France
Savoie, France
The Three Valleys is the world's largest ski area at 600km. Les Menuires alone has 240km of blues — a staggering intermediate paradise at the heart of the Alps.
Blue runs (7) tap a name to zoom in on map
Preyerand Gondola
The Preyerand Gondola departs from the centre of Les Menuires village. La Violette runs from the gondola's top station back down to the village — entirely above the treeline with the full Belleville Valley spread below you.
Long, sweeping, almost flat in places. The perfect first-day run — wide as a motorway with incredible alpine views and never intimidating.
Méribel Express
On the Méribel side of the Three Valleys — you reach it by skiing over the ridge from Les Menuires (about 20 min ski). The Méribel Express chair sits at the valley floor between Les Menuires and Méribel.
Consistently pitched Méribel-sector cruiser with great valley views. One of the Three Valleys' best blues for pure rhythm and flow.
Cime de Caron
In the Val Thorens sector — the highest ski area in Europe. The Cime de Caron cable car is in Val Thorens, about 30 min ski from Les Menuires. At 3,200m you're well above everything — genuinely high-alpine terrain.
Top intermediate run in Val Thorens — long descents with high-alpine views above the treeline. Go early for untouched corduroy.
3 Marches Chair
On the Méribel side, below the 3 Marches ridge that separates Méribel from Les Menuires. Runs down toward the Altiport — Méribel's old airport (now just a flat field visible from the piste).
A Méribel local favourite. Perfect pitch, reliably groomed. The kind of run you lap until your legs give out.
Mont de la Chambre chairlift
Mont de la Chambre sits on the ridge linking Les Menuires with Val Thorens. Take the Mont de la Chambre chairlift from Les Menuires and you are on a high-altitude plateau with views across both resorts. The blue run descends back toward Les Menuires across open, wide terrain.
One of the most beginner-friendly blues in the 3 Vallées — genuinely wide, long, and gentle with views across Les Menuires to the valley. A good confidence run before tackling the longer blues toward Val Thorens.
Saint-Martin gondola (Saint-Martin-de-Belleville village)
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is an old Savoyard village in the same valley as Les Menuires — the Belleville Valley — sitting about 10 minutes down the road at 1,450m. It has its own gondola (the Saint-Martin telecabine) and connects directly into the Les Menuires and 3 Vallées ski area at the top. Far fewer people than Les Menuires itself. Jerusalem is a blue run that winds through the terrain above the village with views down the valley.
Saint-Martin feels like a different world from the purpose-built Les Menuires above it — stone chalets, a beautiful church, proper French village life. The Jerusalem run is a relaxed, wide blue that brings you back toward the village gondola. One of the most characterful blue runs in the 3 Vallées, in one of its most authentic settings.
3 Marches chairlift (Les Menuires upper mountain)
The 3 Marches chairlift sits at 2,704m on the ridge between Les Menuires and Méribel. From the top, a long blue run descends all the way to Saint-Martin-de-Belleville in the valley at 1,450m — over 1,250m of vertical on a consistently gentle blue. You end up in the charming old village with its church and stone houses, a world away from the purpose-built resort above.
One of the longest top-to-bottom easy blues in the 3 Vallées — 1,250m of vertical on a gentle, wide piste. The descent to Saint-Martin is gradual and beautiful. Take the Saint-Martin gondola back up or continue exploring the village.
The destination
Les Menuires is the best-value entry point to the Three Valleys — purpose-built but renovated, with excellent slope access and far lower prices than Courchevel or Méribel.
Family resort · Best value in Three Valleys · Easy slope access
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