How Méribel is redefining holidays in the French Alps
When you think of the French Alps, your mind might jump to snow-capped mountains, après bars and cosy winter chalets with burning log fires. But during summer season in Méribel, the world’s largest ski area in the heart of Les 3 Vallées, you’ll find over 150km of marked trails to explore, offering panoramic views of lush green valleys, mountain pastures and crystal clear glacier lakes.
For my partner and I — both seasoned marathon runners — it’s the ideal setting for a four-day active holiday; both of us too restless to be glued to a sun lounger at an all-inclusive resort, but craving some disconnect from our busy lives in London.
Getting there is easy – a 1-hour 40-minute flight to Geneva, followed by a 2.5-hour drive to the mountains. We arrived around midday and checked straight into our hotel. Then, it was a quick bite to eat before lacing up our trail shoes for our first run of the trip. Here’s everything we got up to.
Talk to me about the trail running…
Running in the French Alps is like one magnificent natural playground. From forests to mountain pastures, peaks to lakes, there’s hundreds of kilometres to explore, taking you to heights of nearly 2,800m. UK ultrarunner Tom Evans spent time training in Méribel ahead of his win at the 2018 CCC – part of the UTMB World Series. If that's not a good ad for some serious altitude training, I don't know what is.
While a handful of trails can be accessed directly from Méribel centre – including the Tueda loop or the Sentier des Baigneurs – it’s definitely worth taking advantage of the ski and mountain lifts which remain open all year round. This way, you can venture into the national parks and away from civilisation. A 1-day pedestrian pass costs €23 and a 7-day pass costs €64.
Routes in Les 3 Vallées are also split into running/hiking versus mountain biking. A word of advice: you’ll want to make sure you've got a good pair of trail running shoes and a set of walking poles to help you navigate the steep hills and mountainous terrain.
So, where to explore? For $5, you can purchase a map from Méribel’s tourist office containing 33 easy-to-difficult routes, plus a QR code that lets you download the GPX file for each one and sync it directly to your running watch. It's definitely worth the small cost and made navigating our way around the trails a breeze.
Our first afternoon was a little cloudy, so instead of taking the lift up to one of the many summits and running down, we ran directly from the centre to Méribel Mottaret (route B8 - Au Fil de L’eau) before following a 4.5k loop (B13 - Chemin du Creux de L’ours) past a lookout over the green valley, and back down into Méribel. The whole route was around 12-13km and eased us into the week — especially since the air was noticeably thinner than in London.
On Monday morning, we took two lifts all the way up to Tougnète Summit, before enjoying a descent down to Méribel (around 8km) as the clouds lifted to reveal a clear blue sky. This trail wasn't overly technical, so it was a good opportunity to practice our downhill technique.
After lunch, we hitched a ride to Tueda Lake in Méribel Mottaret, before embarking on a beautiful 7.5km run to Refuge du Saut (R10), winding through alpine forests, past towering mountains and raging glacial melt streams. The elevation gain is around 510m.
From the Refuge, there’s plenty more trails you can explore — if you've got any energy left. I'd strongly recommend following the path up to Col du Souffre (sitting at 2817m elevation), through alpine pastures, mineral landscapes and finally up to the glaciers. The geological variety and diversity of colours is breathtaking, and at many points we had the trail almost entirely to ourselves. It's an intermediate route, though, and unless you're Courtney Dauwalter or Kilian Jornet, you'll spend most of the ascent hiking, rather than running. But that's all part of the adventure of trail running and the views from the top are worth it — trust me.
For something more technical, you can also run to the Mont Coua Lake for an icy glacier dip. The Tour du Mont Coua (we ran out of time for this) is a longer, full-day adventure.
While we absolutely loved the trail running in Méribel, it's not for the faint hearted. If you're used to running flat, urban routes, I'd encourage you to get familiar with some hills first. That said, if you have a reasonable level of fitness and run regularly, you should be just fine.
So, where can you stay?
Méribel has many hotels and private chalets, ranging from affordable to luxury. We spent two nights (Sunday and Tuesday) in the three-star Hotel L’Eterlou, a cosy establishment located in the centre of Méribel that fuses mountain chalet with contemporary design. There's 62 rooms, a restaurant, outdoor pool (heated), jacuzzi, sauna and steam room.
We stayed in the traditional room, priced from €140 per night, which was perfectly comfortable with its cosy alpine interior. A delicious French buffet breakfast is included in the room rate, with plenty of choice for all dietary requirements: fresh croissants and pains au chocolat from the local bakery, bread, cheeses, meats, yoghurt, boiled eggs and fruit.
If you're looking to go back to basics, spending the night at a refuge is a more rustic option. We stayed at Refuge du Saut on our second evening — leaving the bulk of our luggage at L'Eterlou — and were treated to a three-course dinner (plus local cheese), a simple continental breakfast (cereals and fresh bread with salted butter and jams/chocolate spread) and a packed lunch to take away with us.
The refuge sleeps up to 25 people, with bunked dormitories (bedding is provided) sleeping 2, 4, 6 and 8 people. There’s showers, though you’ll need cash to use them; we opted for an invigorating dip in a nearby glacier lake (about a 15-20 minute walk away) instead. The refuge is a fantastic way to mingle with other likeminded travellers and with phone signal limited, you can really switch off for a night. It was definitely the highlight of the trip for us, and you could easily spend a week moving from refuge to refuge.
And what about the food scene?
From cosy brasseries to the delights of French gastronomy, the food in Méribel is sensational and the options are endless.
If you’re after authentic French cuisine, make sure to visit La Galette. The vast menu offers classic omelettes, sharing fondues, raclettes and galettes, and caters well to vegetarians. We shared garlic snails, before tackling a traditional raclette with new potatoes, salad, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. Safe to say we rolled back to our hotel in a cheese coma...
Barometer was another highlight for some of the best pizzas we’ve eaten in a long time, while Jack's, a punk-style bar, offers yummy homemade burgers for a laid back lunch or dinner.
For something truly exceptional, book a table at Le Resto in Hotel Le Savoy. The food and service is spectacular, from tuna tartare to fresh grilled octopus, and some of the finest Aperol Spritz you'll find in the resort. We enjoyed a leisurely al-fresco lunch on our final morning before flying home.
Maison Braissand Les Glaciers, the local bakery, also has plenty of fresh bread and pastries, all reasonably priced. We picked up some fresh cheese and pickle baguettes, plus some sweet treats to keep us fuelled for our adventure to the refuge. If you’re self-catering, there’s two supermarkets in the centre.
Any other wellness activities I can do?
If you need a break from all that mountain running, a number of the hotels in the resort have spas where you can enjoy a relaxing massage or treatment. The Olympic Park also has a swimming pool, ice rink, spa and fitness area.
For those craving more activity, there's paragliding, horse riding and climbing.
If you're after something a little different, we spent our final morning enjoying a private 'hike and yoga' experience; a short, barefoot walk through a forest, with intermittent pauses to stretch and breathe. A little woo woo for some? Perhaps. But it was a nice change from dynamic yoga and a beautifully calming end to the trip.
Is it for me?
If you're a keen trail runner or hiker, it's hard to beat the French Alps in summertime. And even if you're a diehard winter sports fan, it'll showcase the place in a whole new light. Coincidentally, my partner worked a 6-month ski season in Méribel after university, and even she was captivated by the place without it's white sheet of snow. Sure, the nightlife scene is significantly quieter throughout June to August, but that's not the type of holiday you're signing up for here. For immersing yourself in nature, testing your technique on the trails and enjoying some top-tier French cuisine, Méribel is the place to add to your running bucket list. We certainly can't wait to return.
Go there!
For more information, visit Méribel
Rooms at Hotel L'Eterlou start from 125 per night Book now
Fly to Geneva with easyJet from £33 one way
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