Love Saint-Martin-de-Belleville? Where to go next for the quiet village, the long lunch or the snow sure skiing
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20268 min read
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is an old Savoyard village inside the Three Valleys, traditional and quiet by our read, and we list it for three things: it is authentic, it suits people who care about food, and it gives you the Three Valleys. That is the whole appeal: a village that feels like a village, with all of the Three Valleys around it.
So when its regulars talk about going somewhere else, they rarely mean the same thing. Some mean the quiet village. Some mean the long lunches. Some mean the skiing itself, which on our measure is high, snow sure and gentler than most of the French resorts we cover. And if it is the Three Valleys you cannot give up, you do not need to leave at all.
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, measured
Start with what sits above the village. Seventy five percent of the piste we measure around Saint-Martin is at or above 1,800 metres, and the skiing reaches 2,691 metres by our measurement, so it passes our snow sure test with room to spare. Half the piste is above 2,040 metres, 590 above the village itself, and the lowest piste we measure is at 1,140. The village sits at 1,450 metres, but the skiing lives well above it.
The local skiing is modest and kind. We measure 75.1 kilometres of piste around Saint-Martin, against 115.8 at the median resort we cover, and two thirds of it is green or blue. Only 20 percent is steeper than one in four, and the reds average 21.9 percent, the second gentlest of the 17 French resorts we cover, against a typical French red at 24.3. The blues sit near the French average, 16.6 percent against 16.2, and the blacks a little above it, 30.9 against 29.6. There are just 6 kilometres of black and no marked itinerary. These are average gradients per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so a gentle average can still hide a short, sharp pitch.
Then there is everything around it. The Three Valleys is quoted at 600 kilometres and is genuinely linked, though that is a figure we have not measured ourselves. Our 75.1 covers only the piste around Saint-Martin.
So no single resort elsewhere gives you all of it at once: an old, quiet village, good food, high skiing that passes our snow sure test and the Three Valleys outside. Each route keeps one or two of those and gives up the rest.
Serre Chevalier: if it is the quiet village and the snow, elsewhere in France
- VillageVillage
- 1,350 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,830 m
Serre Chevalier: 153 km of piste we measure. 91 km green and blue 60%45 km red 29%17 km black 11%
Serre Chevalier keeps the quiet and the snow without leaving France. It is relaxed and sunny by our read, a place of sun, trees and a string of old villages, tagged quiet as Saint-Martin is. We list it for tree skiing, sunshine and value.
On snow the two are close to twins. At Serre Chevalier 72 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 75, and 52 percent is above 2,000, against your 55. Half its piste sits above 2,020 metres, against 2,040 at Saint-Martin. The skiing tops out at 2,751 by our measurement, 60 metres above yours, and on our measure both are snow sure. The village is 100 metres lower, at 1,350.
What changes is the skiing on the doorstep. We measure 152.7 kilometres of piste around Serre Chevalier, against the 75.1 around Saint-Martin, and 91.4 of it is green or blue, the tenth most of the 55 resorts we cover. That includes 40.8 kilometres of reliably marked green, against your 4.0, which matters if anyone in the group is new to it.
It is steeper, though. Twenty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, and the reds average 24.9 percent, the tenth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 21.9. The blacks run the other way, averaging 27.8 against your 30.9, and there are more of them, 16.7 kilometres against 6.0.
The trade is the Three Valleys. Serre Chevalier's own area size is not a figure we can confirm, so we do not quote one. We tag it quiet but not traditional, its list says value where Saint-Martin's says food, and you fly to Turin or Grenoble rather than Geneva or Chambéry.
Alta Badia: if it is the long lunch, on another big circuit
- VillageVillage
- 1,568 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,778 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 500 km about, our sum
Alta Badia: 125 km of piste we measure. 76 km blue and easier 61%41 km red 33%8 km black 6%
If the long lunch is the best part of a Saint-Martin week, go to the Dolomites. Alta Badia is warm and welcoming by our read, gentle Dolomite cruising with world class mountain food, and we list it for its cuisine, the Sellaronda and families. Our engine puts it third closest to Saint-Martin of the 55 resorts we cover, and closest in Italy.
It is also the only pick here that comes near the scale. Alta Badia's own sector is 130 kilometres, and from a base on the Sellaronda around 500 kilometres can be reached by lift. That is our own approximate sum of measured kilometres, not a published number, so set it against the Three Valleys' quoted 600 as a rough match rather than a contest. The 1,200 kilometres printed on the Dolomiti Superski pass is something else: twelve areas, only four of them joined.
The skiing is gentler still. Only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, and 40 percent is gentler than 15 percent, the joint fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover. Its reds average 21.7 percent, all but level with your 21.9, and its blues 14.4, kinder than your 16.6. There are 76.4 kilometres of blue and easier, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Italian grades run kinder than French ones, so these measured figures are the fair test, not the colours.
The trade is the top and the village. Alta Badia's village is 118 metres higher than yours, at 1,568, but its skiing stops at 2,509 by our measurement, 182 below, and 65 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 against your 75. It passes our snow sure test, by nine metres at the top. We tag it family rather than traditional or quiet, and you fly to Venice or Innsbruck.
Crans-Montana: if it is the easy, snow sure skiing, in Switzerland
- VillageVillage
- 1,500 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,000 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 140 km
Crans-Montana: 85 km of piste we measure. 22 km blue and easier 26%50 km red 59%13 km black 15%
On our numbers, the resort closest to Saint-Martin overall is Crans-Montana, a sunny plateau with wide views over the Rhône. It is sunny and smart by our read, listed for sunshine, golf and spa, and families, and Geneva is its airport too.
It carries over the parts of Saint-Martin you can measure. The village is at 1,500 metres, 50 above yours. The skiing reaches 2,868 by our measurement, 177 higher, and 79 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 against your 75, which on our measure makes it snow sure. Thirty six percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, exactly your share, and 22 percent is steeper than one in four, against your 20.
The piste map will look harder than the mountain is. Only 22.0 kilometres is graded blue and easier, against your 50.2 of green and blue, because Swiss grading paints most of Crans-Montana red. Those reds average 19.2 percent, gentler than yours at 21.9, and the blues 13.3 against your 16.6. Read the gradients over the colours, remembering they are averages.
The area is smaller, and clean. Crans-Montana is one linked area of 140 kilometres, a figure three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. Around the resort we measure 85.2, a little more than your 75.1, with more black, 12.9 kilometres against 6.0, and the longest piste we measure there is a black of 4.0 kilometres that drops 843 metres.
The trade is the village. We tag Crans-Montana family, not traditional or quiet, and food is not on its list. You keep the snow, the gentle gradients and the airport. You give up the old Savoyard village and most of the area.
So, which one
the quiet village and the snow are what you love, you would like more skiing around the village and far more green, and you can give up the Three Valleys.
lunch is the point of the day and you still want a big linked circuit, with gentler skiing, and you can give up the old village feel and some height at the top.
it is the skiing you love, gentle, high and snow sure, and you would trade the village for more height at the top, with Geneva still the airport.
It is the one pick that keeps you in France and keeps the quiet, and on snow it is all but Saint-Martin's twin. You lose the Three Valleys and gain 78 kilometres of piste around the village by our measure, far more green and steeper reds. And if the Three Valleys is the one thing you cannot give up, stay on the pass and change village instead.