Chalet Vanoise, Les Arcs, France

It’s quite a nice chalet apart from the fact that it was terribly noisy – everything creaked. Luckily we had quite a nice group so everyone tried to be considerate, but you could hear every stair, door and beam creak. In terms of the social areas, there’s a long table where we all sat for meals which had some chairs and some more uncomfortable benches. It was first come first served when it came to who sat where! The sofas were fairly shabby and grotty but you could find a seat - we didn’t all sit down at the same time as the younger people tended to go out in the evenings. The chalet girls were nice and did very well. I was Gluten Free and they were very good indeed, making me little cakes when they could get the flour. They did the best they could within their means. There were two vegetarians in the group too who were pleased with the food they had. Access was very good, we just went downstairs (the lift worked sometimes but not all the time). We went down to the basement where they kept our skis and then it was 50 yards to the baby lift up to the Les Arcs area. There’s a shop next door to the chalet and a ski hire shop. The internet wasn’t well connected. Our bedroom was absolutely minute which was actually quite bad. We’d chosen room number 3 because we were told it was the biggest available (and we didn’t want to stay in the upstairs room because we thought it would be noisy next to the kitchen. We had one tiny cupboard between us and that was it. Fortunately, our suitcases fit under the bed and we just had to leave our clothes in there. The whole block share the same boot room – all the chalets in that building. There aren’t enough ski boot racks and the boot room was dreadfully smelly and full of condensation with no ventilation and very dim lighting. The swimming pool was ok, I didn’t expect luxury and didn’t expect a spa area though they call it that. Everyone in the area seems to use it. We got a good deal and for what we paid it was a decent standard, I don’t know if it was worth the overall starting price. The early flight was ghastly but you get what you pay for.

The Vanoise is reasonably close to the slopes, it took all of 5-10 minutes to get onto the piste. This particular chalet is certainly in a good position for young people who wanted to go to the pub as there’s a lively one nearby. Our bedroom was pretty small but perfectly adequate and the social area was nice. The staff were all very nice and we had plenty of food throughout the week, nothing particularly memorable but all perfectly fine.

The chalet was OK. It could have been a bit cleaner. It was full of dust. They clearly hadn’t cleaned it properly before we got there. We booked a twin room (room 4) and really it was more like a double. The beds were pushed together and the room was so small that we couldn’t separate them. The staff were friendly, however it was the end of the season and you could tell - they were all winding down. One morning they turned up very late (I think they had been out drinking the night before) and we actually ended up helping ourselves to breakfast because we didn’t want to wait any longer for them. There weren’t many pictures of the chalet online and the photos I did find weren’t great. I didn’t realise until we got there, but it was more of an apartment than a chalet, it’s part of a big building so there are other chalets in the same complex. I think of a chalet as more of a little mountain hut. The location was ideal, right by the slopes. That was the best thing about it. The swimming pool, gym and sauna downstairs were also a big bonus. The boot room was not heated and very damp. It would have been nice if there had been heated boot racks like I had in the chalet I stayed in the year before. This all sounds quite negative but we did have a good time! There are just a few changes that need to be made to this chalet. I will definitely be booking through SNO again next year.

We love the comforting blend of welcoming wood and olde worlde tiles, relaxing in front of the open hearth, or hanging out downstairs at the in-house bar of this evergreen chalet apartment complex. If you’ve still got energy after a day on the slopes and the 200 yard skip from the piste, you might want to use your free access to the attached fitness and wellness facilities (check if this is available on your dates before booking). With Chalet L’Arc neighbouring it as well, you’re never too