You want Méribel, but don’t want Méribel prices? Welcome to Brides-les-Bains, the wallet-friendly choice for exploring the vast Trois Vallées area. The town is situated a 25 minute gondola ride below Méribel at an altitude of 600m. It’s low for a ski resort but if you don’t mind the commute you’re getting access to 600km of linked pistes between Courcheval and Val Thorens for sometimes as much as half what you’d pay further up the mountain.
Brides-les-Bains itself is a bustling and historic town famous for its spa treatments. Après is not what it is higher up, but you won’t mind that when you get the bill.