Les Fermes de Marie

Les Fermes de Marie began with an act of preservation: in the late 1980s Jean-Louis and Jocelyne Sibuet dismantled old Savoyard farmhouses and mazots destined for ruin across the region and rebuilt them, beam by beam, into a private hamlet on a hillside above Megève. The result effectively invented the rustic-chic alpine aesthetic—weathered timber, homespun linens, open fires—that half the Alps has imitated since.

Rooms are spread across the hamlet's nine farmhouses, from cosy timber-lined doubles to family suites and a private chalet, all connected by snow-dusted paths and heated corridors. The atmosphere is house-party rather than grand hotel: long breakfasts, mulled wine by the fire, children entirely at home.

The Sibuets' Pure Altitude spa, built around alpine-plant cosmetics developed here, remains one of the mountains' most loved, with a pool set among old beams and stone. Dining celebrates Savoyard tradition—cheese and mountain classics alongside lighter rotisserie cooking—and a shuttle covers the short hop to Megève's lifts and village. It offers charm and soul over palace polish, at rates that remain comparatively sane.