Méribel or Val Thorens: same Three Valleys pass, 850 metres apart
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Méribel and Val Thorens share a lift pass, the Three Valleys, and you can ski from one to the other in a morning. So, as with any two villages on one pass, this is not a choice of ski area. It is a choice of what is outside your door.
And the doors could hardly be more different. Val Thorens is the highest village we cover: modern, above the trees and buzzy. Méribel is 850 metres lower, built in timber and stone among the trees, friendly rather than wild, and sits in the middle of the area. The numbers first, then what they mean for your group.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Méribel | Val Thorens |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,450 m, Mottaret 1,750 m | 2,300 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,891 m | 3,154 m |
| Linked ski area | The Three Valleys, quoted at 600 km, not yet measured by us | The same Three Valleys pass |
| Piste we measure around the village | 261 km | 211 km |
| Green and blue | 156 km, 60% of the piste | 134 km, 64% of the piste |
| Black | 30 km | 16 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 5 km | 8 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 31% | 25% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 32% | 37% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 78% | 96% |
| Season | December to April | Late November to early May |
| Nearest airport | Geneva or Chambéry | Geneva or Chambéry |
One caution before reading across. These are our measurements of the piste around each village, and in a linked area they overlap a great deal. The longest piste we measure around both is the same run, the Combe du Vallon, a 3.1 kilometre red with 947 metres of vertical. Read each column as what is closest to that village, not as a separate ski area.
Altitude: Val Thorens wins, by a long way
Val Thorens's village sits at 2,300 metres, the highest of the 55 resorts we cover. Its skiing reaches 3,154 metres on our measurement, against 2,891 above Méribel. And almost all of its piste is high: 96 percent is at or above 1,800 metres and 87 percent above 2,000. Half of it is above 2,409 metres.
Méribel is snow sure on our measure too, which surprises people who think of it as the low one. Seventy eight percent of the piste we measure around it is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,891 metres, and 58 percent is above 2,000. Val Thorens is snow sure with 96 percent above 1,800 metres, up to 3,154 metres. Nobody can promise snow at either.
The real difference shows at the ends of the winter. Val Thorens runs from late November to early May, Méribel from December to April, and in Val Thorens the snow is at the door rather than up the lift. If you are booking the first or last weeks of the season, that is worth a lot.
The skiing: Méribel has the steep, Val Thorens the easy
This is the finding most people get the wrong way round. Méribel, the friendly family village, has the more serious skiing near it. Thirty one percent of the piste we measure around Méribel is steeper than one in four, against 25 percent at Val Thorens and 26 at a typical resort we cover. Méribel has 30 kilometres of black, the third most of the 55 resorts we cover, to Val Thorens's 16.
156 km green and blue 60%75 km red 29%30 km black 11%
134 km green and blue 64%61 km red 29%16 km black 8%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Méribel 4.9 km, Val Thorens 8 km.
The gradients agree. They are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how a week feels rather than a verdict on any one run. Méribel's reds average 25.4 percent, the seventh steepest of the 55 we cover and above the French average of 24.3. Val Thorens's reds average 23.5, a little under it. Blues and blacks are close: 17.0 and 16.5 for the blues, 32.8 and 32.2 for the blacks.
Val Thorens leans the other way. Sixty four percent of its piste is green or blue, 134 kilometres of it, the third most of the 55 we cover, and 37 percent is gentler than 15 percent. Méribel has more easy kilometres in total, 156, the second most of the 55 we cover, but a smaller share of its piste. Val Thorens has a little more marked off piste itinerary, 8 kilometres to 5.
Who each one actually suits
Val Thorens suits groups of friends who want to ski all day and go out after, and anyone for whom snow certainty is the first thing on the list. It is purpose built above the tree line, compact and mostly ski in, ski out, so the walk from bed to lift is short. Of the Three Valleys villages, it is the one that parties, from La Folie Douce on the mountain to the bars in the village, and late. Couples and families do well here more than its name suggests, especially with a base a little away from the centre. Beginners get wide, gentle runs right by the village, at height.
Méribel suits families, mixed groups and people who want the village to be part of the holiday. Children learn on the Altiport greens among the trees, sheltered when the weather turns, and it is the home of the catered chalet. Its central position is the other draw: Courchevel one way, Val Thorens the other, both before lunch. The evenings are lively at the bottom of the runs and calm later on. Choose the base with care: Méribel Centre for the bars and shops, Méribel Village for quiet, Mottaret for altitude and the quickest way onto the snow.
The bit nobody tells you
The 850 metre gap between the villages is real, but it is not the gap you have to live with. Méribel's Mottaret sits at 1,750 metres, which leaves it 550 metres below Val Thorens rather than 850, and it is the most ski in, ski out of Méribel's bases. And because the two villages share so much of their skiing, the highest runs above Val Thorens are a morning's skiing from Méribel on the same pass.
What you cannot borrow is the village. You can ski up to Val Thorens's snow from Méribel. You cannot ski Méribel's trees, chalets and calmer evenings into Val Thorens. That is why the base matters more than the mountain here.
So, which one
you want snow at the door, the longer season, lots of easy cruising at height, and an evening with real noise in it. Also if you are booking very early or very late in the winter.
your group is mixed, families or friends, and you want the central base, a village of timber and trees, more steep and black within reach, and evenings that suit everyone. Book Mottaret if altitude matters.
You get more skiing around the door, more of it serious, the whole area in reach in both directions, and Val Thorens's height is a lift ride away. Val Thorens is the right answer when the snow line or the nightlife is the reason for the trip.