The Val Thorens Valley

At the bottom of the Val Thorens valley is St Martin De Belleville (1400m) and the long blue runs down to the village are excellent for beginners and intermediates making St Martin an excellent target destination for lunch from Courchevel 1650. There are 3 pretty restaurants on the way down - all of which can be relied upon to give you an excellent lunch at reasonable prices and if you decide to venture down to the bottom and walk into the pretty village of St Martin, we are sure you will not be disappointed...... and its a nice easy cablecar and chairlift back to the top and over into the Meribel valley on the way home.

Val Thorens is the highest of the resorts in the Three Valleys at 2300m with the highest ski run coming from 3230m so you can always be assured of good snow conditions in Val Thorens - even at the end of the main season when other resorts are closed.

In recent years, a fourth valley leading down to Orelle (900m) has been opened to skiers for the first time with direct links from Val Thorens making it possible to ski the full width of all 4 valleys from your base in Courchevel 1650 in a single day. The return journey will take a competent skier a full day so make sure you start out early and don't forget to check the weather forecast - it's a long (and expensive) taxi ride from Val Thorens back to Courchevel if you get stuck ....we know because we've done it!

Down the valley from Val Thorens is Les Menuires (1850m) which is often described as one of the least attractive resorts in the Three Valleys but has some excellent runs from Pointe de la Masse making it well worth a visit.