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Architecturally St Martin de Belleville is a lovely traditional Savoyard village set on lightly wooded slopes, with beautiful views across the valley. This is the perfect choice for those who want a fabulous ski area (and it doesn’t get any better than the 3 Valleys), but who prefer to stay in a more discrete, low-key resort than some of the flashier neighbours.
St Martin, which sits at 1,450m, is one of the prettiest villages in the 3 Valleys. It was a late developer – the chair lift links to Méribel and Les Menuires were only installed in the 1980’s so the resort had time to learn from the poor planning and architectural mistakes that some French resorts unfortunately bear witness to. The village is the lowest of the ski resorts in the Belleville Valley and the main road up from Moutiers continues on to Les Menuires and Val Thorens.
The village, which is built around a lovely 16th century Baroque church, was, and still is, a farming community. It consists of the main village and 20 small hamlets that surround it. There is evidence that this part of the valley was inhabited from as early as the second millennium BC with tombs dating from the Neolithic period. The valley was also well occupied during the Roman period; the pre-fix ‘Villa’ designated a huge agricultural domain, and can be seen attached to the names of many of the small hamlets such as Villarenger, Villarbon, and Villerabout where some of our loveliest chalets are to be found.
This is a village of contrast where working farms sit comfortably along side 3* Michelin restaurants and where several old working buildings have been lovingly restored and converted into luxury chalets. The key word when describing St Martin is ‘authentic’ – this is a village that is true to itself with alpine farming co-existing happily with prestigious chalets and world-renowned restaurants. In fact the contrast adds to the appeal of this really special resort.