The French ski resort of Megève isn’t anything like the Courchevels and St. Moritzes of this world. Small, quaint and quiet (with little of the knees-up après-ski those others have become so famous for), it has, thankfully, failed to pop up on the radar of the nouveaux riches and, somehow, it has also managed to remain palpably French.
Originally a medieval town, Megève was developed into France’s first purpose-built ski resort just after the First World War by the then 30-year-old wife of Baron Maurice de Rothschild – Noémie de Rothschild (who, in 1926, gave birth to Edmond, as in the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild) – due to, what the history books attribute as her “deep-rooted displeasure with having to holiday alongside Germans in Switzerland’s irritatingly swanky St. Moritz”.
For Baroness de Rothschild, Megève would be a quieter alternative, a place with a more exclusive atmosphere and a distinctly French character, and that is exactly what she created thanks in no small part to the financial backing of King Albert of Belgium – starting with the town’s first luxury hotel (which opened in 1921) but then also included the development of a number of ski lifts, an airfield and a golf course too. It didn’t take long for her project to take off and by the 1950s, Megève was drawing so many royals and theatre and film stars that Jean Cocteau dubbed it the “21st arrondissement of Paris”.
In 1962 it hosted the two biggest stars on the planet when Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn shot the classic, Charade, here but from there on in, it quietly slipped into the shadow of France’s biggest and most famous resort – Courchevel. As a result, Megève has managed to cultivate a very strong old-school personality, complete with a lovely unspoiled car-free centre of cobbled streets, horse-drawn sleighs, open-air ice rink, Michelin-starred restaurants and rustic-chic hotels. And even if it is located at a relatively low elevation, its civilised sous-treeline skiing, which boasts a view of the summit of Mont Blanc on nearly every one of its 136 runs, has won it a core of regular, mostly Parisian, fans. But the addition of a brand-new Four Seasons hotel last December has opened the door to more international travellers, eager to enjoy its under-the-radar charms.
From the outside, the all-new ski-in ski-out property looks like any typical Alpine resort, albeit one that’s spread over four large chalets: with standard A-frame roofs and a façade of pale wood and stone. But step inside and you come to see the real benefit of starting from scratch on this 118 million USD project. There are just 55 rooms here, and a quarter of them (14) are suites. There's also a whopping five indoor-outdoor restaurants and bars, as well as the largest spa in the Alps. Ultra-modern in design and lined with white marble, it offers six treatment rooms, a 24-hour fitness centre, exclusive salon, a balneotherapy area, as well as a massive heated indoor/outdoor swimming pool featuring massage jets and underwater music.
We look forward to trying it out soon.
