which was easily the cheapest beer in town. Normally its 6-7 euros, or Mutzig is 8 euros for a pint. Mojitos in Le Poste bar were 10 euros. Whilst on the subject of money, the lift pass for 4 days across al l valleys was 180 euro. A family of four staying for 6 days its around 800 euros - crazy prices!
If you hunt around though, things can be done cheaper. If you stick to pizza, pasta and tex mex it wont get painful. For example, the restaurant at the top of Col de les Loze served up some lovely fresh pasta for around 12 euros.
The big selling point for Meribel is of course the access to all three valleys. We covered most areas in 4 days but missed many pistes - the area is just too big to do any of it justice. The downside in attempting to explore as much as possible is having to do many of the blue "boulevards", the narrowflat paths that traverse across the mountain. The one boarder with us hated these big time. We were lucky to have a good dump of snowon the Friday, leaving brilliant snow conditions for the whole weekend. Lots of variety of pistes - wide motorway-style ones in Les Muniere through to narrow tree-lined tracks in La Tania.
Overall I'd highly recommend Meribel, but on two conditions. First is, dont get in Feb. The second is, dont think you can do it on a budget, you cant.
Rob
This is one of three reviews based on a recent trip to "Les Trois Valles", the 3 Valleys region of the French Alps. Located about 30 miles southwest of Mont Blanc and 20 miles west of Val d'Isere, 3 Valleys lays claim to the title of Largest Ski Area in the World, with over 260 lifts and some 600 km of pistes.
The region had not had any significant snow accumulation for two weeks prior to my visit. Despite websites extolling an epic year for snow in the Alps, the details on conditions told a different story, with off-piste skiing described as "limited". That was a disappointment, because the off-piste potential for this area in a good snow year is truly vast.
Meribel is the center valley of the 3 valleys. If you have beginners in your group, this isn’t a bad place to start. They offer a discounted ticket for lower Meribel valley only, at about 30% less than the cost of a 3 Valles pass. Very crowded, stay higher on mountain, use mid-stations. Expect to wait 20 minutes or longer to board one of the main lifts such as Pas Du Lac or Tougnete.
When I first skied down to the main hub of Meribel Mottaret, I stopped a short ways above the village and looked in amazement at what seemed like an anthill...I'd never seen so many skiers swarming the slopes. Unfortunately, all those skiers were taking a heavy toll on the conditions, with the pistes quickly becoming scraped off.
Lunch was very pricey...almost 20 euro just for chicken strips, pomme frites, and a drink.
It's not that Meribel is a bad ski area; it's just that there are much better ones on either side of it.
If you are staying in Brides, it's a 25 min gondola ride to Meribel, so "sleeping low" to save money will cost you about an hour of skiing every day....and it makes it tough to beat the crowds. If you have the means, staying at a higher elevation will allow you to get up to the good stuff ahead of the throng.
I didn't rate nightlife, as I was staying in another village, but it seemed like there was plenty to offer.
For the advanced skier, Meribel is less a place to ski than a place to be endured while enroute to better offerings at Courcheval or Val Thorens.
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