Megève is a working Savoyard village that became a ski resort in the 1910s, and it still reads as a village first: a church square, cobbled streets, horse-drawn sleighs instead of a lift station at the centre. It sits inside the Evasion Mont-Blanc ski area, between the Rochebrune, Mont d’Arbois and Jaillet sectors, with Côte 2000 above.
How to get there: the nearest airport is Geneva, with Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Chambéry and Grenoble further out. The nearest railway station is Sallanches, in the valley below.
Slopes and lifts: Evasion Mont-Blanc covers 445 km of slopes served by 110 lifts across seven linked resorts, between 850 m and 2,353 m, with a vertical drop of 1,503 m between its lowest and highest points. Megève sits in the middle of it, which is why the same pass reaches Saint-Gervais, Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce, Les Contamines-Montjoie and Hauteluce.
What the skiing is like: the sectors above Megève are wide, wooded and mostly gentle, which makes the resort a poor fit for anyone chasing couloirs and a very good one for mixed-ability groups. Mont Blanc is in view from most of the runs.
What else there is: the village keeps a restaurant scene out of proportion to its size, and the pedestrian centre works as an evening in its own right rather than as somewhere to wait for the next ski day.
Where you stay: hotels, chalets and apartments are concentrated in and around the village centre rather than on the snow, and a free shuttle runs to the lift stations.
