Food and Wine

A Visionary's Dream

Nearly a hundred years have passed since the resort opened its doors to tourism at the initiative of the visionary Baroness Noémie de Rothschild, who dreamed of creating a French St. Moritz. “It was right after World War I, and she was tired of running into Germans in Switzerland, champagne glasses in hand,” recalls Édouard Apertet, a heritage guide. Megève has never stopped innovating: the first electric lighting, the first luxury hotel perched on Mont d’Arbois, and in 1936, France’s first medal in alpine skiing, won by local boy Émile Allais. The international snow polo tournament and ice hockey followed later. “Another figure not to be forgotten is the parish priest Ambroise Martin,” emphasizes Édouard Apertet. “As early as 1880, people were coming from all over France to pay their respects at the Calvary he had built.” Designated as historic monuments, his fourteen chapels and oratories dot the landscape like a rosary, attracting both day-trippers and lifelong visitors.

Jazz and Delights

Turks, Russians, Indians, Swiss, and French… Families and the “happy few” from all over the world flock today to Megève’s “dolce vita.” At six o’clock, elegant ladies in light-colored mink take their seats in one of the carriages waiting on the Grand Place. A few streets away, the sound of jazz fills the air. It’s the blissful hour of après-ski. Every (sumptuous) hotel has its own style and aesthetic. A warm atmosphere and delightful tea time at the George, the lounge of the legendary Mont-Blanc. Hunting trophies and log-paneled walls at the Lodge Park bar, where guests come to sip a Savoy wine or a Pauillac while nibbling on foie gras and jumbo shrimp.