Value For Money in The Three Valleys
Where to eat & drink without getting ripped off
Updated January 2020 but some prices refer to Winter 2019
Great food but is it going to be €10 or €100 per head?
This page was originally put together in response to various press articles (probably whose brother has a restaurant in Austria) about people being ripped off in the French mountains - Prices do change all the time so this guide can't be up to date all the time but all French restaurants must display their prices, so you can always check first!
Prices subject to change obviously....
La Tania - Ski Lodge, burger and chips €12.50 (or no fries & no salad for €9.90)
La Tania - Saveurs des Alpes, our Deli - Sandwiches from €5.50, Pizzas from €9.50
La Tania - La Taiga skiers lunch is a top value for money lunch destination and great on a bad weather day, less crowded than main areas with three course menu skieur for €18.90, 2 courses €15.90 or Plat du Jour only €12.90. For example the excellent Goats Cheese salad to start, Duck Confit with Gratin for a main and an Apple tart to finish.
La Tania - On piste, Le Bouc Blanc, the usually excellent plat du jour is now up to €18.90 - prices are creeping up now but service remains fast and the skiers menu with salad and desert remains fairly good value at €25.90 (Minutey Rosé Magnums for €48 if we remember rightly....). The half chicken option is a full half a chicken.
Note that Chenus is under new management for Winter 2020 and has gone up in price in typical 1850 fashion (great view though!).
Courchevel 1850 - entrance to the Forum building, ham baguettes with hot cheese €6.
Courchevel 1850 - La Chabotté (part of Le Chabichou) huge Ham & Cheese or Chicken Salad baguettes for €6 available in the shop or bar area plus a 3 course skiers menu and top quality plat du jour at a decent price considering it shares its premises with Michelin Stars...
Courchevel 1850 - The Skiers Special at Le Chabichou (€28 or €50 for 3 courses but 2 Michelin Star quality - the lobster with pear & apples is over €100 and only on the à la carte menu!). Maybe worth a splurge but we've only ever been to La Chabotté.
Courchevel 1850 - Restaurant 9,90 around the corner from the Ski Bus stop. Excellent value with the Plat du Jour STILL €9.90, a set 3 course menu for €15 and bottles of Côtes du Rhône for €16.
Courchevel 1850 - La Pomme de Pin, just above the Chabichou below the Courchevel Stade Piste with a large sunny terrace and large bar and restaurant inside (plus the lounge area above too). Ex-owners of the Courcheneige Hotel and famous for its €6 pints of Stella and €55 bottles of Veuve Cliquot Champagne. The Skiers Menu at €35 includes the buffet plus soup, main course and dessert trolley - well worth a splurge! Also decent pizzas from €12 which are also served in the lounge area but only until 14:30.
1850 / 1550 - On piste, the snack hut next to the Pralong chair lift does reasonably priced coffees and sandwiches with cookies and muffins also on sale if you've missed breakfast. Plenty of chairs and stools in a sunny spot.
Courchevel 1550 - La Taverne opposite the lift by the Grangettes gondola. Stella €5, croques €5
Courchevel 1550 - The snack bar on the main road has excellent sandwiches, panninis etc from €5
Courchevel 1650 - Le Bubbble panninis are always a good shout along with their nachos & chilli. Next door is La Boulotte which has breakfast cobs (aka Katie's Big Baps) from €8.50. Next door to that is the Pizzeria La Table de Mairie with big good value pizza's.
Meanwhile opposite, the former L’arc en Ciel restaurant (which was L’Eterlou before that)- which also did excellent Pizzas – is now another branch of Copiña (part of the European Pubs group which lost both Jack’s Bar and Evolution at the end of 2018 - but Jack’s is back for 2020) doing cocktails and Tapas.
Courchevel 1650 - The snack hut with tables outside down from the Bel Air towards Petite Boss piste which does a lot of cheese... Great value sandwiches.
Courchevel 1650 - Chez Le Gaulois Snack Bar - another melted Raclette cheese butties place.
Méribel - Rond Point, Saisonnaires pitcher of lager from €14. Bottle of Prosecco €24. BBQ food outside is decent value, restaurant service more expensive but decent quality. Pizzas in restaurant are good too and you get butter with your bread without asking!
The Méribel/Courchevel La Folie Douce at the Saulire Express mid-station has a self-service restaurant which is not bad value especially if you've got a meal deal voucher or are with someone with a discount card - selected mains and a soft drink for €12. The Fruitery full service restaurant is a step up mind with the French Onion Soup starter (white and brown soups) around €30 (amazing though!).
Méribel - Le Clos Bernard (ski in to the forest at the bottom of the Loze Express chair and follow the signs) deserves a mention for their Wednesday night offering with a huge traditional Savoyarde meal plus Cheeses, Genepi, Coffee, Vin Chaud etc for €49 including a torchlit walk to the Blanchot bus stop! It really is a stunning setting. Lunch from 12:00-14:00, mains from around €25 with the 1Kg Côte de Boeuf for two at €79.
Sadly we've lost Evos for reasonable value food and drink in Méribel from Winter 2019 but Jack's is back on the site of Meribar for Winter 2020.
Mottaret - Cafe Del Motte do some great BBQ deals including the green menu - Salad or Soup / Burger & Chips / Wine or Beer for €9.95 (Saisonnaires get desert & coffee too).
Mottaret - Fast Food, The Americana (chip butty / burger stand) around €11. The Chrismaran around the corner no longer does cheap beers though and has been renamed and rebranded for Winter 2020 - no reports yet
Mottaret - The Rastro and Zig Zag continue to offer good food at decent prices, they are situated at the far side of the Plattieres gondola away from the town. The Rastro Goulash for €10 will fill you up.
St Martin - on piste Le Loy, good value plat du jour, often complimentary digestif too!
St Martin - in town, La Voute, usually excellent plat du jour around €12 plus decent price wine.
Val Thorens - FaceWest, big club sandwich & chips €9.90 (but beware other prices - the pizzas are €19).
Val Thorens - La Moutiere, the big self service with croques and chips for around €10
Val Thorens - Frog and Roastbeef, British Pub with good value burgers, fish and chips etc.
Val Thorens - The Noodle Bar Wokski under the huge Les Chalets du Thorens / 360 Bar complex near the bottom of the Portette and Moraine lifts. Choose your meat or veg and add a spice - perfect and less than a tenner! The Thai soup is great too.
Les Menuires (Reberty) - L'Ours Blanc Restaurant is a bit tricky to find but has a great terrace with decent value gormet meals and pizzas available. Slippers provided inside too!
Les Menuires (Reberty) - The Igloo bar, next to Le Ferme (excellent Vin Chaud) and under the same management has huge pizza for €9.50, large chips €4, baguettes €4.50, pints €5 & excellent tuna salad.
Les Menuires (centre, just through the gap in the buildings on the right en route to La Masse) - Very good option for a lunch here on a small sunny terrace.
Don't forget the Salle Hors Sac (Picnic Rooms) at Verdons (1850) and Cairn (VT) plus a new one at La Chaudanne in Méribel. The various sandwich bars by lifts/restaurants eg Belair, Roc de Tougne, Plan des Mains, Courcheneige, Bouc Blanc etc are generally ok too.
Expensive places to avoid include most places around 1850 especially the Verdons snack bar, the newish Nammos (€15 a pint), Le Cap Horn, Pilatus and Le Chalet de Pierres with mad prices and note that the L'Arpasson in Méribel is now charging 50c to use the toilets.
Les Grande Alpes in 1850 reportedly sells bottles of Heinekin for €22. At least the Panorama Restaurant at the top of the Saulire Cable Car displays all of its prices right at the entrance (sometimes the view is worth paying for) like all restaurants are supposed to. La Soucoupe cheapest main course is now €28 for a salad - it is supposed to be good mind...
Context always needed:
Slug & Lettuce in London, burger & chips £10.49, pint of Peroni £5.75 (and the skiing is rubbish)
UK Snow Dome, 3 hours, 160m of slope, peak price £46.80
Three Valleys, 4 hours, 600km of slope, peak price £48.20
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