** UNDER OFFER ** €148,000 Mountain village house Brides-Les-Bains, Meribel

Property Features

Three Valleys Ski Area

A beautiful place all year with highly defined seasons and quiet and tranquil out of the ski season when the crowds have gone home, and then suddenly once again each winter the mountains of the Three Valleys come alive with people enjoying this vast ski area..... the largest linked skiing in the world.

The Three Valleys ski domain provides more than 600km of runs and probably the same again off-piste. In fact it should now be called the Four Valleys with the link into Orelle (Maurienne Valley) which can be accessed by ski from Val Thorens. This has also opened up some extraordinary off-piste runs. The Three Valleys provides direct links between the ski resorts of St Martin de Belleville, Les Menuires, Val Thorens, Méribel, Mottaret, La Tania, Brides les Bains and the four Courchevel resorts, la Praz, 1550, 1650 and the world famous 1850 – and now Orelle, in the fourth valley - all under one ski pass offering on-piste skiing from 1300m all the way up to 3200m. As these figures show the Three Valleys ski area offers huge altitude differences favouring long run skiing.

It has an ultra efficient, state of the art ski lift system, quality piste preparation and a dense artificial snow making system (1920 snow cannons) complementing the excellent natural snow cover. However, if you are not a fan of downhill skiing or like some variety during your stay then you can also roam the domain at your leisure on foot, hiking along the marked trails, or using the pedestrian ski lift passes. Many trails have been created especially to enjoy the increasingly popular snowshoeing sport and to discover the valleys from a new perspective: flora, wildlife, monuments, and spectacular scenery.There are also many cross-country skiing tracks that are prepared and maintained each day. These allow you to take in the breathtaking scenery and provide the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the mountains away from the pistes.

An interesting and wonderful area all year round, there is much more here than the snow sports.

Brides-Les-Bains, Meribel Ski Resort

Brides les Bains is a quiet spa town in the pretty valley below Méribel, and is connected to the ski area of the Three Valleys by gondola. The gondola up to Mèribel takes a while and accesses a couple of villages, les Allues and le Raffort, part way up which allows for some decent off-piste runs when conditions permit. It is possible to ski all the way down to Brides when the snow is exceptional but regrettably that is rare, so most people hop back on the gondola either in Meribel or enjoy the off-piste runs down to either of the two villages and then continue by lift from there.

Before it became a ski base it was, and still is, a thermal spa town and as such has much to offer. As well as the spa centre, there are several good value hotels and chalets, shops, restaurants, a casino and a couple of bars – although evenings are generally quiet because it only has a few bars to choses form it does mean that you all end up getting know each other quite quickly so in fact has quite a social feel.

Indeed it has a big following of snow lovers who value a cheaper resort, a proper town feel and easy access as the snow rarely blocks the roads at this height. I like Brides-les-Bains, it quirky, different and very French and makes an unusual and interesting ski base from which you can enjoy the enormous state of the art ski area of the Three Valleys at a much better price. It is also a great summer location for all mountain enthusiasts and offers a lot of different activities during the winter as well.

Because of this it can make a slightly more interesting base for non-skiers who can make use of the thermal spa treatments which can be booked as week courses or as individual treatments – relax and enjoy!