Les 3 Vallées — Attraction in Albertville

We spent a great week including New Year, in the 3 Valleys. We have been coming back almost every year for ten years and I have always recommended the area as the best in Europe. Let’s start with positives- a fantastic ski area with lots to do and explore for just about everyone: a lot of green and blue pistes for beginners, blue and red for intermediate skiers and great black tracks for those advanced skiers and snowboarders (although some are often closed or not well prepared), plenty of fun areas, snow parks of various levels of difficulty, kids zones, free rides and fantastic off-piste opportunities.

There’s plenty to do for non-skiers, too.

In each valley, there are fantastic views which you can admire from the gondolas or chairlifts, of which there are plenty, increasing number of fast and modern ones. The signage is clear so it’s easy to know where you are and which route you need to take you where you want to go. There are plenty of maps around and the app is fantastic and will alert you if a lift or piste is closed and you need to re-route. It’s easy to travel between valleys and there are very clear signs to inform you when you’re going from one valley to another. There are plenty of bars, restaurants (for various budgets although many on the more expensive side), with many easily accessible toilets across the area (important if you’re skiing with the younger ones). A couple of negativities, many of which we noticed for the first time:

In previous years, even when we came for Christmas or school breaks, there were hardly any queues to the lifts (except for sometimes the start of the day at the bottom of the valley). This year, for the first time the area felt crowded and we spent significantly more time in queues, both in the morning but also during the day. The staff were there but did not seem to be doing much to manage the queues so a lot of people were pushing in from the sides, then travelling on half empty chairs or gondolas.

The biggest disappointment, for the first time since we first came to the 3valleys 10 years ago and kept coming back for, was the poor grooming of the pistes. This might be because of the number of people skiing over the Christmas and New Year holidays and the fairly warm weather. However, even on the colder days, there were too many pistes poorly groomed first thing in the morning in Val Thorens, Les Menuires and particularly in Meribel. In the first few days of January, even as early as at 10 o’clock you could hardly find any corduroy or smooth slopes. Some blue and red pistes were full of bumps and humps by 11 o’clock creating very difficult conditions for less experienced skiers and less enjoyable experience for the more experienced ones. As a result, we found ourselves looking for well groomed pistes rather than enjoying the ride. Overall, we had a good time despite these issues but for the first time we haven’t automatically rebooked the chalet for next year and are considering going...

A large ski area with lots of lifts. Trails were marked clearly, though many were closed in Christmas of 2022. Signage could be a lot clearer, and many of the teleslieges are less advanced than those in Paradiski or similar ski resorts in Austria. Overall, a pleasant stay, but probably will not return.

EDIT (reply to owner) Signs pointing to the different areas were small or sometimes nonexistent. I found myself needing to take out a physical map many times because the signs indicated lift names rather than area names. I noticed there were some “X area via Y lift” signs but I wish there were more. As for my remark on the lifts, I meant to write less innovation, not older (I’m not sure about the actual lift ages and I have amended that comment). By innovation, I mean that the lifts here generally don’t have the fancy tech that is the norm in Austria: hooded lifts, back supporting chairs, warmed seats, conveyor belts, etc. Sure, I saw some lifts with those characteristics, but not nearly as much. Courchevel could use more hooded lifts like those in Menuires. Val Thorens and Menuires could add maps to the safety bar like they’ve done on some of the Courchevel lifts. Hope this clarifies my...

What a magnificent ski area! I have tried almost all the resorts in the French Alps and this one is really splendid! Everything is beautiful, the landscape, the chalets, the hotels and the restaurants (even if I think that vegetarian options are missing and especially in fast food mode) the slopes are splendid and there are enough chairlifts and lifts to manage the flow of tourists who pass there daily. I recommend you to start your stay in Courchevel (of course it's very expensive the day of parking) but it's the most accessible and especially when you finish your day of skiing you'll be happy to finish at the bottom of the resort where you'll have a lot of options to have hot drinks and pancakes! I don't like the luxury and chic side of the resort which is clearly on the side but the slopes are just beautiful and I note especially the main reason of the stay which is: skiing! I also recommend you to download the application of the 3 valleys, I really liked the data that we have of our stay (number of kilometers descended, geographical location, restaurants nearby ...) The price of the day is around 72€ of memory with...