Megève is an undeniably charming town when snow covered. At night, its cobbled streets and lanes, the abundance of fairy lights, the Christmas tree display & associated sound & light show in the main square, traditional building style, profusion of fine eateries & bars, the clickety clack of horse drawn carriages all combine for that most pleasurable of ski holiday experiences. But …….

Did I like Megeve? Definitely. Did I love it? No, but then I am not the target audience for Megève.

It is impossible to refer to the skiing at Megeve in isolation of the fact that is a sum of a greater part - the interlinked Evasion Mont Blanc, and that skews the review's scores. The funny thing about Megève is that the best skiing is as far as one can get from there, over in the next valley best accessed from St Nicolas de Veroce. Luckily, that sector, and its wonderful terrain in and around Mont Joly, is connected to Megeve by a (admittedly convoluted) series of lifts. Anyone staying in town can still ski the best terrain - it’s just that me and all the other powder hounds that started in St Nicolas will have tracked it all out before you get there!

The observation of where the best skiing is located is based not only on the actual variety & pitch of the terrain, but also snow quality (due to elevation), lifts (due to age) and numbers of people (self-evident!). Megève has loads of green & blue runs for novices & beginners; intermediates are well catered for; but advanced skiers & riders are not left with much. Ski lifts in the Megeve sector are older, slower and include many surface tows. Numbers of skiers in the Megève sector are way higher than in either the St Gervais or St Nicolas sector. St Nicolas is virtually deserted in the first few hours of the morning. And St Gervais lovely rolling slopes are similarly quiet. We never skied the Cote-2000 sector of Megeve, and whilst it may have swayed the ledger slightly, pending the replacement of the surface tows there by chairlifts (planned for the coming seasons), we are satisfied to reserve our judgement until then.

To call a spade a spade, Megève is not for the hard-core advanced skier or snowboarder. For sure you can and will have fun here, but realistically there are better ski resorts for you nearby (like Les Contamines, St Nicolas, and of course Chamonix.

Aside from blissful cruising on a few hundred kilometres of gentle slopes, one of Megeve’s huge attractions is the town itself. Shopaholics will enjoy the Dior, Hermès and similar stores throughout the town. The village’s extensive pedestrian zone has loads of fine restaurants & bars lining the cobbled main thoroughfare (Rue Charles Feige etc.). A plethora of stylish hotels are in prime town centre locations. Prime for the town, not the skiing! Others higher up the mountain (including several ski-in 5-stars) are all connected to the town by the efficient free bus system or hotel shuttles. For entertainment there is a casino and several live music venues, ice skating and a host of other non-skiing distractions. If on a budget there are enough 2 and 3-star lodging options to still enjoy the experience, and of course self-catering or utilising the more affordable restaurants & take-aways (of which there are many) can save a lot of any holiday budget.

On mountain restaurants are very good and its worth traveling to the edges of the resort to find the quieter refuges serving simple local fare. La Folie Douce is at the top of Mont Joux for the ultimate après ski experience. If you haven’t experienced a session here before, it is a must do at last once in your life. Remember to not overindulge. You still need to ski down the mountain afterward!

If are a family, couple or group looking for a lovely, relaxed ski holiday in a quintessential French Alps town, AND only have expectations of relatively easy ski terrain, then Megève is for you. Just remember that (like Chamonix), its low elevation means snow is not guaranteed in the village and lower slopes.

On the other hand, if you are an advanced or expert skier, visit here when the snow is deep and down to low elevations, staying affordably on the outskirts of town (Combloux direction), and sampling it when the off-piste is skiable all the way down to the La Princesse base at 1,060m above sea level.

Bonne journée!