Luxury Ski Chalets in St Martin de Belleville

St Martin de Belleville is a very pretty little ski resort. A lot of credit for the sympathetic development since the late 50’s must go to the Commune’s Mayor, Nicholas Jay, who in the 60’s had the foresight to not fall into the trap of over-development, thus spoiling what was and still is a small village in a stunning location, peppered with charming luxury ski chalets.

St Martin de Belleville really was quite undeveloped and pretty much a hamlet of chalets frozen in time, electricity didn’t arrive until 1953 and most of the population decamped in an annual seasonal exodus to the larger towns in the Tarentaise which were profiting from the emergence of new industries. The demographic decline begun at the start of the 20th Century. Isolated by the lack of roads, La Vallée des Belleville was late in moving into the 20th Century. 

Proud of its past and its traditions, the Commune of Saint Martin has been involved in the restoration of its heritage and the preservation of its outstanding environment. Around the Notre Dame de la Vie Sanctuary, an emblematic building of Savoyard Baroque Art, there are about twenty churches and rural chapels – dating from the end of the 17th Century to the beginning of the 18th Century, a restored grain mill and a museum dedicated to the recent history of the valley. Today, St Martin attracts an international clientèle, looking for great skiing and luxury accommodation but without sacrificing the good life of a village. There are a fair number of luxury ski chalets to satisfy the discerning.

A tourist development project was drawn up in the 80’s. Taking onboard lessons from the past, the project was perfectly managed in size, a maximum of 2,000 tourist beds were allowed. Adopting the codes of traditional architecture: limited height buildings, adaptation of the buildings to the slope, visible stonework or pink rendered façades, slate roofs, the new builds grafted themselves onto the village without taking over. At the same time, Saint Martin was linked into the 3 Vallées ski area. Saint Martin de Belleville thus became the village of Les 3 Vallées. In 2003, an 8-seater gondola consolidated its access to the pistes.