By James Harrison
Staying with Mark Warner Holidays at the Chalet Hotel Val D'Isere
- Check prices and availability for hotels in Val D'Isere
Val D'Isere in France is one of the world's great ski destinations, with 350kms of superbly interlinked piste shared with neighbouring Tignes. It has one of the most incredible natural settings of any resort I have visited, lying in a sheer valley at 1800 metres with stunning mountains on all sides.
Pricewise it's up there with the Zermatts, St. Antons, Zurs' and Whistlers of this world, and you should expect to pay a lot more for what you get than you would at resorts with more 'ordinary' ski areas. Once you've skied in the mountains however, you'll think it's worth it.
Chalet Hotel Val D'Isere
Chalet Hotel Val D'Isere, a Mark Warner property, is a three-star hotel that represents good value in such an upmarket resort. The hotel had a makeover for the 2008/2009 season and a number of guests liked it so much they'd been several times.
Food: Apart from a disappointing buffet on the first night, eating was a delight. This is so important on a holiday where you burn energy relentlessly, and where evenings tend to revolve around dining. The cooking leans toward British classics such as perfectly pink roast beef, superb freshwater fish and 'proper' puds - and there's plenty of it.
Breakfast offered a good full-English hot buffet as well as cereals, porridge and fruit salad (my only criticism being the sausages, which were of the pale, processed variety).
The wine, free with meals, was well chosen - a particular favourite was the Merlot, my guzzling of which was only surpassed by my dining companions, west countryman Kieran and the ebullient Oliver James (aka DJ OJ) and his father, both from the Cambridgeshire fens.
The dining room itself has panoramic views across the village to the mountains and service was very congenial, if a little haphazard at times!
Rooms: The rooms are comfortable with good quality beds, new bathrooms, great showers and a separate WC.
Design: A bit 1970s, but not unpleasant. Internally well layed out, with a welcoming sofa-strewn lounge and bar.
Families: Afternoon tea is also served, especially good if you've got kids, and according to the parents I spoke to the creche facilities are second to none.
Position: Very central and convenient - you're at the bottom of Val's two main lifts in just a few minutes walk, and it's a short stagger from most bars and clubs.
Staff: Young and extremely friendly, if occasionally a little amateur - more training would improve this no end, but it's only a minor gripe.
Pool: If the idea of floating around under the stars with blue-white mountains towering above you appeals, you'll love the heated pool, shared with the next door spa. One caveat: you have to shower in your room before entering, rather than being able to use the spa's showers or changing rooms, a situation the hotel should really sort out.
Fellow guests: My fellow Mark Warner skiers were a collection of friendly, down-to-earth individuals, belying the somewhat 'hooray henry' image the resort has.
The village & nightlife
Unlike many French ski resorts, Val has been developed tastefully, with stone-clad buildings done in sympathetic local style.
The nightlife caters to a younger crowd, many of whom are on working gap years, or are straight out of University, or, like one of Warner's excellent ski hosts Kate, taking a six month sabbatical.
Covers rock bands play most nights at the popular Moris or Saloon bars. And after 12 there's the infamous Dick's Tea Rooms - a bit like a public school disco with too many blokes - or, for something more French, try the Underground.
While one or two more tasteful bars exist, such as Face or Warm Up, nightlife's poor if you're over 21.
For apres ski with a more authentic French feel, try Bou Bou's cafe bar. It serves the best beer in town, with old-boy Bou Bou himself an ever present figure.
Families and couples shouldn't worry, there are plenty of nice looking hotel bars to totter to if you don't mind spending London Ritz prices, if you can bear to leave the cheap(er) and cheerful booze on offer at the hotel that is.
The skiing & Mark Warner ski hosting
What can I say? Awe-inspiring. The vast ski area inspires a child-like sense of wonder.
More confident beginners and lazy intermediates have mile upon mile of fantastic motorway cruising, in achingly beautiful surroundings, both above and below the tree-line, and good runs back to the village (easier at La Fournet or La Daille).
While for fast intermediates and experts there's a huge amount of more challenging stuff on and off-piste. Nearly all the skiers I asked gave it a10 out of 10. It's high too, up to 3,450 metres (or around 11,000 feet), with glacier skiing thrown in for good measure. For beginners, it gets maybe 'only' 7 as the learner slopes could do with being easier, but once you're a few days in, easy green runs abound higher up.
It's truly stunning, and is probably the best I've ever skied. With barely a drag lift in sight, huge six-seater chairs and the most modern of gondolas and mini-gondolas zip you up into the heavens. The views from some are worth the 200 euro lift pass price alone. In fact, for all this, compared to resorts with smaller ski areas, the lift price seems pretty good value.
It can get quite busy on some main runs, but it really doesn't take long to find plenty with fewer people on. Seek out a wonderful area labelled 'Tranquille¢¢¬¢¢ on the local piste map, with it's lunar snowscapes, or go to the Le Fournet area at the furthest road accessible point in the valley for the quietest skiing.
As you're whisked up and over another huge mountain edge, and glimpse Tignes beyond, it really sinks in just how vast the area is. If I'd been a little less lazy, I doubt I'd have had to ski the same run twice.
Ski-hosting
One of the great selling points for Mark Warner is the ski-hosting - the knowledgeable and super-friendly hosts guide you around the huge ski area for four and a half out of the six ski days in the week, wonderful stuff.
Also it's great for getting to know other people in your hotel. This is especially good if you go as a single traveller, who Mark Warner offer packages for. A few I met - the Major and lovely Lenka - had no problem making friends with whom they could dine and socialise.
Transfers
Val's nearest Airport is Geneva, quite a way from the resort, which makes a slick and efficient transfer imperative and the advertised transfer time is 3 hours.
However, on this trip, as on many ski trip I've been on, there were problems.
Due to a mix up in group numbers (which left us sitting on a stationary, very warm coach for over an hour), and what surely was an unnecessarily long detour from the main road for a refreshment stop, what should have been a 3 hour journey to our hotel took nearly 5 hours.
And the coach was old, with poor leg room and no toilet facility. Really not acceptable, but easily correctible with smarter organisation.
The return was better, but again took longer than the advertised time, without a toilet on board.
