Yellowstone Chalet, St Foy, France
When I first went skiing, chalets were so small, and ski clothes so big that my brother and I could hardly fit in the same room when we were both wearing our C&A salopettes. In fact, our matching ski suits were so bulky that, instead of taking up space in the family suitcase, Mum made us wear them on the aeroplane. It was great fun, though the chalet was never luxurious (we slept in bunk beds) and the food was always meagre, prepared by a girl who would clearly rather have been skiing by day or drinking her body weight in beer by night. Anyway, it’s all changed. I can fit my ski suit in my luggage, for one thing, and chalets are more like five-star boutique hotels. At the least that’s what the Yellowstone Chalet in Sainte Foy is like.
It’s spacious enough to take a little while to get to know your way around it, but cosy enough to pad around barefoot, thanks to under-floor heating everywhere. It’s built from local wood and stone, with huge limed wood beams, a giant-size fireplace in the sitting room, high ceilings and a balcony on three sides to admire the view over the Tarentaise Valley.
There’s also wifi access, a television room, and a gym (in case skiing all day isn’t enough exercise for you) as well as a sauna, and an open-air Jacuzzi, where you can sit at night in deliciously boiling bubbles and admire the distant lights of Les Arcs.
The bedrooms all have soft pillows and crisp linens on the beds, flat-screen TVs, and the en suite bathrooms have two basins (I don’t know why that feels so luxurious, but it does), squashy white towelling robes, a huge bath and Elemis goodies to soothe tired muscles.
There are three full-time staff and a chef. Everything is done for you, as in a luxury hotel, but you have the run of the place, and can help yourself to anything in the kitchen whenever you feel like it. On arrival, you’re offered a Kir Royale and canapes. The food is excellent; locally sourced, fresh, plentiful and varied. Breakfast is huge: porridge, warm croissants, proper coffee, bacon or a perfectly cooked boiled egg - and newspapers. Tea is homemade goodies like muffins or caramel mud cake.
Aperitifs - the bar and its well stocked cellar are always open - are served before dinner, which is superlative: perfectly pink Beef Wellington, rack of lamb with mango and mint salsa, spinach tagliatelle with Roquefort and walnut cream, then peach and cherry trifle, or Grand Marnier pancakes, and then cheese and more wine. Of course, if this doesn’t appeal, you can request different meals in advance.
There’s an excellent concierge service too, which will do everything for you apart from the actual skiing. They will pre-book your boots, skis, passes and guides, organise a helicopter transfer, a massage in your chalet, or Pilates, or reflexology, or husky rides, or ice-climbing or snowmobiling …
The little details: Speakers for your iPod are concealed within the art works on the wall. Complimentary transfers let you ski in the neighbouring resorts of Val d’Isere, Tignes, La Rosiere and Les Arcs.
OTT: Jacuzzi with in-built CD player so you can practice your singing in the bath.
The firm: Premiere Neige (0870 383 1000; yellowstonechalet.com) has nine chalets in St Foy, but the super-luxury Yellowstone operates separately.
The damage: You can book the whole chalet, sleeping up to 15, from £10,250 to £20,250 per week, or a double room from £850pp, with food and wine but not flights.
Kate Johnson
Haus Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland
In its two French resorts, Val d’Isere and Meribel, chalet company VIP has built up a collection of traditional, cosy chalets with such comforting names as the Farmhouse and Brioche. Expanding into Switzerland, however, this small company (classier sister firm of Snowline) has forsaken rustica for smaller, apartment-style buildings located in the heart of urban Zermatt. Well, in the village centre.
Given that the new Haus Glacier was converted from a language school before the start of last season - and is bang on the main street - it feels surprisingly quiet and swish. It doesn’t have the olde Swisse charm of the nearby Chalet Gamatchi, but it is comfortable and modern, and easing the pain of the trek to hire skis or boots, it has uniquely convenient access: a lift straight from the chalet to the heart of the ski shop. It’s handy for nightlife too: the T-Bar club is only about 10m further across the street.
Haus Glacier’s massive flat-screen TV has its satellite channels tuned to news in the morning, maybe hinting that this is a chalet more aimed at the executive weekend away. VIP says all its chalets have generously proportioned living areas, high quality sound systems and an open balcony or terrace for soaking up the late-season sun.
The Zermatt chalets are in the vein of Malmaison hotels: not excessively luxurious but neatly done, minimalist and with nothing out of place. In particular, Haus Bor has eye-catching design and furniture. When I visited, we ate well, although not all the dishes were quite at restaurant level. The house wines are very decent and you can trade up.
The little details: Champagne and excellent canapes on tap. Massages, costing extra, are guaranteed available in chalet each night.
OTT: The electronically controlled, jet-cleaning and blow-drying toilet in another VIP chalet, Haus Bor. Just don’t let some joker slip off with the remote.
The firm: VIP (08701 123 119; vip-chalets.com) has a total of 19 chalets in Val d’Isere, Meribel and Zermatt.
The damage: VIP offers seven nights at Haus Glacier in Zermatt from £699 per person on a catered basis, including return BA flights from Gatwick and transfers.
Gwyn Topham
Chalet Du Cret, Val D’isere, France
So this is what it must be like to be Roman Abramovich. Guests at the Chalet du Cret enjoy Perrier Jouet champagne and U’Luvka vodka on tap, and for the duration of their stay are attended to by cool, black-clad henchmen and the odd glamorous eastern European hostess, ready to discreetly furnish such essentials as hand warmers, water and chocolate bars.
Little wonder that the company behind it, Descent International, has become a favourite with billionaires and celebrities. The identities of guests are kept strictly secret, except for when Victoria Beckham stayed at Descent’s chalet in Courchevel - the 150 paparazzi camped outside were a bit of a giveaway.
There are typically four or five staff in each chalet, including a full-time chef. Among Cret’s hosts is an ex-policeman who collects us from Geneva in a 4×4. It turns out that this isn’t the only transfer he does: we get driven the few hundred metres to the lifts in the morning, where we are presented with our skis, lift passes and sun cream, and introduced to our instructors (the best in Val, we’re assured). We can’t fail to ski well: this is tackling the mountains in much the same way as the royal family once shot tigers.
At the end of the day, as we reach the bottom of the home run, the chalet manager - think a cross between the Milk Tray man and Jeeves - is already there to pick up my skis, drive me home, and even try to unbuckle my boots. I’m too embarrassed to let him, but I guess you could get used to it.
The chalet itself puts the average stripped pine interior to shame. This building has been around for hundreds of years, and was lately converted from its most recent incarnation as an upmarket restaurant. It has got all the atmosphere a Francophile snob could want, hiding artfully installed facilities. The discreet, modern kitchen is fitted with chefs in mind (for once this is chalet food that genuinely could be described as top restaurant quality). An upstairs lounge room has the kind of solid desk and sleek computer terminal that blends in enough to not startle the holidaying guest, but still is reassuringly executive, should you suddenly feel the need to sell your stake in Gazprom.
There is art on some walls, enormous stuffed stags on others. A great log fire is always burning. The soft white Russian down duvets are so snug that one night I don’t even realise that I’ve left the balcony door open, and sleep through a snowstorm coming into my room.
Outside, we splash around in the hot tub, a few metres away from a centuries-old chapel that now comes with the property - ski wedding, anyone?
The little details: Rather than anything so infra dig as guests struggling down to the ski hire shop, the staff of Ogier Sport (Val’s best, according to Descent) come to the chalet with skis and boots that magically fit.
OTT: All who stay can enjoy a five-course meal at which every course - from soup to dessert - is accompanied by a differing vintage of Perrier Jouet champagne. Oh, champagne is used in the cooking, too. Beyond that, it’s only the limits of your imagination and offshore bank account: from little treats such as ice karting through to (literally) parachuting in a Father Christmas.
The firm: Descent has 17 chalets in resorts including Val d’Isere, Meribel, Klosters, Courchevel, Les Gets, St Moritz and Zermatt.
The damage: Descent chalets are priced for exclusive bookings only. A week at the Chalet du Cret in Val d’Isere sleeping 12 costs from £23,340-£43,465.
Gwyn Topham
