Family-Friendly Holiday in Megéve, France

Being lucky enough to live in Geneva, we have a multitude of ski resorts close to us, making for easy weekend getaways. Megève is one of the top resorts of choice in this area and this was the first time we were able to really get to know the place and the whole family enjoyed their time here. This cute resort is within easy access from Geneva, taking around 1 hour by car down the Autoroute Blanche.

Megève is a relatively small but upmarket and popular ski resort in the Rhone-Alpes. We had come for a day trip before but decided to spend. a weekend here as a family. It turns out there is much more to Megève than posh shops and restaurants, we had an action-packed wonderful few days here.

We stayed at the Alpaga Hotel, which was delightful, but it was a 15 minute walk from town (or they will shuttle you in/out of the hotel) and in all honesty next time I would choose to stay closer to the centre of town next time to benefit from all that Megève has to offer. Having said this, we did manage to spend hours watching for lizards sunbathing on the rocks dotted around the facility, so I’m Kai would give this hotel a 10/10 for that alone! We did also manage to book a slot to use their indoor pool and outdoor hot tub so the kids got to splash around and enjoy the facilities on offer here.

The first day we took a hike up to the top of Jaillet which had been recommended to us through Megève veterans and we were not disappointed!

The walk starts at the bottom of the Jaillet telecabin which is also where the Luge 4S is. The telecabin is operational from summer through to the end of the ski season, which means you can take the cabin up and hike down, or hike up and take the cabin down, or take the cabin up and down of course. You can find the route we took here. If your children are too heavy to carry but old enough to walk for 45 minutes or so, I would definitely recommend taking the cabin up and walking down. The incline is steep to walk up, but not so much that the descent is difficult. Plus, it is a lot quicker to hike down, than hiking up!

We decided we would hike up and take the cabin down, and were prepared for it to take a lot longer than the 1 hour 45 minutes indicated on the signs but we managed to do it on time despite having kids walking for part of it and the stoppage time to take them in / out of the back packs!

It’s a steep enough climb to feel the sting in your legs (and back if you are carrying your child), so be prepared! I would say this hike would be a good initiation to hiking for slightly older children (6 years+) who can hike up the 2 or so kilometres with a 450 metre ascent.

The route itself is very easy to navigate as it is well signposted. You pretty much find yourself following the cablecar up, on a mainly off-road track which was perfect for Luka who enjoyed sniffing around the path as we very slowly progressed. The children were mesmerised by the tiny frogs who had just hatched and jumped all across the track as we approached the top!

At the top of Jaillet there is a wonderful playground which has swings, zipline and bouncy castle which of course the children loved. We stopped there for a break and made our way to La Petite Ravine which was further down the road and took longer than we anticipated with two tired and hungry children to get to! Once we got there, given it was early we managed to get a table for lunch despite not having a reservation, which was lucky for us. This refuge has a wonderful play area for children including a sandpit right by the terrace so it’s very well set up for families. They also had a number of dog bowls available for dog owners looking for a rest here during their hike. If you don’t want to do the detour of getting to the top of Jaillet then walking down to this restaurant, you can simply cut across the little pond which you will see as you reach the top of the mountain.

After lunch we set off back to Jaillet cablecar station and went back down by cablecar which only takes a few minutes. The Luge 4S is also at the bottom station and Kai was old enough to get on accompanied by a parent (much to Miya’s dismay) so he enjoyed a couple of rounds on the luge, what great fun this is for thrill-seekers! This is definitely a fun activity for those 3 years and over who enjoy life in the fast lane.

On the second day we opted for a slightly less intrepid walk which starts and ends in the centre of town, Le Calvaire. We did a slightly tailored version of this route to make it a loop, because lets face it, loop walks are always better than out and backs!

You can find the route we took here.

Whilst it’s not as challenging a hike as up to Jaillet, there are plenty of interesting things along the way like a signposted forest track teaching you about the flora and fauna. This forest track brings you out by a little ravine, which leads to a little monastery on top of a hill leading down to some animals including grazing goats.

It is also a very culturally interesting route for those interested in history and architecture. Miya was mainly interested by the colourful beehives they had set up! We didn’t stop there but people were enjoying lunch at Le Refuge du Calvaire which seemed to have a lovely menu, so we would love to stop off there next time.

The walk took probably around 1.5 hours to 2 hours given all the pit stops and not having the back back carriers with us, the children had to walk, which initially they were really not keen to do!

All in all, Megève was a wonderful base to spend some family time together and enjoy nature, as we love to do. I highly recommend it for the outdoor loving family!

Eventually though as we came off the cement road and entered the forest, they were happy to explore and spot birds/animals/pick up sticks and pinecones as they tend to do.

Having beehives and animals to look at as we neared the end of the walk certainly helped to keep those little feet moving, so I can certainly vouch for this being a family-friendly route!

It would definitely be possible to walk part of the route that we did with a pram, if you go up from Megève town following the Calvaire itinerary as it is paved roads on the way up. You would just not be able to go into the forest itself which is narrow single tracks for a lot of it.

As we got back into Megève town, we enjoyed people watching and the children loved seeing the horse-drawn carriages go past regularly through the town centre.

I also understand the Megève is famous for horses, and indeed the weekend we were here there was a show jumping competition happening in town. We would have loved to have visited but it was slightly out of the centre of town so we didn’t quite muster the energy to get across to see the horses.

In the big field coming out of Megève town, there were pony rides happening for the children to enjoy. Kai would definitely have wanted to do this but unfortunately we only saw that happening as we were driving out of town to head home.

All in all, we came home with wonderful memories to cherish as a family and Luka seemed sufficiently tired despite not covering so many kilometres, so I definitely call that a success!

I recommend a trip here in the summer or winter for any outdoor loving families and can’t wait to come back here again.