Travel to Megeve with travel insurance from Essential Travel

Megeve is an upmarket ski resort that forms part of the Evasion Mont Blanc region in Savoie, France. It offers extensive slopes in superb surroundings of Alpine pastures and conifer forests, and provides a plethora of off-slope activities.

The town is enchanting, with a well preserved medieval centre featuring narrow cobbled streets, tastefully restored buildings and a picturesque church. Megeve is an authentic French ski resort that is rich in tradition and history, and has retained its rustic charm. The town centre is pedestrianised, and horse-drawn sleighs add to the charming atmosphere in winter.

The ski area at Megeve is enormous, offering 226kms of groomed, scenic slopes, the longest of which is just under four kilometres. The resort is a delight for beginners and intermediates, with 43 per cent and 34 per cent of the pistes, respectively, geared towards these levels. Advanced and expert skiers need to search a little harder for challenging slopes, with only 23 per cent of the total piste area devoted cumulatively to the upper levels. Access to the slopes is gained via a system of 79 lifts.

Megeve has much more to offer than just its ski slopes, however. The resort has a wealth of other facilities and activities to keep visitors busy, and rumour has it that some visitors don’t even make it to the slopes. Alternative winter activities at Megeve include: ice-skating, indoor swimming, bowling, indoor tennis, mono-skiing, paragliding, snowboarding, tobogganing, sleigh riding, hot air balloon rides and curling. Small plane flights over the Mont Blanc chain are also available.

Additionally, the resort features a beauty farm, a climbing wall, a sports centre, a museum, French linguistic courses, and a cinema. Nightlife is vibrant and varied, with 20 bars, nine discos, a casino, folklore evenings, a piano bar and a wide selection of clubs. Megeve is renowned for its sublime gastronomy, and has a vast range of diverse eateries. Accommodation is also plentiful, with an array of two- to four-star hotels, chalets and apartments.

If you feel like a change of scenery, the ski resorts of Saint-Gervais and Combloux are located close to Megeve. Saint-Gervais is an old spa town that dates back to Roman times. It has features of historical and architectural interest in addition to its ski slopes.

Skiing in Megeve

Megeve is one of France’s most beguiling skiing destinations, situated amid attractive Alpine forests and featuring a beautifully preserved medieval centre. There is a vast slope area at Megeve, with additional options for skiing at neighbouring Combloux and Saint-Gervais.

There is skiing suitable for all levels of expertise at Megeve, although beginners and intermediates are favoured. Green runs make up 43 per cent and blue runs are 34 per cent of the total 226kms of pistes. The remaining 23 per cent of pistes are geared towards advanced and expert skiers.

The resort’s longest run is just under four kilometres. Slopes are served by a system of 79 lifts. Additionally, there is excellent off-piste skiing at Megève, and approximately 75kms of cross-country trails.

Apres-ski in Megeve

Off-slope and après-ski activities abound at Megeve. The resort town alone can keep you occupied for hours, admiring its medieval buildings or browsing its cobbled lanes. There is a weekly market, and countless shops sell a diversity of upmarket clothes, jewellery, food, antiques and gifts.

In addition to skiing, Megeve offers ice-skating, indoor swimming, bowling, indoor tennis, mono-skiing, paragliding, snowboarding, tobogganing, sleigh riding, hot air balloon rides, curling, and small plane flights over the Mont Blanc chain. The resort also features a beauty farm, a climbing wall, a sports centre, a museum, French linguistic courses, and a cinema.

Nightlife is far livelier than at many other resorts, with numerous entertainment venues to choose from, including 20 bars, several clubs and discos, a piano bar and a casino. Additionally, Megeve has numerous fine restaurants that have earned it a reputation as one of the culinary delights of the Alpine ski resorts.

The resort has a comprehensive range of services, including medical care and childcare. There is no shortage of accommodation at Megeve, with two- to four-star hotels, chalets and apartments on offer.

The winter season at Megeve runs from mid-December to mid-April. The resort can be reached via road, or by catching a plane or train into Geneva (70kms away) and taking road or rail transport the rest of the way.

Transportation to Megeve

Megeve is located approximately 70kms from Geneva and can be reached via road, or a combination of road and rail, or road and air. The most convenient of these options is to fly into Geneva and continue the journey via alternative transport. However, this is also the costliest form of transportation, and rail transport is far cheaper and a close second in terms of convenience.

If you’re driving from Paris, take A6 southeast to Mâcon, connect to the A40 east to St-Gervais, and follow N212 south straight into Megeve. If you opt for driving to Megeve from the UK, the journey will involve taking a car ferry to the French port of Calais, from where it takes about eight hours to reach the resort via autoroute.

It’s essential to be aware that winter driving conditions can be perilous, and to ensure that your car has snow tyres and chains. Also remember that cars are prohibited in Megeve town, so you will need to leave your vehicle on the outskirts.

Train travel is an excellent way to reach Megeve, being comfortable, efficient and far less expensive than catching a flight. The Eurostar runs from Waterloo Station in the UK, arriving in Paris approximately four hours later. From here, you can connect with a high-speed TGV train to Sallanches, taking only 5 hours, 30 minutes on weekends.

On weekdays, the TGV only goes as far as Annecy, after which travellers transfer onto slower trains for the rest of the journey. From Sallanches, buses provide transportation to Megeve, 13kms away.

Geneva is situated only 70kms from the resort, so the quickest way of getting here is by taking a flight to Geneva’s Cointrin Airport. From there, you will need to hire a car, or take rail/bus transportation to complete the journey.

The least costly means of reaching Megeve is by bus. Eurolines buses run from the UK to Geneva and Paris, from where you can connect with Swiss or French local buses to reach the resort.

click here for a holiday insurance quotation