Like Alta Badia, but in France: the gentle runs, the circuit or the table?

If what you would miss is the whole shape of an Alta Badia week, start here. Our read on Saint-Martin is an old Savoyard village, traditional and quiet, with food high on its list, and it sits inside the Three Valleys, which is quoted at 600 kilometres and is genuinely linked. That is the same arrangement you know: a characterful village for the evenings and a very big network on the doorstep for the days you want to roam.

The skiing near home is the least steep of the three picks. Twenty percent of the piste we measure is steeper than one in four, against your 15, and 36 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 40. Two thirds of it is green or blue, 50.2 kilometres, and the blacks are few, 6 kilometres against Alta Badia's 7.5. It is snow sure on our measure, more so than Alta Badia: 75 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,691 metres, 182 higher than your top. The village is 118 metres lower.

What you give up is room right outside the door. We measure 75 kilometres around the village, against Alta Badia's 124.5, so the bigger days mean heading out into the wider Three Valleys. And the blues average 16.6 percent, a French blue rather than an Italian one: still easy, but you will feel them more than the long cruisers at home.

Our matching puts Serre Chevalier closest of the French resorts we cover, and on easy kilometres it beats Alta Badia outright. We measure 153 kilometres of piste around the village, about 28 more than at Alta Badia, and 91.4 kilometres of it is green and blue, 15 more than your blue and easier. Thirty-eight percent is gentler than 15 percent, almost your 40. Our read is relaxed and sunny, with trees for the grey days and a string of old villages, which will feel familiar to anyone who likes choosing which Alta Badia village to stay in.

It also sits higher where it counts. The village is 218 metres lower than Alta Badia's, but the skiing reaches 2,751 metres by our measure, 242 above your top, and it is snow sure on our measure: 72 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres.

The trade is gradient. Twenty-seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, nearly double your 15, with 16.7 kilometres of black against 7.5, and the blues average 16.8 percent against 14.4. A mixed group will find more for its strongest skier and a little less comfort for its most nervous one. The size of the wider area is not classified in our data, so we stick to the 153 kilometres we measure.

Les Gets is the pick for a family that comes to Alta Badia for the warmth and the sense of a journey. Our read is warm and traditional, a pretty village for families, and it is the gateway to the Portes du Soleil: twelve villages across two countries on one linked circuit. The official figure is 600 kilometres; it measures nearer 580, and one independent count puts it at 426. Either way it is a day out that feels like a tour, which is what the Sellaronda gives you. The Les Gets and Morzine sector alone is 117 kilometres, and we measure 99 around the village.

The skiing is a steady family mix: 34 percent gentler than 15 percent, 23 percent steeper than one in four, and 55.3 kilometres of green and blue. Its blues average 15.0 percent, the closest of the three to Alta Badia's 14.4.

The catch is height, and it is a big one. The village is 396 metres lower than Alta Badia's, the skiing tops out at 1,965 metres by our measure, 544 below yours and the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover, and just 1 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. It is not snow sure on our measure. Book it for the village and the circuit, and keep an eye on the forecast.