Meribel and its close neighbour Mottaret are slap bang in the middle of the Three Valleys (Trois Vallees) ski area. It was host to some of the events during the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics including the Women's Downhill and the Ice Hockey. The village of Meribel itself is quite low at around 1400 and can therefore lack snow if the weather is a little warm. I would recommend staying in Mottaret which is a little higher and has some good ski-in, ski-out accommodation.

There are only a couple of black runs in the Meribel valley so if steep pistes are your thing then you will need to head next door to Courchevel or Val Thorens. There is plenty of steep terrain around, but its an off piste job. The “Saulire” or sunny side of the valley frequently suffers from thin snow when the warm weather hits; this often drives skiers onto the Mont de la Chambre side which has by far the best runs anyway. The Mont du Vallon peak is well worth a visit for a couple of really good red runs and a cracking view.

There are some really good blue runs in the area and the potential for adventuring into the other valleys definitely ups this resort's ratings in the intermediate category. Beginners haven't got that much to go at really although there are reasonable nursery slopes underneath the Cotes and Altiport ski lifts. These unfortunately suffer though from low altitude and too much sun which makes snow a little thin on the ground.

Park lovers will find the park serviced by the Plattieres Bubble to be quite a lot of fun, but definitely not the best in the Alps. There are also two good halfpipes and a good boardercross by the Arpasson chair.

The village is very very British in feel as most of the properties are now British owned and run. This makes for a very easy holiday, but one that lacks any kind of cultural experience and the price of food and drink is really extortionate. Its certainly a very pretty village though, I'll give it that at least.

Overall I would rate Meribel as a mediocre resort. Given the competition it is up against, I wouldn't accept mediocre unless I was given a very cheap deal.