Golf de Méribel

Few mountain golf courses anywhere in the Alps command a setting quite like Golf de Méribel. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1972, the course sits at roughly 1,600 meters elevation in the Tarentaise valley, winding through the forested slopes above the resort village of Méribel — itself one of the centerpiece communes of the vast Les 3 Vallées ski domain. The Alpine architecture is unmistakable: steep changes in elevation, tight corridors of pine and larch, and constant panoramic views toward the surrounding peaks of the Savoie.

Playing here is a genuinely seasonal experience. The course is open only in summer, from roughly June through October, when the ski runs give way to wildflower meadows and the mountain air has a clarity that no lowland course can match. The altitude and terrain demand precise ball-striking; errant shots find slopes, timber, and trouble in equal measure.

Méribel itself draws an international crowd — French, British, and Scandinavian visitors largely — and the golf course carries that same cosmopolitan resort character. It is not a championship test in the traditional sense, but as an encounter between golf and genuine Alpine wilderness, it is almost impossible to replicate.