Les Menuires, the famous French ski area in the giant 3 Valleys lift pass system turns 50 next winter.
Created in the middle of the sixties, less than a decade before the 3 Valleys were inter-connected, Les Menuires has grown and now consists of nine distinct quarters, linked by pistes as well as by pedestrian paths or mechanical lifts.
Each built at a different period, each sector illustrate the development of mountain architecture.
To start with there were the sober and pure lines of La Croisette, Brelin, Preyerand, built with maximum functionality in mind, but by the 1980s regarded by some as concrete eye-sores.
Then Les Bruyères and Reberty adopted a more traditional construction schema: buildings limited to a height of six stories, with sloping roofs and wooden façades.
This more authentic tendency has grown in the newer developments of La Sapinière, Reberty 2 000, Les Balcons des Bruyères, Les Hameaux des Marmottes and Les Airelles where the architecture has been directly inspired by Savoyard buildings, integrating stone, wood and slate.
Comfortable elements such as swimming-pools, saunas, steam rooms and beauty institutes feature prominently in these new chalets, residences and hotels, bringing a new status to the resort which is no longer marketed as the low cost option for the 3 Valleys.
Moving forward the onus continues to be on improving the quality offered at Les Menuires. Over the last decade in addition to the 6,000 new beds added in chalets, the resort now has over 4 000 renovated beds.
