Things to do in Méribel: free sledging, a lake walk and a pool
Easy going, and a good deal of it free: a fenced sledge slope with a free magic carpet back to the top, seven lifts a beginner can use without a pass, and walks that tell you the distance and the time. On a bad day the Olympic Park has everything under one roof, and the evening to plan is Himalaya by Night at Mottaret.
Méribel was built in timber and stone rather than concrete, and off the snow it is as easy going as it looks. A lot of what there is to do is aimed at whoever in the group is youngest or still learning, and what surprises people is how much of it costs nothing.
Start at La Luge du Doron, a gentle slope kept for sledges and fenced away from the pistes, where a magic carpet does the climbing for nothing, which is the whole trick: nobody has to walk up. Smaller children have their own fenced area at the Altiport. If somebody is learning to ski, seven lifts in Méribel and Mottaret serve netted beginner zones without a pass, which is a week of practice for nothing. The walking trails tell you the distance and the time before you set off, and the Tueda loop takes about an hour.
On a bad day the Olympic Park in the centre has everything under one roof: a pool with a slide, a spa, a climbing wall, bowling and a large indoor play space, so children and parents are sorted in one trip. For a non skier with a free morning, the Tueda walk ends at the Reserve House, with an exhibition and family activities that make the walk an outing. And the Olympe gondola runs down to Brides-les-Bains, a neighbour you can reach without skiing, for its thermal spa.
The evening to plan is Himalaya by Night at Mottaret, two kilometres of groomed sledge run in the dark, and children under eleven go free with you. It is sold on the spot only, so turn up rather than trying to book. For a night with more of a story to it than dinner out, a guided snowshoe can end in a natural igloo with fondue, and that one does need booking through a guiding office.
Free, and worth knowing
Five that cost nothing, and the fenced sledge slope with its free carpet back up is the one to do first.
La Luge du Doron
A gentle sledge only slope, fenced off from skiers, with a free magic carpet carrying you back to the top. That last part is what makes it the best free thing in the resort, because nobody wants to walk up a hill forty times. Open until eight, and the carpet runs on Monday evenings.
The Altiport sledging area
A second free fenced area, very gentle, reserved for small children. Baby sledges can be hired if you have not brought one.
The Altiport
Seven free ski lifts
Meribel and Mottaret have seven lifts you can use without buying a pass at all, serving netted beginner zones that are groomed every night. If somebody in the group is learning and the rest are not, that is a week of practice for nothing.
The winter walking trails
Seventeen marked routes, and they publish the distance, the time and the ascent for every one of them. Green routes start at 1.8 km, blue go to 5 km, and the red Meribel Centre to La Traie is 5.4 km and takes three hours.
The pick of the easy ones is the Tueda nature reserve loop, 3.3 km round in about an hour, and the Poetry Trail is a 5 km snowshoe out and back.
The climbing wall
Free access outside lesson times, which is a rare thing and worth knowing on a wet afternoon. Guided lessons available at all levels if anyone wants them.
Meribel Centre
On the mountain
Two toboggan runs, one of them in the dark at Mottaret, and a guided snowshoe that can end in an igloo with fondue.
Himalaya by Night
Two kilometres of groomed sledge run under the stars at Mottaret, and it is the cleanest priced activity in the whole ski area. Nine fifty for a run, twenty for the whole evening, and free for children under eleven if they are with you.
Under 20 euros · Meribel Mottaret · Their page
Mission Black Forest
A 3.4 kilometre themed toboggan run with four hundred and seventy metres of descent and twenty eight bends, reached on the Tougnete gondola with the sales desk in the departure station. Helmet and sledge are included and you must use theirs.
20 to 50 euros · Top of the Tougnete gondola
Snowshoeing with a guide
Nine different outings listed, from a family walk with a chocolate fondue at the end to a two day tour of the Aiguille du Fruit. The one that stands out is an evening in a natural igloo with fondue, which is a better story than a restaurant.
Price on request
In the village
Everything under one roof in the centre for a bad day, and a morning at the lake that is more than a walk.
The Olympic Park
Everything under one roof at Meribel Centre, and it is the one venue in the Three Valleys that has actually published its winter dates. A twenty five metre pool with a slide, a three hundred and fifty square metre spa, a fourteen metre climbing wall, a gym, a six lane bowling alley, and a large indoor play space.
Under 20 euros · Meribel Centre · Their page
The Reserve House at Lake Tueda
A permanent exhibition and guided family activities at the nature reserve, at the end of the 3.3 km loop, which makes a decent morning out of a walk that would otherwise just be a walk. Dogs not admitted.
Price on request · Lake Tueda, above Mottaret
Nearby
Down the Olympe gondola to Brides-les-Bains, the neighbour you can reach without skiing, for the thermal spa.
Brides-les-Bains, twenty two minutes down the Olympe
The bottom of the ski area, and the one neighbour a non skier can reach on a pedestrian pass. The Olympe gondola runs from the middle of Brides up to Meribel in twenty two minutes. Le Grand Spa Thermal is the reason to go.
Price on request
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.