20 | Hospitality Today | Oct/Nov 2015 EUROPEAN FOCUS
Les Menuires reinvents itself
Our second resort focus in this issue is Les Menuires – a stark contrast in that it was purpose built in the 1960s and 1970s like nearby (and more well- known Val Thorens).
Les Menuires is a high resort (1850m) boasting good snow, but its bold and confident – some would say brutalist – modern high-rise architecture, which helped skiing become mainstream by putting it within reach of those whose wallets don’t run to Zermatt or Courchevel, quickly went out of fashion. In recent years some of the uglier buildings have been replaced by lower-rise, Alpine-style architecture, and there has been a huge tree-planting programme.
Les Menuires in the Belleville valley of Les Trois Vallées. It has 48 restaurants, 39 ski lifts and 62 trails. Its slopes are connected to more than 600 km of slopes in Les Trois Vallées, making it a part of the largest skiable area in the world.
Following the huge success of Courchevel in the 50s, in the 1960s the mayor of Saint Martin de Belleville decided to follow suit with a vastly ambitious plan to create 100,000 bedspaces divided between the two main resorts of Les Menuires and Val Thorens, and five satellite resorts, in what had been until then a very poor and empty valley scattered with goatherds and cheesemakers.
In 1964 the first three drag lifts were installed. In 1967 the first accommodation blocks in the central “Croisette” area were opened. In 1969 the tourist office was created together with Les Menuires’ first hotel and the west side of the mountain was equipped with ski lifts.
1973 saw the first stage of the huge “3 Valleys” ski area, with the Allamands drag lift linking Les Menuires to Méribel.
The initial plans were modified along the way with a new focus on controlled development and preservation of the environment. The number of beds was scaled right down to 26,000 in Les Menuires and 20,000 for Val Thorens, and 1200 in the traditional village of Saint Martin de Belleville. In the end 47,000 bedspaces were created in this valley.
New for the 2015/16 season is: a new blue run ”Bouquetin” from the top of La Masse, more comfort and speed with the new Saint Martin Express and Bettaix chairlifts, and a 3rd Michelin star for La Bouitte restaurant.
http://en.lesmenuires.com/
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34