Les Menuires

Les Menuires was the first resort in the Belleville Valley to open in 1964 and they have just celebrated their 50th birthday. The architecture in Les Menuires is varied with the large hotels on the mountainside of Les Menuires now looking considerably dated. Further up the resort into Reberty there are more recently renovated wood/stone chalets.

Les Menuires has two fantastic lakes with walks at Plan d'Eau and Lac de Lou which are accessed largely in the summer with fishing in the lake and fantastic farm restaurants such as Chez Pepe Nicholas with goats, pigs and rabbits roaming freely. Lac de Lou can also be accessed in the winter as an off-piste area that towards the end of the season presents a water skiing challenge as one attempts to get over the melted sections of the lake.

Les Menuires is located at an altitude of 1,850m in the Belleville valley of the Three Valleys ski area. Along with being able to access the largest ski area in the world you can enjoy sledging, big airbag, ski cross tracks and snow parks. You can also have a go at a slightly different concept - mountain biking on snow. There is a fantastic ice castle in the base of the resort for sledging and fun for children. In the Reberty area of Les Menuires there is a toboggan on rails for both adults and children. After a short inter-season break to recover from the winter, Les Menuires comes to life again in the summer with a huge list of activities. Along with the vast range of walking and mountain bike routes in the Three Valleys, there is also a children's zip wire over Plan d'Eau, weekly markets, fishing, paintball, donkey rides, mini-golf, outdoor trampolines, quad biking, skateboarding, beach volleyball (yes a beach in the mountains!), a bungee swing, canyoning and rafting.

Les Menuires has everything from typical French cuisine, Savoie specialities with lots of melted cheese to a international cuisine and even eating in a yurt located at La Masse 1.

Les Menuires has many bars at the base of the resort for après with happy hour at La Mousse and often live music at Le Skilt. Later on in the evening, there is a variety of live music most days at Le Challenge and events throughout the season at Le Plan B. There is also a varied entertainment programme each week offering activities for adults and children, from football on snow to music festivals.

You'll find more choice of catered and self-catered chalets here than at the top of the resort. Some of the larger chalets sleep over 20 people and have spa facilities, and most of them are so close to the slopes they're actually ski in/ski out.

There is less choice of apartments in Les Menuires than in the centre of Val Thorens, but there is still a lot to choose from. They tend to all be self-catering with easy access to the village centre, the pistes and lifts.

There is a small selection of hotels in Les Menuires from the very large to the more cosy.