St Martin de Belleville, French Alps

jowoolley2004

Last updated at 16:14 13 April 2005


Had it been a holiday with friends I'd no doubt have gone to Val Thorens last week. It has great skiing access, good night life, and even a large sports complex complete with bucking bronco machine.

However, since the ski holiday was a final family get together before my sister went off to live with her Gold Coast boyfriend in Australia, we were booked into St Martin de Belleville, 45 minutes by road lower down the French Alps.

St Martin's nightlife may well just centre round Le Brewski's and the Pourquoi Pas bar but it's a working Alpine village with no sign of the architectural horrors of its neighbour, Les Meunieres and at the moment there is no permission for further building.

It has great access to the slopes and once at the top of the cable car you can either dip down into Meribel or make for Val Thorens. Either way, by 4pm, when skiers head back down like ants into their villages for vin chaud the route to the smaller St Martin is practically clear.

Which is one of the reasons the area's red run -Jerusalem - is among the British Airways magazine's top 20 runs in the world.

For many, the skiing holiday is about spending as little time in your bunk bedded apartment and as much of it either propping up bars or ski poles but if where you stay is as important to you as mastering your parallel turns then don't side step St Martin's.

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