Les Menuires Village
Despite some recladding and refurbishment, the centre of Les Menuires is still unattractive to look at, but it’s very convenient. The outer suburbs, particularly Reberty, have more charm.
Reberty on the left is nicer looking than La Croisette on the right © Les Menuires OT _Vincent_Lottenberg
Officially, Les Menuires is composed of five separate areas: La Croisette, Preyerand (which includes Brelin), Grand Reberty (which includes Reberty 1850, Reberty 2000 and La Sapinière), Les Fontanettes (which includes Les Asters and Les Campanules) and Les Bruyères.
La Croisette is the centre of the resort and all of the other areas have a skibus line that goes to and from La Croisette, and most bus journeys only take 5 to 10 minutes. There are also paths and roads you can walk along: it takes about half an hour to walk from the far end of Preyerand, Reberty or Bruyeres to the centre of La Croisette, and about 15 minutes from the furthest end of Les Fontanettes. All of the areas have pistes cutting through them or bordering them, so almost all the accommodation is just a just a short walk from the nearest ski run. The main lift hub is at the bottom of the resort (at the foot of La Masse) with lifts rising in all directions, including back over the resort to La Croisette, so in the morning you can always ski down to a lift, rather than walk up to it.
The main road going from St Martin de Belleville to Val Thorens is diverted around Les Menuires (pistes cross over it on bridges) so there is very little traffic inside the resort.
The small hamlet of Le Bettex, which is just below Les Menuires and linked to it by lift, is officially a different village but is often considered part of the resort.
Wherever you stay, almost all the accommodation is either ski-in/ski-out, or only a short walk to the nearest lift.
Les Menuires: a guide to the different areas
La Croisette
Most visitors regard the centre of Les Menuires, called La Croisette, as ugly but convenient, so it might surprise them that much of it is now considered a fine example of 1960s and 70s brutalist architecture, and so is protected. This is where the tourist information office, sports centre, post office, Bureau des Guides and most of the shops are clustered. There is also good choice of bars and restaurants, although most are in the cheap and cheerful, rather than fine dining, category. The main ski school meeting place is on the flat area of piste near La Croisette where the Roc 1 bubble and the Menuires chair both depart, as does the Stadium draglift for skiers competing on the slalom course. This is also where many of the ski schools meet in the morning and the centre of the apres ski scene in the at the end of the day.
The top part of La Croisette is dominated by Brelin – a truly massive building, resembling a gigantic cruise ship marooned on a mountainside, although its long curving shape fits into its surroundings better than the amorphous tower blocks below it. As well as lots of apartments divided into residences including some smart ones with saunas and swimming pools, Brelin has a few shops including a supermarket and ski hire shop and there is also a ski pass office. It’s great for children and good for disabled access. In the morning skiers and boarders ski down to La Croisette or beyond on the piste. There is also an ‘ascenseur’ (like a bubble lift on rails) that runs late into the evening, connecting Brelin to the main part of La Croisette.
Grand Reberty
Reberty is south west of the centre of Les Menuires (and therefore on the right hand side of the piste map and most village maps) and is split into two distinct levels: Reberty 2000 and Reberty 1850. It has the resort’s best hotels and some of its smartest restaurants, chalets and apartment complexes. Reberty 1850 was built around 1985, while 2000 was built around the Millennium and is more upmarket. Between Reberty 1850 and La Croisette is La Sapiniere – a smart new suburb. Almost everywhere is close to the piste, with one piste going down to the Bruyeres lift station and ski school and the other to La Croisette, but both continue down to the bottom of La Masse where the main lift hub is. As Reberty has its own shops, ski hire outlets, lift pass sales desks, bars, and restaurants, people who stay here rarely visit La Croisette, except to ski through it on their way to La Masse.
Les Bruyeres
To the west of Reberty and below it (and therefore on the far right hand side of most maps) is Les Bruyeres, which Hameau des Bruyeres, which is another self-contained mini resort that is filled mostly chalets and chalet-shaped apartment complexes. Like Reberty 1850 it’s not as smart or as beautiful as Reberty 2000, but it’s a lot more easy on the eye than La Croisette. It is also liked to Reberty via the Toblerone, a triangular shaped covered walkway which crosses the piste that separates them. Les Bruyeres has its own lifts (Bruyeres 1 and Sunny Express) but skiers can descend on gentle blue pistes to the main lift hub at the foot of La Masse.
Les Fontanettes
Les Fontanettes is between Le Croisette and Les Bruyeres. It is strung out over quite a large area, but has fewer buildings than the other suburbs and very few shops and amenities of its own, so it feels like a suburb of the main resort rather than its own self-contained mini-resort. It has some good looking chalets and apartment complexes, however. Below it is the main lift hub from which the Reberty, Doran, Croisette, La Masse and La Masse 1 lifts all depart.
Preyerand
At the entrance to the resort on the road that leads from St Martin is Preyerand. There are several large, but sympathetically designed chalet-style apartment blocks, and some less aesthetically-pleasing older buildings. In general, the closer you get to La Croisette, the less beautiful, but more lively, Preyerand becomes. To reach the slopes you either take the bus to La Croisette, walk to the Preyrand lift or ski down to the Bettex lift.
Le Bettex
Le Bettex is officially a separate village. It’s small and quiet and at night a little bit isolated: bus services to the rest of Les Menuires are either rare or non-existent, and to reach Les Menuires by car you have to drive through Praranger, effectively two sides of a triangle. During the day, however, the Bettex lift provides fast access to Les Menuires’ slopes and you can ski back on piste. The village has its own creche facility as well as a restaurant, bar and ski shop. Despite several new chalet and apartment developments, it has a traditional Savoyarde charm.