Hotel Bel’Alpe, Morzine, France

The hotel was OK. The beds were comfy and it was warm. Other than that though there were a lot of problems. They didn’t know what a vegetarian was, and me and my friend are both veggies. They kept trying to serve us meat, and they didn’t have definite vegetarian options. I was served something completely different to my other vegetarian friend each meal time. The food wasn’t great. The portions were tiny. One time I was served a bowl of peas as a main course. We ended up eating out a lot because we were left hungry by the small portions and bad food. The staff were awful. We saw them folding the napkins up and reusing them after people had wiped their mouths on them! It was the first week of the season and they were all over the place. We actually stayed two weeks and it did improve during the second week, and the food did get better. Also there was a problem with the temperature of the showers and they scolded you. The ski lockers downstairs smelt funny too. We did manage to have a good holiday, Morzine is lovely, but I wouldn’t recommend this hotel.

The hotel isn’t a big, shiny lodge but it isn’t priced as such. Everything was comfortable enough, it was all very clean and the staff were very friendly. There were only a few small things that would have made it better e.g the bath could have done with having a shower curtain (we had an over bath shower) but we knew about these before we got there and for the money we paid it wasn’t tatty. The location wasn’t bad at all, it was just what we were looking for in terms of a little bit of quiet. It’s not the place to stay if you wanted to go nuts every evening so I wouldn’t recommend it to a group of lads, but for couples and families it’s ideal. It took us less than 5 minutes to walk to the main lift and you could wander everywhere you wanted around Morzine as the resort isn’t that big. We enjoyed the food, they had an a la carte menu with a couple of choices each evening and they always did a veggie option for me. Breakfast wasn’t a big American spread or anything but it was very tasty with cereal, toast, eggs etc – just what I would expect from a hotel at that price point.

Location-wise the Bel Alpe was quite convenient – we were skiing so it was about a seven minute walk to walk to the bottom of either the Pleney or Super Morzine lifts. We are quite used to ski in / ski out chalets and hotels and this was only the second place where we’ve had to traipse out to the slopes and not physically be able to walk out the main door and ski, but it was OK for us. There is a ski locker on the lower level of the hotel but I would suggest if you’re hiring skis that you do what we did and hire from a shop almost opposite the lifts (about a minute’s walk) and we could drop our skis there and walk back. Morzine is quite hilly so when you walk in from the road, you’ve already walked up or down a hill (depending which lift you come from). The roads were all kept very clear and they use the snow ploughers a lot. If people have access difficulties, there are some steps you have to go up to get to the front door (a flight of 4, then a plateau, then another flight of 2). Inside was comfortable with traditional style decor throughout – some people would say the decor needs updating but it was all clean and tidy and the staff were very friendly and helpful. We had a good selection of meals and the food was well cooked. Breakfast was a buffet of continental stuff, it wasn’t your normal British breakfast which some people might want, but was fine for us as we’re used to eating in France, Spain etc. They had things like cereals, cold meats, cheeses, bread, toast, coffee, tea, fresh fruit, fruit juices, overall a very good selection. The evening meal was varied, again it was local French food and again we’re OK with that as we’re used to it. The portions were good sizes and the service was generally good –we were here at the start of the new season and on the first night the new staff were a bit slow but by the next day it was all sorted out. They had a good selection of wines, with cheapish ones but likewise good quality options if you want them. The hotel also has a nice bar as you come in. Noise-wise there were no real issues, obviously you have the morning snow plough but that’s not much of a problem and it’s good that the roads are kept so clear. There is WiFi access available in the hotel (certainly downstairs, not sure about the rooms). We had our 19 year old daughter with us so you came into the bedroom off the landing and had the loo on your left, the bathroom on your right and then as you walk down, 2 bunks (which my daughter had one of). You then go through the concertina door into the main bedroom where you had the balcony. We were fortunate as we had a balcony looking up the hill (we were on the side of the hotel on the main Morzine road) and the heating was good. The room size was fine with 3 of us, if there were 4 of us and we had very wet snow, we wouldn’t have had much room for hanging up stuff.