St Gervais - St Nicolas Ski Resort France

St Gervais les Bains & St Nicolas de Veroce ski resort combines with the charming & refined village of Megève to create a wonderful French Alps skiing area in the Haute Savoie. Well known as a tourist destination for over 100 years, St Gervais remains a traditional spa town that retains its authenticity.

St Gervais les Bains, and its satellite hamlet of St Nicolas de Véroce, connect to stylish Megeve via a huge local network of 260km of (mainly) beginner-intermediate ski trails with a quadricep-melting local skiable vertical of over 1,450m. Part of the vast Evasion Mont Blanc ski pass region, and close to the Chamonix valley & Les Contamines, there is no shortage of alpine ski adventures to be had.

Pros & Cons for St Gervais - St Nicolas Ski Resort

Pros

• Traditional French Alps town, villages & ski resort.
• Long skiable vertical.
• Central access to an enormous network of lifts & ski trails in the region.
• Quality on-piste trails for beginner & intermediate skiers & snowboarders.
• Lift system on the St Gervais-St Nicolas side is rapidly improving in quality (with a couple of notable exceptions!).
• Excellent value lift pass, Evasion Mont Blanc, that covers a vast amount of terrain.
• More affordable accommodation than at neighbouring Megeve.
• Numerous wonderful mountain huts for dining
• The St Nicolas sector is very quiet, and the St Gervais sector is less busy than neighbouring Megève
• Public transport access by train is excellent to the resort & also to Les Houches ski area via the Tramway du Mont Blanc station in the centre of town.

Cons

• Lift system on the Megève side of the broader resort is generally quite dated and includes numerous surface tows.
• Can get quite busy in and around the base of St Gervais (but less than Megeve).
• Low elevation villages and some ski terrain may not have natural snow for much of winter.
• Limited advanced on-piste & quality off-piste terrain (with some notable exceptions i.e. Mont Joly).

Pro or Con (depending on your perspective!)

• Gondola base in St Gervais is quite distant from the train station (though this will change when the new gondola is built).
• Will often require a lift download to get back to St-Gervais-les-Bains.
• Accommodation can be relatively expensive & hard to get at short notice (but good alternatives are nearby).
• Central to Chamonix & Mont Blanc, Les Contamines & Megeve.

Skiing & Snowboarding, Lift & Terrain

St Gervais - St Nicolas's ski area is a vast, tangled mass of lift, piste & pass interlinked confusion with neighbouring resorts including Megeve & Jaillet-Combloux. Thankfully, most skiers & snowboarders will remain blissfully ignorant of the ski resort boundaries due to the seamless & all-inclusive nature of the local Evasion Mont Blanc ski lift pass. The pass is excellent value & covers a massive 445km of ski trails and over 1,500m of skiable vertical, which is typically French, but the resorts of the world are catching up with the idea of mega resorts. The ski area is lacking in serious, challenging terrain both on & off-piste, but most of the skiing public don’t really care for that, hence the resort’s overall, and deserved, popularity! One of the region’s best intermediate runs is in the St Nicolas sector of the resort. The 4km long Grande & Petite Épaule run is a rollicking ride from the high alpine all the way down to Chattrix base.

Check out the ski trail map for St Gervais-St Nicolas below.

St Gervais-St Nicolas Ski Trail Map

Whilst much of the ski lifts & terrain are best suited to beginner & intermediate skiers & snowboarders (particularly toward Megeve), the St Nicolas - Mont Joly sector has the tastiest & snow-sure offerings for the real powder hounds. To get to it from St Gervais is reasonably straight forward, but from Megeve it is a long journey made worse by the indirect lower lifts coming out of the village.

Access to the skiing from St Gervais is set to be upgraded & improved for the 2024/25 season with the construction of a new lift from the Le Fayet train station connecting to an upgraded gondola from St Gervais to Bettex. For day trippers coming by train this will be a serious boon, as currently the train station (580m altitude), being some 270m vertical below the town St Gervais, requires a bus or taxi ride to get to the St Gervais gondola base.

One of the oldest lifts in the region, the Chef Lieu double chair from St Nicolas de Véroce (1,150m) up to the beginner area at Plateau de la Croix (1,455m), feels like it takes an eternity to complete the short journey. In reality its only 7 minutes, and it allows time to get to know the person sitting next to you! The better access to the sector is via the new Chattrix high-speed chair (also accessible from the top of the Chef Lieu), which is located 1.2km down the road.

Lift passes

The lift pass at St Gervais - St Nicolas is the Evasion Mont-Blanc Ski Pass and includes 445 km of slopes, not all of which are linked by ski trails. The pass gives access to the following areas: Les Contamines / Hauteluce, Saint-Gervais, Megève, Combloux, Saint-Nicolas de Véroce, & La Giettaz. The local interlinked ski trail network is around 260km. With some short bus rides, one can access to excellent Les Contamines ski area, located a few km south of St Gervais, plus a few smaller resorts.

Megève is also part of the Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass area, which is valid in all the nearby Chamonix ski resorts, but at around €20+ extra a day, it is generally over-priced & of dubious value.

Where is St Gervais les Bains & St Nicolas de Veroce France?

The St Gervais-St Nicolas ski resort is in the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps, only 87km (1hr) by road from Geneva (GVA) international airport. The iconic mountain town of Chamonix is only 24km (30min) away by road. Public transport to the region is excellent via the St Gervais - Le Fayet train station, located down in the valley, 5km from town. Search & book here for train tickets to St Gervais-Le Fayet.

Anyone allergic to public transport may prefer to take a private transfer direct from the airport their hotel. Search & book here for all direct airport transfers from Geneva to St-Gervais-les-Bains.

The other major lift base in the resort, the small village of St-Nicolas-de-Veroce, is 7km (13min) south of St Gervais.

St Gervais is a fabulous central base to conduct a ski safari of the region and so having a rental car can be advantageous. Day car parking is available for free at the gondola base in St Gervais and at the bottom of the Chattrix chair near St Nicolas. There is very little day car parking in the actual village of St Nicolas near the Chef Lieu chair.

St Gervais les Bains & St Nicolas Accommodation

Several different locations offer accommodation close to the ski lifts of the resort. They include the main town of St Gervais les Bains, petite Saint-Nicolas de Véroce, Le Bettex and of course Megeve. See where they are relative to each on the Village Locations Map.

The town of St Gervais les Bains has retained much of its traditional charm as a spa resort destination & is a fabulous base from which to experience the ski resort and broader ski region. Whilst perhaps not as pretty as its opposite, Megève, St Gervais is still very popular. It has its own railway station nearby (Le Fayet), and is convenient to both the Chamonix valley resorts, Les Contamines, as well as the local Evasion Mont Blanc lifts & slopes via the Bettex cable cars. Additionally, the Tramway du Mont Blanc - Gare de Saint Gervais is located just near the centre of town (close to Le St Gervais Hotel) and provides exceptional access to the Les Houches ski resort.

St Gervais' three biggest downfalls are its very low altitude (850m)(and hence lack of natural snow), the proximity of accommodation to the ski lift (it is too distant & generally requires a bus or car), and the distance of the train station from the town (it is too distant too ... hee hee!). The afore mentioned will only get worse, the latter is going to improve by season 24/25 when a new gondola links the train station to the town. Accommodation options in St Gervais include a few hotels, but more so a huge variety of chalets & apartments for holiday rental. The best hotels are generally well-priced and include Le St Gervais Hotel & Spa & Hôtel La Féline Blanche in the centre of town, plus the Hôtel Restaurant La Ferme de Cupelin above the town's main centre.

South up the valley from St Gervais, off the road to Les Contamines, the hamlet of St Nicolas de Veroce is our pick of the locations for a quant & quiet French Alps experience. Plus it has fantastic lifts (& a few old clunkers like Chef Lieu) for the quickest access to the region's best ski terrain around Mont Joly & Épaule. St Nicolas & the nearby lift base at Les Chattrix are situated between 1,150m & 1,200m altitude so have a higher likelihood of being snow covered than St Gervais. St Nicolas lodging options include a superb 5-star hotel, the Armancette Hôtel, plus numerous privately owned chalets & apartments for holiday rental.

Another lodging option in the resort, if there is availability, is at the mid-mountain base of Le Bettex. Situated at 1,400m altitude, it has a high likelihood of natural snow cover, and the slopeside location allows for exquisite access to the lifts & ski terrain. Try the ski-in Hôtel Arbois Bettex or one of the few chalets or apartments for rent.

Search & book here for all St-Gervais-les-Bains ski accommodation.

Arguably a better place to stay if one has a rental car for transport is the village of Les Contamines - Montjoie. More affordable & traditional in a rural sense, Les Contamines has wonderful lodging options plus numerous superb bars & restaurants. The local ski lifts are part of the Evasion Mont Blanc Pass as well. The closest St Gervais-St Nicolas ski lifts to Les Contamines are the old double chair in St Nicolas de Veroce itself, or the brand new Chattrix chair lift, a little further down the road.

Search & book here for all Les Contamines ski accommodation.

For those with the funds and a hankering for high-end luxury or are just willing to pay more to stay near a lovely town, Megève, with its combination of traditional architecture, luxury accommodation & fine dining is hard to beat. However those travelling on a budget may struggle & are probably better off looking elsewhere. A couple of concerns about Megeve as a ski holiday base are around its low elevation (not so much a problem if it was in Austria, but it isn't!) and lift access from the village to the slopes. Whilst undoubtedly beautiful under a blanket of snow, the village is only situated at an altitude of only 1,110m. It is increasingly without snow through much of the season and can thus be disappointing to those seeking the full white winter village atmosphere. Access to the ski lifts & slopes from the village is more inconvenient than expected.

Search & book here for all Megève ski accommodation.

Ski Rentals, Lessons, Guiding & Services

Ski rentals are available in the region via our local partners in St Gervais & Les Contamines-Montjoie. Receive a discount when you search & book via our St Gervais Ski & Snowboard Rental page.

If you are looking for an on-mountain orientation, guiding or ski & snowboard lessons at St Gervais -St Nicolas, there are lots of super instructors & mountain guides. For more info & options, see our St Gervais - St Nicolas Ski Lessons & Guiding page.

Review

The Powderhounds finally visited St Gervais les Bains & St Nicolas de Véroce in March 2023 as part of a broader reconnaissance of the Evasion Mont Blanc ski region. We were surprised to find the St Nicolas de Veroce sector of St Gervais to be an absolute highlight of the region with quiet villages, modern lifts, long piste trails, excellent mountain restaurants & fun alpine powder turns. More info, photos and our review will follow shortly.

See how St Gervais - St Nicolas compares to the rest of the French ski resorts on the France ski resort ratings page, or compare to the rest of Europe on the European ski resort ratings page.

Follow Powderhounds Europe on Instagram to see where we are currently skiing. Follow our main Powderhounds page on Facebook to stay in touch with up-to-date info, tours, and discussions.