How to ski in Megeve on a tight budget by staying in Saint-Gervais

Base yourself next door for the same excellent skiing, says Mary Novakovich

St Gervais gives access to the Evasion Mont Blanc (Vincent Pawlowski)

Everybody needs good neighbours – especially when they share one of the loveliest ski areas in France.

Evasion Mont Blanc sprawls over 445km of prime French Alps, with two main villages at its heart: Megeve and Saint-Gervais. Not quite chalk and cheese – more like cashmere and wool.

I had skied Megeve before and was instantly entranced by this immensely pretty village that’s lit up every winter by an enormous Christmas tree. Horse-drawn sleighs add a touch of magic to the cobbled streets. It’s all very refined and terribly well bred, the glitter done tastefully. But beauty comes at a price – not surprisingly, as it was developed as a French rival to St Moritz. And, as it’s only an hour from Geneva, it fills up every weekend with Swiss visitors who don’t mind paying €25 (£22) for a cocktail.

There are some budget-friendly places in Megeve, of course. (Just follow the seasonaires to the Wake Up bar.) But if you’re watching what you’re spending, it can get a bit wearisome constantly hunting down a cheap(ish) pizzeria or lunching on baguettes.

This time I was travelling with short break specialist Ski Weekender, which gives an affordable flavour of Megeve from the genteel and less expensive surroundings of Saint-Gervais. As the package includes airport transfers and lift passes, it works out as an economical short break.

Set in a narrow river gorge, Saint-Gervais has the elegant architecture you would expect from a 19th-century spa town, along with an agreeably laid-back atmosphere. Must be all those calming thermal springs that put everyone in such a relaxed mood. I tried them out myself at Les Thermes de Saint-Gervais, whose outdoor thermal pools resemble a large yin and yang. Just the spot for a late afternoon soak in warm bubbling water as the snow gently fell and the sun disappeared behind the mountains. If I’d had the energy, I could have taken a spin round the Olympic ice rink, where the admission price of €4.50 is half that of the sports centre in Megeve.

To the west of the town centre is the cable car that takes you up to the beginners’ area at Bettex and then onwards to Mont Joux. Much of the patchwork of green, blue and red runs goes along wide tree-lined pistes – a blessing when the wind picks up and you need a bit of shelter. As this was during last season’s winter of more snow than we knew what to do with, the white-covered woods were very welcome.

As was the sight of my lunch spot, Le Tremplin de la Croix. It needed a bit of off-piste ploughing through powder to get to this restored 19th-century barn, but my reward was an €18 croute savoyarde – huge slabs of country bread smothered with Beaufort cheese and ham and baked to a sizzling gooeyness. Mountain restaurants always command a premium, so anything under €20 for a generous main course is a bonus in France.

Les Thermes de Saint Gervais (P Deloche)

A few zigzagging runs and a quick chairlift later, I was at Mont d’Arbois and finally spotting piste signs pointing the way to Saint-Gervais’s more famous neighbour. It’s here that the Mont d’Arbois cable car arrives from Megeve and joins Saint-Gervais. At this 1,860m junction, carefully coiffed ladies in fur coats were elegantly chilling out on the chairs outside of La Pause d’Arbois sandwich shack – a scenic place for an affordable baguette, by the way. Megeve, like its equally sophisticated counterparts Cortina, St Moritz and Gstaad, is filled with people who have no desire to ski but enjoy promenading in the crisp mountain air (who can blame them?) – leaving more room on the slopes for us actual wintersports fans.

Also at Mont d’Arbois is a branch of La Folie Douce, the entertainingly raucous apres-ski bar and restaurant chain that’s been spreading around the French Alps over the past few years. (It even opened a branch on chic Deauville’s beachfront – rather like a Megeve-sur-Mer.) It seems slightly at odds with both Megeve and Saint-Gervais, neither of which is known for boisterous nightlife. But as it’s in a no man’s land between the two, it sort of works, and offers a canteen with decent prices, in addition to its more expensive La Fruitiere restaurant. And all around are views of Mont Blanc, enjoyed with or without the accompaniment of dancers in brightly coloured onesies.

Finding powder pockets is just as fun no matter which resort you're staying in (P Boulgakow)

From here there’s a choice of runs into Megeve proper, including some tough blacks. You can access another of Megeve’s major ski areas, Rochebrune, via cable cars and a gondola, and cruise through the woodland runs that swerve down the forest-covered mountain. Just leave enough time to get back to Mont d’Arbois for a final dash through the woods to get to the Bettex cable car.

Back in the centre of Saint-Gervais, I settled into the warm interior of Le Galeta, whose specialities were generous platters of meat grilled over a wood fire – big enough to share. Prices were lower here than in Megeve, both in the restaurants and the bars (not counting the town’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Serac). Even that staple Alpine dish, the decadently cheesy fondue savoyarde, was a good €5 cheaper here than in Megeve.

And while Saint-Gervais didn’t have its posh neighbour’s somewhat rarefied atmosphere, it shared the same approach to life in the shadow of Mont Blanc – languid and leisurely, but just a bit lighter on the pocket.

Travel essentials

Mary Novakovich travelled with Ski Weekender, which offers three nights’ B&B at the stylish three-star Hotel Coeur des Neiges from £349pp. The price includes transfers from Geneva airport and a full Evasion Mont Blanc lift pass.