Residence MMV Hameau des Airelles, Montgenevre, France

These apartments are nice. We stayed here in 2013 and we wanted to go back this year, but they were sold out. The common room was quite good. They are normal self-catering apartments really, well maintained. You could walk to town in about 15 minutes. The ski bus stops outside, it’s easier to take the bus though. We went with our children and I’d recommend these apartments to families. There’s a pool – it’s outside though. Our sons probably would have used it more if it had been inside (your face got a bit cold) but the water is heated of course. It was nice to have a bath in the apartment, and there was a steam room as well.

The Hameau apartments are very good, and we liked it so much that we returned for the second time this year and will probably go again, which shows how good they are. Underneath is a really good delicatessen shop that sells meals, so if you had a family of 5, you could go in and ask for a fondue for 5 and they’d have it all ready for you in the evening. This is really nice as you don’t have to do the work yourself, but you can enjoy it in your own space which is great if you have small children. I didn’t use the spa but there is one, the pool outdoors is heated, but you do get quite a shock getting in and it might be nicer if there was an indoor one. However the children loved it and it was quite fun to be in there when it was snowing. They’re fantastically well located for ski school (ESF are the only ski school this end, but we’ve always been very happy with them) and also the first little button lift you use to get to the main area. It depends which apartment you stay in, but where we stayed last time was looking over the ski school which was only about 10m away, but if you were staying in an apartment at the other end it would obviously be a bit further. You're in the quieter end of town from the main ski area, which is nice for families. If you want to get around, there’s a mini bus that goes all the way around (or you can just ski – it depends how good you are). All ski apartments are quite small but these ones didn’t seem as small as they might have been: they’re all very new and well equipped and the kitchen facilities are fantastic. The first time we stayed, we had an apartment with a double room, a room with bunks and a sitting room with a sofa that converted into another bed. It depends how old your children are, but the bunk room was tiny and you could only just squeeze between the bed and the wall! This year we had a double room and a room with 2 single beds which worked a lot better for us. We self drive as it’s much more affordable and you can bring more food from home. There’s outdoor parking opposite the apartments but you also have indoor parking which we used this year, you have to pay extra for it, but it’s always easy to find a space. There’s a bar area where you have free WiFi (you can get WiFi in the rooms but you have to pay extra). You can also borrow DVD’s for free and there are really good TV’s and DVD players in the apartment. Overall, the apartments are absolutely perfect for families; I’d definitely recommend them and have already done so to loads of friends.

We had a good week, the apartment we stayed in wasn’t the most spacious - there were 5 of us in a 6 person apartment and we were fairly cramped. In the room with the bunk beds, you could only just about stand between the bunk beds and the wall but the main double room was OK. In terms of self catering and eating out, we did a bit of both, cooking 2 or 3 times and eating out 3 or 4 times. It wasn’t a problem to cook for ourselves; we just did the usual skiing fare like pasta and pasta sauce etc. You can walk down to the bakery for fresh stuff and everything is within walking distance and easy to reach. The walk into town wasn’t too bad and ski in, ski out was doable. The bus dropped us out and picked us up after which was fine. The WiFi was a bit hit and miss and not very reliable.

We had a great week here. Location wise, the apartments are good as you can ski back in to the door, it’s just a short ski down to the lifts and you’re straight in. The facilities were all really good and the whole place seemed quite new. The ski and boot room was heated and you had your own individual ski locker for your room which was really good as you didn’t have to worry about your things getting lost/stolen. You could buy food from a weekly (might even have been biweekly) market which had all kinds of foods, cheeses and meats and the bar was really good. If you want to eat out, it’s not too far a walk to Montgenevre centre - I thought the walk was quite nice. The WiFi was ok but I found it a bit patchy, you had to sit in the communal area and wait until not many people were using it to get a decent connection. The staff were all really friendly, I would definitely come back and stay here again.

We had an absolutely fantastic week in Montgenevre, the apartment was fine, not that clean (they had some students staying there before us and they left it quite grubby) but the location was perfect. It’s a two minute walk to the ski lift with children or you can just cross over the road and go straight onto the piste. There was a separate bedroom for the children which was quite nice and the dining room was a nice size where we could all sit down and eat together after skiing. The kitchen was just a microwave and a hob but we knew this before we left, I think some apartments did have an oven but you have to pay extra. We packed the car with loads of food so didn’t need to shop much but it’s about 4-5 minutes walk to the nearest Sherpa if you need it.

Les Hameau was very well appointed accommodation - well equipped and comfortable. Very close to the slopes virtually ski in and out. Resort had great variety of skiing including great areas for less experienced skiers and the potential to go further into Italy. Arrival was a nightmare - reception staff were quite unhelpful and obstructive. Wi-fi was inadequate. Would still go back as it was such good value. thanks. Beth