Chalet McIntosh

Chalet McIntosh enjoys a fabulously scenic position in Mottaret, 300m above the centre of Meribel and a short bus ride away. Mottaret is brilliant for accessing the Three Valley pistes and in fact the Mont de la Challe sector has recently been remodelled to offer a children’s area, night skiing and tobogganing and the new Coombes chair helps to get you to the top of Courchevel quicker than you can from Courchevel itself. You can get to Val Thorens in just two lifts and short blue run and you can ski directly down a green run to get down to Meribel. Mottaret enjoys an altitude of 1750m so gives a very good chance of excellent snow. It offers a good selection of bars, restaurants and shops. There is a free Chalets gonola lift in the village which runs every day from 8.45 am until 7.30 pm. Mottaret was established in 1972 with many chalets right on the edge of the pistes. It is compact and you can walk everywhere.

You can take a bus just outside the chalet to La Chaudanne and the vibrant centre of Meribel which offers a cinema, swimming pool, spa, boutique shops, ski hire, bars, restaurants and nightclubs. La Chaudanne, in the lower part of the town offers the famous Olympic sports complex where major sporting events take place as well as festive entertainment. As well as the pool and spa, it boasts an ice rink, climbing wall and a bowling alley for entertainment. La Chaudanne is also where you will find the ski lifts, ski school meeting points, an excellent creche and another Piou-Piou children’s club. Meribel is very attractive, blending itself into its forest surroundings and using an authentic architecture style. The resort sits on the east side of the mountain with a good supply of sunshine throughout the day.

Meribel sits in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps within the western border of the Vanoise National Park. It is to the east of Chambery and south of Albertville. The resort was actually founded by a Scotsman, Peter Lindsay, as the Austrian resorts were becoming very popular in the years before the war. Although the development of the resort was halted during the war years, it recommenced in 1946 and it quickly became a very popular ski destination. Meribel boasts an excellent, fast and modern ski lift system offering easy access to the resort’s 150 km of pistes and the Three Valleys’ 600 km of pistes. It is very easy to ski over to the delightful Courchevel and the mighty Val Thorens. You can either buy a single resort lift pass keeping to the beginner and intermediate ski terrain or purchase one for the whole area. At its highest skiing point Meribel reaches an altitude of 2952 metres and the descent into the town is incredibly scenic. Within Meribel, the Altiport area is best for beginners while Saulire and Tougnete are for mixed ability and the Mont du Vallon with its long, steep runs is great for advanced skiers. This is all against a gorgeous mountain backdrop. Meribel itself offers seventy three ski runs of which nine are green, thirty are blue, twenty six are red and eight are black. The resort also boasts plenty of off-piste entertainment and snow park activities such as snowboarding, jumps and freestyle skiing. There is a snowpark at Meribel Mottaret and a moon park. Other sports available at Meribel include ice skating, snowmobiles, hang gliding and ice climbing.

Meribel is renowned for its lively, vibrant nightlife. The apres-ski scene is great fun with many expat Brits owning bars. The Olympic centre offers a nightclub for those that want to stay up seriously late!

Read more about Meribel

Méribel is a village with a true alpine heart. You won’t find blocks of hotels and purpose-built facilities here. Instead, the compact and lively town centre is picture-postcard perfect, and its atmosphere is quaint and fairytale-like. It is without a doubt the most romantic resort in the area and if you’re planning a couples holiday in the snow you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at Méribel. 

At the centre of the world famous Trois Vallées (Three Valleys), Méribel makes up part of the largest ski domain in the world. Across the valleys, it has six sister resorts. You can either get a single-resort lift pass and keep to the fantastic beginner and intermediate terrain there, but you also have the option of purchasing a pass that covers the whole area. 

The advanced lift system at Méribel will let you maximise your time on the snow and make sure you’re not waiting around in queues. With 67 runs to try out just in the resort itself, there is no time to be wasted. Just beware of the afternoon sun cutting things short on the west-facing slopes and prepare to get up with the sun if you’re after untouched powder. At it’s highest skiing point Méribel reaches an altitude of 2952 metres and the descent from this point is known to be one of the most scenic runs around.

Aside from the world-class skiing, Méribel is also known to be one of the liveliest resorts in the Three Valleys. Many of its residents and bar-owners (as well as plenty of its visitors) are expat-Brits who certainly know how to party. The après-ski scene here is truly top-notch!