Megève/Saint-Gervais

Megève was conceived in the early 1920s by Baroness Noémie de Rothschild, who wanted a French answer to St. Moritz; the village was built as a resort from the start, with a square, a church and horse-drawn carriages that still work the streets. The area spreads across three mountains - Mont d'Arbois, Rochebrune and Mont Joly - and looks straight at Mont Blanc. The altitudes are modest and almost all the skiing is below the tree line, on former alpine pasture. Neighbouring Saint-Gervais-les-Bains adds thermal springs and the Tramway du Mont-Blanc, a rack railway climbing towards the Bionnassay glacier.