A beautiful town, not too big. It doesn't have to be expensive if you're careful! (Meribel)

Member Name: Jonny_L

Product:	Meribel
Date:	23/06/08 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great selection of slopes for all degrees of difficulty, picturesq town, great nightlife

Disadvantages: A bit of a mission from the airports. Costly, though it doesn't have to be.

Having gone to meribel earlier this year, I must say I was impressed. This was the first time I'd been skiing, and I went out there to meet up with some seasonaires. This was really handy as I only had 5 days, and they really knew where to go.

Flying from Gatwick, It's around a 2 hour flight to Chambery, which is a TINY little airport deep in the french alps. It's around an hour's drive away from Meribel, and has a staff of maybe 10 people! This is better than you'd think though, as we ended up taking off much earlier due to the fact that everyone was there on time. Very nice indeed.

So, the first place you're likely to visit in Meribel is the main slope. This is an "assisted" ski slope, I say assisted because it's got snow machines, meaning even if the snow's not fresh, you'll always find fairly decent stuff around, especially at the Altiport higher up. From here you can access everything from Nursery slopes to Black runs and all in between, via the grand array of lifts, be they chairlifts, button lifts or bubble cars. In fact you can even get on the famous travelators toward Courchevel, which though I didn't go, is meant to be as impressive as it is expensive, I believe they actually have heated pavements there!

There is plenty to do around Meribel when you're not skiing. Jack's bar is a great place for what are probably the nicest fresh pizzas in town. It's well worth having a wonder around town, as it's very picturesq, what with all the wooden chalets and buildings. There are plenty of shops around, from bakers to get the obligatory morning Croissants, to fantastic Crepe places all manner of ski shops (some of which have skis costing over £25,000!).

There is a town hall which usually has some sort of nice exhibition running, and a town square which often has live music playing. Speaking of live music, the Altiport has a great apres ski bar, which has a lovely outdoor area often serving BBQ food, and pretty much every night they had a live band playing.

If you're not skiing, I'd recommend you rent a pair of snow shoes, they're about £5 a day and mean you can walk the beautiful landscape without stepping waist deep in snow every few steps!

If all this sounds wonderfully expensive, don't be put off. I went out there with broke ski bums, and though we didn't really go out for many meals, the abundance of cheap stubby beers and the delights of a home cooked fondue made up for it. Overall then, my suggestion is if you're going out with money, get a chalet and dive head first into the Meribel community. If you're on a budget, go self catering, maybe a little out of town, and catch the free bus into Meribel.

You can't really go far wrong. If you've not ski'd before, it's a great learning point, though I'd recommend some professional tuition, avoid the ESF french instructors (or so I was told anyway)!

Summary: Even if you're not a skier, you can still enjoy the delights of this wonderful little town.