Megeve, France

Tom from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

Great if you like stuck-up French people, snotty bar owners and ridiculously strict night club entry policies. However……….
Although the resort is at a low altitude compared to many others in the French Alps, there were plenty of runs to chose from and the snow was pretty good. We went at the end of the season and the snow got a little slushy later in the day, especially lower down. The runs are incredibly pretty, with lots meandering through trees and had our first day's skiing (pure millionaires skiing) with hardly a sole on the slopes. The only person you had to look out for was one of my mates who would suddenly decide, without warning, to do a couple of 360 spins down steep red runs!
Food on and off mountain was brilliant. On the slopes, the two table service restaurants we ate at were great (the one self service meal we had was well below par!) and in the resort all the meals, we enjoyed, hit the spot. Be it slightly more expensive than other resorts, the general quality was excellent. On the first night I enjoyed the best Cepe Risotto I’ve ever eaten and I am remarkably fussy about food!
However, getting back to my review of the bad points of Megeve; I have never been to such a stuck up resort and the French really did their best to live up to their reputation of disliking the Brits and, for all the good things I have spoken about, I will not be going back here for a very long time. On each night we went out (we were 3 guys, well dressed, not drunk and behaving very well) they just wouldn’t let us in bars or clubs, claiming they were full or it’s a private party etc, etc. At the same time we turned away only to see then let in group after group of French people, unbelievable! The worst offenders were: The Jazz Club Megeve (arrogant tall bloke on the door – idiot) and The White Pearl Megeve (chubby dark guy who also swiped an extra €5 out of my hand – idiot). We also visited Palo Alto Megeve and they would have let us in on the Friday night, but the place looked dead.. Here the doormen were great and did us the courtesy of informing us that it was indeed very quiet and subsequently didn’t take €20 off each of us, which they could easily have done. They let us in on Saturday when, indeed, the place was busier, but being a bit out of season it was still quiet by our standards and, like most of Megeve, it was stuffed to the rafters of pretentous idiots. All posturing, trying to look their best. If you want to sit down at any of these bars, forget it. You can’t, as they all have areas reserved for the rich or wanabee rich, who sit there swigging champagne, right in the middle of all the action. If you want my opinion (which you’re going to get anyway) they want to be looked at and probably all hate the taste of champagne! In the ultra portentous White Pearl Megeve, one champagne swigging idiot, who’s birthday it was, decided that it would be really funny to spray champagne over everybody on the dance floor and everyone outside of his posing VIP circle (he probably thought we were commoners as we weren’t drinking champagne.) Perhaps he thought this was funny. The worst thing was that the bouncers and club management let him get away with it. They turned a completely blind eye. More than likely as he had a bit of cash. ANY nightclub in London would not have put up with that, whoever he was, and in London he would have been ejected. Good work White Pearl Megeve!
Summing up, as you can see, most of this Megeve review is directed towards going out at night as this was by far the worst aspect of the resort and it has really put me off it. If you are looking for a ski resort to go out in the evening I would never recommend Megeve beyond its great restaurants. Well done to the Jazz Club Megeve (especially the arrogant tall doorman – idiot!), The White Pearl Megeve – you have the worst door staff I have every come across and you did your best to ruin our evenings. To think, when we did get into your stuck up and rubbish establishments (Jazz Club does have a good atmosphere) we still had to pay a minimum of €15 Euros a drink (€13 in the Jazz Club) for short measures and low grade spirits, unbelievable. By the way, I like using the word idiot a lot! Oh, let’s not forget that the skiing and food was very good.