If you've been to St. G before, probably no need to read further. But here's a quick summary of our trip last week. the tl;dr version is: Great town, excellent food, good slopes, OK infrastructure, lousy weather. I'm posting it as it's right next to Chamonix, basically -- you can see Les Houches, and the cog rail line goes through St. Gervais, so if you go there St. Gervais/Megeve/Les Contamines is certainly something that should be on your radar. Megeve is old-school/old money France, if that's your scene, but that's only in town, really.
Geography: St. Gervais is about an hour from Geneva, more or less. You head toward Cham and turn off just after Sallanches, then it's 20 minutes up the hill at an altitude of 900 m. Keep going for another 20 minutes and you have Les Contamines; head to your right and you're in Megeve and the other ski stations of the Arly valley in the Espace Diamant.
Town: St. G is in indeed more of a "real" town than most, being at 850-900 m and having only one (rarely used, from what I can tell) home run. The center is nicely spiffed up, with a number of good restaurants, two grocery stores, friendly butcher and a couple of bakeries, and a community center, plus an ice palace/pool complex. We can recommend L'Eterle for pizza/burgers etc and La Galeta for fondue (save room for galettes fait maison ). There's a weekly market on Thursday mornings; historic church and great views. Parking in the center is a bit tricky -- there's a decent sized underground garage but not for under-confident drivers...it was pleasant to walk around taking in the views and popping into the church etc. We stayed in an airbnb near the Mt. Blanc cog railway. Low altitude so unlikely to be snowy.
Skiing (logistics): The main Bettex gondola has parking for 700 cars, but you can walk to it in about 10-15 from most places in town. We opted to shash gear at Claude Penz, which has lockers at the midway station, there are lockers at the base too. So probably the most comfortable option is to keep gear in locker and walk/drive to Bettex, though we saw lots of people booting up in the parking log. There's a shuttle bus system that we didn't need to try. Once you're up to the top of Bettex, at 1400 m or so, there's a second telecabine up to where the skiing begins. (there are about 4-5 runs down to Bettex, but you'll want to be on the main bowl facing Megeve). You can cross to Megeve at the base of the Mont d'Arbois lift via a very jammed gondola. I'd recommend planning to spend a full day or two over at Megeve.
Overall, not that many new lifts and more drags than I'd like, but I'm told there is a plan to replace one lift a year. Once that's done it should eliminate a few bottlenecks, especially at Ideal and Mont Joly high speed quad/sixes. There's also a bit of a scrum to get down the Bettex gondola at the end of the day.
Skiing (terrain): Lots of blues/reds, not all that difficult, unless it's icy, with stunning views. Plenty of sidepiste. Conditions aside, we (me: aspiring advanced intermediate; kids gold and bronze ESF stars, wife mostly nonskier) liked the broad sunny slopes facing Megeve, as well as the Megeve slopes facing St. G. (and the Cote 2000 area of Megeve, which had the best snow) The St. Nicolas trails are narrower. We were limited by unpleasant rain around Dec. 22 and then a freeze/thaw cycle that left everything boilerplate until noon. Still, I'd say if the conditions are good it compares favorably to most lower-altitude resorts in France, and with Megeve (both sides) and Les Contamines you'd have more than enough to do in a week. However, the low altitude doesn't bode well in an era of global warming. But on the other, other hand, most runs are tree-lined which helps in flat light.
Food: Expensive on the mountain but a very nice salle hors sac at Freddy's, with hooks to stash bags during the day. Unless you've got money to burn that's the way to go. If you want a "real" mountain restaurant it 'will be hard to get out of there for less than 100 euros for a family of four.
Other stuff to do: The spa / sauna/ hammam/ pools at the new Megeve sports complex are a must do, though not cheap. It was 80-something euros for a family of 4, but it was well worth it. We spent the last weekend in Chamonix poking around, and also took a morning drive up to Les Contamines to hike around the very old Notre Dame de la Gorge church.
Costs: 6-day family lift pass for 4 was around 800 euros. On-mountain food seemed on the high side but I attribute that to Megeve. There's even a Folie Douce if you want to dance on the tabletop in your ski boots with Eastern European "hostesses" -- not my scene but there's an ass for every seat, as they say...
Would I ski it again: Yes, but I might wait until later in the season. The potential for very-goodness (not quite greatness) was there, but better weather (ie. more snow) and some newer lifts would have transformed the place. If you're coming from the US and want something different than Chamonix, but still close, well worth a day or more. Below is one of the views of Mt. Blanc from the St. Gervais side.
Geography: St. Gervais is about an hour from Geneva, more or less. You head toward Cham and turn off just after Sallanches, then it's 20 minutes up the hill at an altitude of 900 m. Keep going for another 20 minutes and you have Les Contamines; head to your right and you're in Megeve and the other ski stations of the Arly valley in the Espace Diamant.
Town: St. G is in indeed more of a "real" town than most, being at 850-900 m and having only one (rarely used, from what I can tell) home run. The center is nicely spiffed up, with a number of good restaurants, two grocery stores, friendly butcher and a couple of bakeries, and a community center, plus an ice palace/pool complex. We can recommend L'Eterle for pizza/burgers etc and La Galeta for fondue (save room for galettes fait maison ). There's a weekly market on Thursday mornings; historic church and great views. Parking in the center is a bit tricky -- there's a decent sized underground garage but not for under-confident drivers...it was pleasant to walk around taking in the views and popping into the church etc. We stayed in an airbnb near the Mt. Blanc cog railway. Low altitude so unlikely to be snowy.
Skiing (logistics): The main Bettex gondola has parking for 700 cars, but you can walk to it in about 10-15 from most places in town. We opted to shash gear at Claude Penz, which has lockers at the midway station, there are lockers at the base too. So probably the most comfortable option is to keep gear in locker and walk/drive to Bettex, though we saw lots of people booting up in the parking log. There's a shuttle bus system that we didn't need to try. Once you're up to the top of Bettex, at 1400 m or so, there's a second telecabine up to where the skiing begins. (there are about 4-5 runs down to Bettex, but you'll want to be on the main bowl facing Megeve). You can cross to Megeve at the base of the Mont d'Arbois lift via a very jammed gondola. I'd recommend planning to spend a full day or two over at Megeve.
Overall, not that many new lifts and more drags than I'd like, but I'm told there is a plan to replace one lift a year. Once that's done it should eliminate a few bottlenecks, especially at Ideal and Mont Joly high speed quad/sixes. There's also a bit of a scrum to get down the Bettex gondola at the end of the day.
Skiing (terrain): Lots of blues/reds, not all that difficult, unless it's icy, with stunning views. Plenty of sidepiste. Conditions aside, we (me: aspiring advanced intermediate; kids gold and bronze ESF stars, wife mostly nonskier) liked the broad sunny slopes facing Megeve, as well as the Megeve slopes facing St. G. (and the Cote 2000 area of Megeve, which had the best snow) The St. Nicolas trails are narrower. We were limited by unpleasant rain around Dec. 22 and then a freeze/thaw cycle that left everything boilerplate until noon. Still, I'd say if the conditions are good it compares favorably to most lower-altitude resorts in France, and with Megeve (both sides) and Les Contamines you'd have more than enough to do in a week. However, the low altitude doesn't bode well in an era of global warming. But on the other, other hand, most runs are tree-lined which helps in flat light.
Food: Expensive on the mountain but a very nice salle hors sac at Freddy's, with hooks to stash bags during the day. Unless you've got money to burn that's the way to go. If you want a "real" mountain restaurant it 'will be hard to get out of there for less than 100 euros for a family of four.
Other stuff to do: The spa / sauna/ hammam/ pools at the new Megeve sports complex are a must do, though not cheap. It was 80-something euros for a family of 4, but it was well worth it. We spent the last weekend in Chamonix poking around, and also took a morning drive up to Les Contamines to hike around the very old Notre Dame de la Gorge church.
Costs: 6-day family lift pass for 4 was around 800 euros. On-mountain food seemed on the high side but I attribute that to Megeve. There's even a Folie Douce if you want to dance on the tabletop in your ski boots with Eastern European "hostesses" -- not my scene but there's an ass for every seat, as they say...
Would I ski it again: Yes, but I might wait until later in the season. The potential for very-goodness (not quite greatness) was there, but better weather (ie. more snow) and some newer lifts would have transformed the place. If you're coming from the US and want something different than Chamonix, but still close, well worth a day or more. Below is one of the views of Mt. Blanc from the St. Gervais side.
