Season Dates: December to April

BONJOUR,
MERIBEL

One of
the world’s
largest ski
areas

Méribel is the middle valley of Les 3 Vallées, a chalet-built village with the world’s largest linked ski area on either side of it: 600km of pistes between 1,100m and 3,230m on one pass. Students stay in a family-run hotel in the centre of the village, a minute’s walk from the Chaudanne lifts, ski five hours a day with Oxygène, and spend the evenings at the Parc Olympique pool, on the toboggan run and at the bowling alley.

RESORT INFORMATION

Altitude Range 1,100m – 3,230m

No. of Ski Lifts 180

Marked Pistes 600km

Longest Run 12km

CENTRAL HOTEL

A FAMILY-RUN HOTEL BY THE CHAUDANNE LIFTS

A family-run hotel in the heart of Méribel, a minute’s walk from the Chaudanne lift hub, where the gondolas to both sides of the valley start. The building is Savoyard inside and out, wood and stone, with 62 rooms, and school groups stay at the start and end of the season, when the village is quiet.

Students share twin and triple ensuite rooms. Downstairs there is a games room with table tennis and table football, lounges for the evenings, a heated outdoor pool, and a jacuzzi and sauna kept for the staff. Ski and boot storage is heated.

Breakfast is a buffet and dinner is served in the hotel restaurant, regional and international dishes with dietary requirements catered for once the school has sent them to us, and lunch is a hot meal on the mountain each day. Our Schools Go Skiing Leader stays with the group all week.

ACCOMMODATION FACTS

Type:

Family-run three-star hotel

Accommodates:

100 students and staff

SGS Star Rating:

Ski Lift Distance:

1 minute’s walk to the Chaudanne lifts

Facilities:

Twin and triple ensuite rooms Free Wi-Fi Restaurant Heated outdoor pool Games room Jacuzzi and sauna for staff Heated ski storage

1 / 5

SKIING IN MERIBEL

Méribel sits in the centre of Les 3 Vallées, so the group can ski towards Courchevel one day and Val Thorens the next and still be back for the last lift home: 600km of pistes and 180 lifts between 1,100m and 3,230m, all on one pass. Most of Méribel’s own runs are blue and red through the trees above the village. Lessons are five hours a day in groups of eight to ten students per instructor.

Beginners above the village

The nursery slopes are a lift ride above the village, wide and gentle with their own lifts, and the blue runs back down through the trees bring first-timers home on skis by the middle of the week. The lesson meeting point is at the Chaudanne, a minute from the hotel door.

Three valleys on one pass

Intermediates ride up to the Saulire and ski down into Courchevel, or across from Mottaret towards Les Menuires and Val Thorens, on long blue and red runs, and the lifts bring them back to Méribel in the afternoon. Stronger skiers have the highest pistes in Les 3 Vallées at 3,230m.

Lessons with Oxygène

Lessons are with Oxygène, whose English-speaking instructors teach school groups in ability levels, in groups of eight to ten students per instructor for five hours a day with a hot lunch on the mountain in between. Equipment is fitted at Precision Ski Rent in the village on the first evening, and the week ends with a race, conditions allowing, and an awards ceremony.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

What a week in Méribel includes.

SKI EQUIPMENT HIRE

Skis or a snowboard, boots, poles and a helmet for every student, fitted at Precision Ski Rent in Méribel on the first evening and matched to each one’s height, weight and ability, with heated storage at the hotel overnight.

EAT AND DRINK

A breakfast buffet and dinner at the hotel, with a hot lunch on the mountain every day. Dietary requirements are catered for.

ACTIVITIES

Evenings are a swim at the Parc Olympique pool, tobogganing on the managed run near the village centre, bowling at the Olympic Centre, a jewellery workshop, games nights at the hotel and a quiz with the end-of-week awards, all included.

TRANSPORT

Flights into Geneva, two and a quarter hours from Méribel, or Chambéry at an hour and a half, with a private coach waiting at arrivals. In resort the lifts are a minute from the hotel door, so there is no ski bus to catch.

The trip was incredible from start to finish for both pupils and staff! I am very happy to have found SGS and can not recommend them enough.

– Harrow School

BOOK YOUR SKI TRIP

Tell us the dates, year group and roughly how many students, and we will send a quote and the Méribel guide within 24 hours.

Plan your trip

BONJOUR, MERIBEL