From a skier’s point of view, the resort has two sections. There is Méribel that basically stretches from La Chaudanne at 4,757 feet elevation with traditional village atmosphere with a major lift center and the tourist office, to the Altiport, a small area at 5,577 feet on the mountain with a runway and lot for pilots who have their own small planes. (Pilots must have special training to use the altiport.) About four km. up the valley is Méribel-Mottaret, a smaller village with a larger lift hub and more ski-in/ski out accommodation. These villages are set in the central valley of Les Trois Vallées. There are 53 lifts in the valley, 18 of them that start in the village and link up with another 200 lifts in Les Trois Vallées.Here is the Meribel resort map in pdf format.
Old Méribel center, La Chaudanne, was founded by the British; it still retains many of its British trappings and English is spoken almost everywhere. Above this original center rises the rest of Méribel with 750 vertical feet of hotels and chalets built up the side of the valley toward Courchevel. It has excellent ski slope access. It is about a 10-minute ride from the Altiport and Rond Point des Pistes down to the tourist office.
Half as old and still growing, Méribel-Mottaret is higher up in the same valley. It has more direct lift access to Les Menuires, Courchevel and Val Thorens via the Cote Brune chairlift. Méribel-La Chaudanne is about a 10-minute ride from Méribel-Mottaret. They are linked by a free bus.
The lift to La Saulire provides the best access to the Courchevel valley and the lifts to either Roc des Trois Marches (8,868 feet) or Mont de la Challe (8,448 feet) provide the best connections to Val Thorens and Menuires.
