What to do in Méribel in winter

Méribel has one advantage you notice on the very first morning: it sits in the middle. In the middle of Les 3 Vallées, from where you can ski over to Courchevel or Val Thorens, and in the middle of a valley of larches and wood-and-stone chalets, where the quiet returns as soon as you leave the pistes. A winter’s day here can begin in the combe du Vallon and end beside a frozen lake in a nature reserve. It makes for a week in which no two days are alike.

At the centre of Les 3 Vallées, skiing in every direction

The Méribel valley alone has some 150km of pistes, half of them green and blue, and it opens onto the 600km of Les 3 Vallées. Its central position makes it the natural starting point for the neighbouring valleys. Each of the great runs has its own story. The Roc de Fer, nearly 2.5km long, and its neighbour La Face, a black, hosted the women’s races at the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games, and the Roc de Fer has since staged the World Cup finals in 2015 and 2022. The combe du Vallon gives you 3km of sustained skiing, often mogulled, beneath Mont Vallon and its glacier, while the Mauduit red drops more than 1000m from the top of the Saulire.

Off the pistes, the terrain is vast and tempting, but go only with a high-mountain guide or an instructor. To choose your base, our guide to choosing a resort in Les 3 Vallées compares Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens.

The Altiport, another way to glide

On the Altiport plateau, at 1700m, the Nordic area has 25km of trails through the forest: two greens, one blue and three reds. One of them runs all the way through to Courchevel’s cross-country area, and the trees usually keep the snow cold, so it stays pleasant even late in the day. On the Mottaret side, around the lake at Tuéda, two loops of 3km and 5km suit first-timers. The Altiport also hosts biathlon, and the ESF runs an introduction for ages 13 and over. The area itself, with its airstrip, golf course and shuttle buses, has a page of its own: Méribel Altiport.

If you like to skin uphill, there are two waymarked routes. Le Roc, at Mottaret, starts from the top of the Chalets gondola and covers 2km with 370m of climbing; the Méribel Village route climbs 600m over 5.5km through the Altiport forest. Use them only while the ski area is open, never come down by the uphill track, and never climb on the alpine pistes. The Bureau des guides also runs guided outings, with safety equipment lent, for ages 16 and over and for skiers who are comfortable on black runs.

Days off skis

In the heart of Méribel Centre, the Parc Olympique puts everything under one roof: a pool with a 25m basin and slides; a spa with two saunas, two hammams, a jacuzzi and a relaxation room; a 14m climbing wall, open for unsupervised use from 10am to 7pm outside the instructor-led sessions; and a six-lane bowling alley. It is open from 5 December to 17 April. As for skating, technical faults last winter led to the rink being turned into an indoor play area, and the local council has put out a tender to hire and install a mobile rink. Whether it opens this winter has yet to be confirmed.

There is sledging for every age. From the top of the Tougnète gondola, Mission Black Forest runs for 3.4km, with 470m of descent and 28 bends; it is for sledgers taller than 1.40m and requires a lift pass. At Mottaret, the Doron sledge run, away from the skiers, has a free magic carpet to take you back up, and the Altiport keeps a small area for the youngest. On certain evenings from December to March, the Little Himalaya run opens for night sledging, looking out over the lights of Méribel and Mottaret. Helmets and sledges with brakes are compulsory, and you bring your own.

In the Altiport forest, horse teams take visitors out on sleigh rides from late December to April, if the snow allows. Closer to Méribel Centre, a ranch also offers skijoring from ESF 2e étoile level: you are towed on skis by a horse ridden by an instructor. And to see Les 3 Vallées from above, paragliding instructors fly tandem from the top of the Saulire, at 2740m, or from the top of the Pas du Lac.

Tuéda, the reserve at the end of the valley

At the head of the valley, a stone’s throw from Mottaret, the Plan de Tuéda nature reserve has protected some 1100 hectares of mountain since 1990. In winter a groomed path circles the lake, among Swiss stone pines with their branches heavy with snow; with a little patience, you may spot a golden eagle or a black grouse. The Maison de la réserve, a twenty-minute walk from the Châtelet shuttle bus stop, has a free exhibition on the life of marmots. It opens in the afternoons on weekdays, and in the mornings too during the school holidays, and it makes a good refuge on wet or windy days.

Other winter trails wind through the valley, such as the sentier des Animaux and the Fontany forest loop, while the sentier de la poésie is for snowshoes only. Children can play detective by the lake with Explor Games, a digital treasure hunt lasting about an hour and a half. And after dark, the Nocturne du trappeur climbs from the Altiport forest to an igloo in about an hour, for ages 8 and over.

When the sky clouds over

Méribel has places to shelter. During the school holidays, the cinema in Mottaret, at the Maison du Tourisme, shows animated films followed by a children’s tea on Thursdays, late in the afternoon. The auditorium in Méribel Centre, with more than 300 seats, puts on shows and exhibitions. And in Les Allues, near the church, the Maison Bonnevie museum, free to enter, tells the story of life in the old days, displays the mappes sardes, the old Sardinian land-survey maps, and traces the rise of skiing in the valley: the resort was born in the late 1930s and developed after the war under the Scotsman Peter Lindsay. Check its opening days when you are there.

Méribel with children

Seven free lifts, spread across the lower slopes at Méribel and Mottaret, serve areas protected by netting and groomed every night; at Mottaret, the Zen Doron area on the snow front lets you learn for free. Once the basics are in place, the fun runs take over, open to anyone with a lift pass: the piste des Inuits, the Yéti Park with its talking tunnels, igloos and secret cave, the piste des Animaux in the Altiport forest, or the Dragon de l’Altaï blue.

For the youngest, the ESF crèche takes children from 18 months to 3 years within the Parc Olympique, by reservation and with their health record book; the ski kindergartens take over from 3 to 5, in a secure area with a magic carpet. For babies under 18 months, the tourist office keeps a list of babysitters, updated every week. Our guide to family ski holidays fills in the rest.

What’s on in winter 2026-2027

• Opening day: Saturday 5 December 2026, with a welcome of Savoyard songs and accordion at the top of Plattières, and a tasting of local produce.
• Christmas: from 21 to 25 December, brass bands and street performances, then on the 25th a children’s torchlit descent, a show by the ESF instructors and fireworks.
• New Year: an ESF torchlit descent and fireworks at Mottaret on 31 December, then an Inuit New Year, with games and a mascot, on the piste des Inuits on 1 January, weather permitting.
• Jazz Variations: three concerts on Thursday 7, 14 and 21 January 2027.
• Telemark: Méribel hosts the World Cup on 28 and 29 January 2027, with classic races followed by parallel sprints.
• Paname Comedy Club Festival: five evenings of comedy at the auditorium, from 31 January to 4 February, for ages 18 and over.
• February: carnival and mascot day on the piste des Inuits on the 9th, reachable on skis only, and children’s torchlit descents with an ESF show and fireworks, at the Chaudanne and at Mottaret, on 10 and 24 February, then on 3 March.

There is no alpine skiing World Cup in Méribel this winter. The nearest is at Courchevel, on the other side of the Saulire, with a women’s slalom on 22 December, weather permitting.

AEC tip. Keep a day for Tuéda. Spend the morning on the lake path, when the light slips between the Swiss stone pines, and the afternoon at the Maison de la réserve with the children: a day without lifts that changes the whole rhythm of the week.

Where to stay

You will find our chalets and apartments in the valley under our Méribel rentals, and those where you clip in at the door among our ski-in ski-out chalets in Méribel. To choose between the resort’s two hubs, read our guide Méribel Mottaret or Méribel Centre, and for a day next door, what to do in Courchevel in winter. For the festive week, there is also our guide to New Year on the slopes.

The simplest thing is to write to us: tell us your dates and what you have in mind, whether serious skiing, nature or a family holiday, and our agents will suggest a selection in the part of the resort that suits you.

And in the evening, as the pistes empty, the valley goes back to the larches and the lit windows.

Frequently asked questions