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Which Is The Best Club Med Ski Resort In Europe? 2024 Guide
Club Med is a holiday company at the posher end of the UK market. They offer ‘all-inclusive’ skiing holidays in hotels, chalets and apartments in about 15 locations in France, Switzerland and Italy.
They also have ski resorts in Japan, Canada and China, but we will focus on the European resorts.
But which is the best Club Med ski resort? If you'd rather not read all our waffle, then the short answer is that:
If you want the full details, read on. We looked at Club Med ski customer reviews, value for money, facilities and other ratings to reach our conclusion.
They also have ski resorts in Japan, Canada and China, but we will focus on the European resorts.
But which is the best Club Med ski resort? If you'd rather not read all our waffle, then the short answer is that:
- The cheapest Club Med skiing holidays in our price comparison were at Club Med Serre-Chevalier in France and Club Med Saint-Moritz in Switzerland.
- The best value mid-priced Club Med skiing resorts in our comparison were Club Med Peisey-Vallandry in France and Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere in Italy.
- The best money-is-no-object luxury Club Med ski resorts are Club Med Les Arcs Panorama or the chalet-apartment options at Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon and Valmorel.
If you want the full details, read on. We looked at Club Med ski customer reviews, value for money, facilities and other ratings to reach our conclusion.
Club Med Serre Chevalier is one of their cheapest resorts
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Club Med's Chalet Apartments in Valmorel are outstanding - but they are expensive
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Which Club Med ski resort is in the best location?
The first option is to pick a great resort and then stay at Club Med’s accommodation. That’s appealing if you like the Club Med brand and want to try out a popular resort.
According to Club Med, the five best ski resorts in Europe are:
These resorts all offer a good range of ski runs and plenty of evening entertainment.
Meanwhile, Conde Nast Traveler readers concluded in 2022 that St Moritz was the best ski resort in Europe (home of Club Med Saint Moritz Roi Soleil).
Other Club Med skiing destinations which featured in recent Conde Nast Traveler top 20s included Val Thorens at number 17 in 2021 (home of Club Med Val Thorens Sensations), Val D'Isere at number 3 in 2022 (home of Club Med Val d'Isère) and Les Arcs La Plagne at number 20 in 2021 (home of Club Med Les Arcs Panorama and Club Med La Plagne 2100).
However, it might not be the case that the best Club Med resorts are in the best locations. They might – for example – have an outstanding hotel in a less spectacular location. We'll look at the hotels in more detail later...
According to Club Med, the five best ski resorts in Europe are:
- Val Thorens (home of Club Med Val Thorens Sensations)
- Les Arcs (home of Club Med Arcs Extrême)
- Samoëns (home of Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon)
- Tignes (home of Club Med Tignes)
- St Moritz (home of Club Med Saint Moritz Roi Soleil)
These resorts all offer a good range of ski runs and plenty of evening entertainment.
Meanwhile, Conde Nast Traveler readers concluded in 2022 that St Moritz was the best ski resort in Europe (home of Club Med Saint Moritz Roi Soleil).
Other Club Med skiing destinations which featured in recent Conde Nast Traveler top 20s included Val Thorens at number 17 in 2021 (home of Club Med Val Thorens Sensations), Val D'Isere at number 3 in 2022 (home of Club Med Val d'Isère) and Les Arcs La Plagne at number 20 in 2021 (home of Club Med Les Arcs Panorama and Club Med La Plagne 2100).
However, it might not be the case that the best Club Med resorts are in the best locations. They might – for example – have an outstanding hotel in a less spectacular location. We'll look at the hotels in more detail later...
Club Med has a hotel in St Moritz, which is often voted as one of Europe's best ski resorts
So, which Club Med resort gets the best reviews?
We spent a happy hour digging out reviews on TripAdvisor and Google reviews and have added the scores together to create a league table of Club Med ski and snowboard resorts (correct as of November 2023). They are in France, unless otherwise stated.
Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon isn't too far behind.
It's also worth mentioning that Club Med Tignes replaced Club Med Tignes Val Claret in December 2022. The reviews are a mix of comments on the old and new resort, so they give a slightly confusing picture.
- Club Med Les Arcs Panorama – 4.5/5 on TripAdvisor, 4.6/5 on Google reviews = total of 9.1/10
- Club Med Valmorel – 4.5/5, 4.5/5 = 9/10
- Club Med Val Thorens Sensations – 4.5/5, 4.5/5 = 9/10
- Club Med Peisey-Vallandry – 4.5/5, 4.5/5 = 9/10
- Club Med La Rosière – 4.5/5, 4.5/5 = 9/10
- Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon 4.5/5, 4.4/5 = 8.9/10
- Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere, Italy – 4.5/5, 4.4/5 = 8.9/10
- Club Med Serre-Chevalier – 4.5/5, 4.3/5 = 8.8/10
- Club Med Tignes – 4.5/5, 4.3/5 - = 8.8/10
- Club Med Alpe d'Huez – 4.5/5, 4.2/5 = 8.7/10
- Club Med La Plagne 2100 – 4/5, 4.2/5 = 8.2/10
- Club Med Saint-Moritz, Switzerland – 4/5, 4.2/5 = 8.2/10
- Club Med Val d'Isère – 4/5, 4.1/5 = 8.1/10
- Club Med Arcs Extreme – 4/5, 4/5 = 8/10 (adults only resort)
Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon isn't too far behind.
It's also worth mentioning that Club Med Tignes replaced Club Med Tignes Val Claret in December 2022. The reviews are a mix of comments on the old and new resort, so they give a slightly confusing picture.
Club Med Les Arcs Panorama is the best Club Med resort, according to customer reviews
Val Thorens is a popular ski resort in the Alps and the Club Med hotel is highly rated
Which Club Med skiing resort is the most luxurious?
The short answer is that Club Med Val d'Isère is considered to be the poshest and most luxurious Club Med ski resort in Europe. It recently underwent a major renovation and is now part of the 'Exclusive Collection'.
Here's the longer answer!
Club Med has its own rating systems, with ‘tridents’ instead of stars (tridents are the three pronged things in the Club Med logo). In order from least posh to most posh:
*It's a little bit confusing, as you will still find some references to '5 Trident' resorts online but the 5 Trident rating seems to have been officially replaced with the Exclusive Collection grading.
Here's the longer answer!
Club Med has its own rating systems, with ‘tridents’ instead of stars (tridents are the three pronged things in the Club Med logo). In order from least posh to most posh:
- A '3 Trident' rating is given to the less luxurious resorts. These include Club Med Arcs Extreme (adults only) and Club Med Serre-Chevalier.
- A '4 Trident' rating is given to more luxurious resorts. That includes most Club Med ski resorts in Europe such as Club Med Alpe d'Huez and Club Med La Rosière.
- The next step up is a '4 Trident' resort which also has 'Exclusive Collection' upgrade options. This was previously called '5 Trident space'.* This means that most of the resort is worthy of '4 Tridents' but that you can upgrade for things like more spacious accommodation and better views. Club Med ski resorts under this category include Club Med Tignes**, Club Med Les Arcs Panorama, Club Med Valmorel as well as the posh chalet apartments at Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon and Club Med Valmorel. Again, the idea is that you get more spacious accommodation.
- The poshest Club Med resorts are those which are entirely within the 'Exclusive Collection' (previously known as '5 Tridents'). The only Club Med resort which makes this grade is Club Med Val d'Isère.
*It's a little bit confusing, as you will still find some references to '5 Trident' resorts online but the 5 Trident rating seems to have been officially replaced with the Exclusive Collection grading.
Which Club Med resort has the most number of ski runs?
If you’re a skiing or snowboarding beginner, you won’t cover a huge amount of ground over a week. However, if you’re a confident explorer then it’s more fun to see a wider range of ski slopes.
There’s quite a big range in the number of alpine (i.e. downhill) ski slopes at the different Club Med resorts. We’ve ranked them from those with the most to the least:
Other things worth noting are that:
There’s quite a big range in the number of alpine (i.e. downhill) ski slopes at the different Club Med resorts. We’ve ranked them from those with the most to the least:
- Club Med Val Thorens Sensations – 600km of alpine slopes
- Club Med La Plagne 2100 – 425km
- Club Med Peisey-Vallandry – 425km
- Club Med Les Arcs Panorama – 425km
- Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere, Italy – 400km
- Club Med Saint-Moritz, Switzerland – 350km
- Club Med Val d'Isère – 300km
- Club Med Tignes - 300km
- Club Med Serre-Chevalier – 250km
- Club Med Alpe d'Huez – 237km
- Club Med Arcs Extreme - 200km
- Club Med La Rosière – 160km
- Club Med Valmorel/Valmorel Chalet Apartments – 150km
- Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon/Chalet Apartments - 148km
Other things worth noting are that:
- Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere in Italy has the greatest number of black runs (the most challenging ski runs). Club Med Valmorel has very few black runs.
- Club Med Val Thorens Sensations has the greatest number of green runs (the easiest ski slopes, which are best for beginners). Club Med Arcs Extreme and Club Med Les Arcs Panorama don’t have a huge number of green slopes. Although if you’re a beginner you only need a small area to practice in.
Alpe d'Huez has more than 200km of ski slopes but others have more
Which Club Med resort is the cheapest/best value?
Here’s where it gets interesting!
We wanted to get a rough idea of price, so we looked up the price for a family of four staying during early-January 2024 at each resort. Of course, you’ll pay more during school holidays and less at the start/end of the season, but we picked a middle-ish priced time to travel.
We looked for prices excluding flights and transfers and ranked them from cheapest to most expensive.
We wanted to get a rough idea of price, so we looked up the price for a family of four staying during early-January 2024 at each resort. Of course, you’ll pay more during school holidays and less at the start/end of the season, but we picked a middle-ish priced time to travel.
We looked for prices excluding flights and transfers and ranked them from cheapest to most expensive.
- Club Med Serre-Chevalier – £5354
- Club Med Saint-Moritz, Switzerland – £5632
- Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere, Italy – £5946
- Club Med La Plagne 2100 – £6888
- Club Med Valmorel – £7341
- Club Med Les Arcs Panorama – £7350
- Club Med Peisey-Vallandry – £7504
- Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon - £7602
- Club Med La Rosière – £8892
- Club Med Alpe d'Huez – £9050
- Club Med Tignes - £9732
- Club Med Val Thorens Sensations – £9799
- Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon Chalet Apartments - £11744
- Club Med Valmorel Chalet Apartments - £12440
- Club Med Val d'Isère – £17798
- Club Med Arcs Extreme is an adult only resort so it’s not relevant for our price comparison.
Conclusion – which is the best Club Med ski resort in Europe?
Honestly, I don't there's a bad choice for a Club Med skiing holiday. They all get decent reviews and have plenty to offer for a winter holiday.
However, here are my three conclusions from that mass of statistics:
However, here are my three conclusions from that mass of statistics:
- If you don’t want to re-mortgage, then I’d start by looking at Club Med Serre-Chevalier and Club Med Saint-Moritz in Switzerland. They were the cheapest in our price comparison and they offer a similar number of ski slopes. Club Med Serre-Chevalier gets slightly better reviews from customers, but Club Med and Conde Nast Traveler readers reckon that Club Med Saint-Moritz is in one of the best resorts in Europe.
- If you want a mid-priced and all-round good value Club Med ski resort, then I would pick either Club Med Peisey-Vallandry or Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere in Italy. They both get decent reviews from customers, have a good distance of alpine ski slopes and were mid-priced in our price comparisons.
- If money is no object, then I would start with Club Med Les Arcs Panorama or the chalet-apartment options at Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon and Valmorel. Club Med Val Thorens Sensations is also worth an honourable mention as the resort is a popular one which has more ski runs than anywhere else and a highly rated hotel.
Club Med Les Arcs Panorama gets the best reviews from customers (at the time of writing) and it has a wide range of pistes. Meanwhile, the chalet apartments at Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon and Valmorel aren’t cheap but they both get great reviews and offer a ‘5 trident’ luxury experience. Club Med Grand Massif Samoëns Morillon is in one of Europe’s best ski resorts according to Club Med whilst Valmorel’s accommodation is a little bit posher.
