Megève, between the Mont Blanc massif and the Aravis range

Living in Megève

Between the Mont Blanc massif and the Aravis range, Megève sits on a glacial saddle at the head of the Arly valley, at an average altitude of 1,113 metres. The village and its seventeen hamlets spread over 44 km², below Mont Joly on one side and the Jaillet and Christomet summits on the other. The pass it occupies carries the road that links the Arve valley to Albertville, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie and Savoie.

A village and a resort

Baroness Noémie de Rothschild had the Mont d’Arbois golf course laid out in the 1920s, and that slope still holds the largest properties in Megève. The village never stopped being lived in year-round, with 3,077 permanent residents recorded by INSEE alongside 40,000 tourist beds, and the town council is steering its local development plan to keep young households from being priced out.

Activities through the year

In winter, Megève counts 400 kilometres of pistes and opens onto the Évasion Mont-Blanc area, shared with Saint-Gervais, Combloux, Les Contamines-Montjoie and La Giettaz. Skiing spreads across three sectors, Mont d’Arbois, Rochebrune-Côte 2000 and Le Jaillet, and the Mont Blanc Unlimited pass adds the Chamonix and Courmayeur valleys as well as Verbier.

The rest of the year, 50 kilometres of marked trails cross the alpine pastures and Lake Javen is open for swimming and fishing. The Friday market brings together more than fifty stallholders on rue Charles Feige, in a resort with 125 restaurants and 143 shops, and one of the twelve members of Best of the Alps alongside Zermatt, St. Moritz and Cortina.

Heritage and culture

The village centre is built around the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and its lanes, where the Megève museum and the Haut Val d’Arly museum stand. Le Palais houses the municipal library and a modern and contemporary art space. On rue du Crêt du Midi, the Panoramic cinema screens a different film every day.

If Megève holds on to its residents through village life and the density of its services, it will win you over just as much with its ski area and its cultural calendar. To take your property plans further, our estate agency in Megève is here to help, and you can already browse the prime properties currently for sale across the Megève area.

See all properties for sale

Settling in Megève

Settling in Megève means living 1h15 from Geneva airport and at the foot of 400 kilometres of pistes, in a village that keeps its schools, its health centre and its sports complex open all year.

Getting there and getting around

Geneva international airport is 1h15 away by road. You reach the village on the A40, whose junction 20 lies twelve kilometres away. The nearest railway station is at Sallanches, named Sallanches-Combloux-Megève. No train runs up to the village itself, but two regional coach lines take over from the station, the Y82 from Chamonix and the Y83 from Sallanches, so you can reach Megève without a car.

The free Meg’Bus shuttles serve the hamlets and the lift departures, three lines in winter and two in summer. The Montenbus on-demand service completes the network from Monday to Saturday across the ten villages of the Pays du Mont-Blanc. Allow 45 minutes to Chamonix, 1h15 to Annecy and 2h30 to Lyon.

The altiport, at 1,470 metres, remains one of the few French airfields cleared for mountain landings.

Schools

Megève has a state primary school and a state middle school, Émile Allais, along with a private primary and middle school, Saint-Jean-Baptiste. There is no sixth-form college in the village, but a school coach runs each morning to the Lycée du Mont-Blanc in Passy, some fifteen kilometres away, so teenagers can carry on their studies while the family stays in Megève. Boarding is also available there.

Health and services

The health centre on route du Villaret, opened by the council in 2015, brings together five general practitioners and a medical laboratory. The nearest accident and emergency department and maternity unit are in Sallanches, twelve kilometres away, where the Pays du Mont-Blanc hospital is open around the clock. The Monts Argentés care home takes 72 residents. Le Palais gathers an Olympic pool, an ice rink, tennis courts and a spa on one site.

Living in Megève, the five villages of the area

Choosing to live in Megève also means choosing an area, since the destination covers five villages with distinct characters. Altitude, aspect and distance from the ski area vary noticeably from one to the next, and budgets follow. Population figures are taken from the latest census.

Megève

As the main village of the area, Megève holds most of the shops, schools and sports facilities. Its neighbourhoods answer different needs, Mont d’Arbois for the golf course and the largest properties, Rochebrune for immediate access to the lifts, Le Jaillet for the sunshine. Browse our properties for sale in Megève.

Demi-Quartier

Three kilometres from the centre of Megève, Demi-Quartier spreads its hamlets across both slopes, minutes from the Jaillet pistes. Its 846 residents live in a quiet, sunny residential area dotted with four seventeenth-century chapels. Demi-Quartier also owns a fifth share of the church and cemetery of Megève. Browse our homes for sale in Demi-Quartier.

Combloux

Combloux has two schools, a medical centre and around fifteen restaurants for 2,207 residents. In 2002 it opened the first plant-filtered public swimming lake in France. Its church of Saint-Nicolas, with a 45-metre twin-bulb bell tower, has been listed since 1971. Browse our luxury real estate in Combloux.

Praz-sur-Arly

Praz-sur-Arly opens onto a different ski area from Megève, the Espace Val d’Arly and its 90 kilometres of pistes shared with Flumet and Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe, connected in turn to the Espace Diamant and its 192. Its 1,293 residents also have a swimming lake. Browse our prime properties for sale in Praz-sur-Arly.

Cordon

At 870 metres, Cordon faces the Mont Blanc range head on. The village has 1,006 residents and is home to the Abérieux teaching farm, where Savoyard cheese-making can be seen first-hand. Browse our real estate for sale in Cordon.

See all properties for sale