THINGS TO DO IN MEGÈVE: A GUIDE FOR EVERY SEASON

Altitude is not the argument here. At 1,113 metres, Megève sits lower than most French resorts, and its slopes look across at the highest mountain in western Europe rather than trying to rival it. What it offers instead is a village that functions all year: bakeries that open in June, a square that fills at six, a working parish church rather than a purpose-built centre.

Much of what you see is the work of one architect. Henry Jacques Le Même arrived in the 1920s and spent five decades defining what a chalet should look like: low roofs, wide eaves, pale wood, no theatrics. Half of the Alps has been copying him ever since.

The village earned its nickname of the little Switzerland of the Alps somewhere along the way, and it has kept the manner that goes with it. Cashmere at breakfast. Fur on the terrace. Nobody in a hurry.

Megève's ski area is called Évasion Mont-Blanc, and it links the village with Saint-Gervais, Combloux, La Giettaz, Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce and Les Contamines. More than 400 kilometres of piste, most of it tree-lined, almost all of it facing the Mont Blanc massif.

It is divided into three sectors. Rochebrune is the historic one, reached by cable car from the village. Mont d'Arbois is the largest and the one most skiers gravitate towards. Le Jaillet is the quietest, with the finest views of the massif and a habit of catching the afternoon sun.

The skiing is gentle by Alpine standards. Long blues, wide reds, tree runs when the weather closes in. Nobody comes here for couloirs. They come for the lunch at the top of them.

The lifts reopen in June and the mountain changes character entirely. Meadows, cowbells, wildflowers, and an emptiness that winter never delivers.

Hiking

The Pays du Mont-Blanc is walking country, with trails from gentle valley loops to full-day traverses. The path to the Lac de Javen is the one to do with a picnic and no particular ambition.

Golf

The 18-hole course at Mont d'Arbois opens from May and sits among the highest in Europe. Mont Blanc is visible from most of it, which does nothing for concentration.

Hot-air ballooning

Flights depart from Praz-sur-Arly, early in the morning around 7am. The basket lifts to around 2,000 metres and the French, Swiss and Italian Alps unfold at once. Champagne on landing, as tradition demands

Rafting

The Arve, the Dranse and the Doron run fast and cold through July. Departures from Passy, about 25–30 minutes by car, and from Chamonix, suitable from about seven years old

Megève takes eating seriously. There are Michelin stars in the village (Vous et Flocons de Sel), mountain restaurants that require a cable car to reach, and a Savoyard tradition of melted cheese that no amount of refinement has managed to displace.

For lunch on the mountain, the terrace at the top of the Rochebrune cable car is the classic: grilled meat, a glass of Roussette, Mont Blanc directly opposite.

Down in the meadows, Le Bistrot de L'Alpaga reads Savoyard cooking through a lighter lens. Raw wood chairs, velvet banquettes, a room built for winter evenings. The kitchen leans on Haute-Savoie producers: cured meats from Maison Baud, trout smoked in house, Beaufort and reblochon from the valley co-operatives. Before dinner, Le Bar de L'Alpaga pours cocktails built from kitchen-garden herbs and local spirits, with the Alps filling the windows.

Geneva is the nearest airport, around 70 kilometres away and roughly an hour and fifteen minutes by road. Transfers are easy to arrange and car hire is available in the terminal, though a car is not strictly necessary once you arrive.

By train, Sallanches is the closest station, twelve kilometres from the village and served by TGV connections from Paris. Annecy is an hour away by road, Chamonix around 35 minutes, Lyon a little over two hours.