Village

Val Thorens / Village

Val Thorens is a compact, purpose-built resort; Les Menuires is developing a more up-market image.

At the beginning of the 1960s the Belleville valley was still given over to agriculture. In 1967 the lower resort of Les Menuires was built, during the height of France's crimes against alpine architecture, but many lessons had been learned by the time the attractively compact Val Thorens was added in 1973. Indeed Les Menuires itself has undergone something of a renaissance recently. The small satellite resort of St Martin was converted from alpine village to ski resort in the Eighties and remains a very picturesque base from which to explore both the Belleville valley and the wider Three Valleys circuit. Together the three resorts offer a good choice of different gateways to the Three Valleys, depending on your needs, desires and budget.

Val Thorens is the largest of the resorts with about 24,000 beds, but Les Menuires is not far behind. Perhaps surprisingly, over 4,000 of these are up-market as a great deal of investment has gone into developing a more sympathetic style of architecture in Les Menuires. This trend is best symbolised by the demolition of the first accommodation block to be built in the Sixties and its replacement by a Chalet-style Hameau complex. St Martin offers a much smaller alpine village experience with only 2,700 beds in the village and surrounding hamlets.

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