The Three Valleys ski area, resort by resort

The Three Valleys (Les 3 Vallées) is a single linked ski area in the Savoie Alps of France, joining seven resorts across the valleys of Courchevel, Les Allues (Méribel) and Belleville, with Orelle reached from the Maurienne side. According to the ski area itself, it has 600 km of slopes and 169 lifts, and one pass covers all of it. You can ski from Courchevel to Val Thorens and back in a day without taking off your skis.

The name is slightly misleading. There are three main valleys, but there are seven resorts, and some of those resorts are clusters of several villages at different heights. When someone says they skied the 3 Valleys, they may have stayed in a quiet hamlet at the bottom of one valley or at the highest resort in Europe at the top of another. The experience is very different, even though the lift pass is the same.

This guide sets out the seven resorts, the official figures, the pass formats and the questions that decide where to stay. Our own chalets in the area are all in Courchevel, so we say plainly where another resort would suit you better. For the resort itself, see our guide to skiing in Courchevel.

Each resort has its own character, and that matters more than the shared figures. The table summarises how the ski area describes each one, with our own note on who tends to be happiest there. Think of it as a row: Courchevel’s valley at one end, Méribel’s valley in the middle, between the Courchevel side and Belleville, and the Belleville valley at the other end with three resorts of its own. Orelle joins from the far side, in the Maurienne valley.

Characters and figures from les3vallees.com; the right-hand column is our own guidance.

The standard pass is called the Solo pass. It runs from four hours up to week-long durations, covers all seven resorts and is read automatically at each lift, so you never take it out of your pocket. The ski area notes that the six-day pass is priced as the five-day one, and that the Solo pass becomes most worthwhile from six consecutive days. Prices change each season and are published on the official website; we can arrange passes for a whole group when you book.

Age bands are simple: children are 5 to 17, adults 18 to 74, and veterans 75 and over. Children under five ski free, but their pass must be collected at a sales point with ID showing date of birth and a recent photo. Passes can be bought online, sent to your home address on a rechargeable card (allow a few days the first time), and reloaded online up to five minutes before you ski.

Pass names and conditions from les3vallees.com and courchevel.com for the 2026/27 season. Prices on the official websites or on request.

Courchevel occupies the valley at one end of the area, with its own linked villages spread up the slope and spruce forest around the lower ones. Our chalets there are in three of those villages. In Courchevel 1850, Chalet Valmont is a three-minute walk from the Croisette, the main lift hub where the ski schools gather; Chalet Erise is ski-in ski-out; and Chalets Oris, Osco and Morelle sit within a short walk or drive of the slopes. In Courchevel Village, Chalet Sally is ski-in ski-out and Chalet Flys is about 100 metres from the pistes, with the Grangettes gondola climbing directly to 1850. In Courchevel Moriond, Chalet Dace is near the Ariondaz gondola, which connects directly into the Three Valleys.

Several of these houses include lift pass delivery, and Chalet Flys has a resort driver available across the Three Valleys, which helps on the evening you ski too far and want to come home by road. For a full view of the houses, see our luxury chalets in Courchevel, or compare the chalets in Courchevel 1850. If being on the snow from the front door is the priority, we explain what the label really covers in our page on ski-in ski-out chalets.