Chalet Squaw Valley, Val d'Isere, France

50m from the edge of the nursery slopes!

50m from the 11th century church in the centre of Val d'Isere

The Savonette drag lifts and Grande Ourse restaurant are a minute’s walk away

Squaw Valley is a smart résidence in the heart of Val d’Isère. Spacious and quiet, it is much appreciated for its calm, understated décor, with lots of wood, granite and plain white.

It is ideally situated, being 50m from the eleventh-century church and 50m from the edge of the nursery slopes. The Savonette drag lifts and Grande Ourse restaurant are a minute’s walk away. You can eat lunch with the beau monde, while watching your children/parents/spouse having their first ski lessons. And nothing, from the Town Hall to most of the nightlife, is more than about 100m. You could visit the Mairie, say a Hail Mary and drink a couple of Bloody Marys within five minutes.

The apartment which is our Chalet Squaw Valley is on the first floor, looking towards the slopes and the sun. It has a large, comfortable sitting-dining room and two sweet bedrooms with good bathrooms. It has the usual flat screen for French TV and DVDs, WiFi, and boot warmers in the basement.

For two couples or a small family, there is nowhere more perfect.

To us cynical Brits, the name Squaw Valley is likely to cause a smile. But the name sounds incredibly smart to the French, who are obsessed with things Californian. Just make sure your friends know you’re going to Chalet Squaw Valley in Val d’Isère, not the purpose-built resort of the same name with more beds than Val, a third of the lifts and a sixth of the skiing!

We are extremely well-suited to families. Some of our chalets are large, some small. Some are very smart, some very good value. And some have Extra Beds for children.

Chalets are more relaxing for families than hotels, where parents are constantly worried that their brood will upset fellow guests, or self-catering apartments, where most of someone’s holiday will be spent shopping, cooking and clearing up.

And, perhaps surprisingly, Val d’Isère is the ideal family ski resort. It has good snow, short queues, wide nursery slopes with free lifts, and extensive new beginner runs higher up the mountain at the top of Solaise. (Beginners do, however, need a ski pass to access these higher nursery slopes) The flat village, free and frequent buses, very good ski schools, English-speaking instructors, and lots of British youngsters also help hugely. Where to Ski and Snowboard magazine describes the nursery slopes as ‘95% perfect’.

• A chalet for four – the ultimate in decadence!
• Gorgeous ski chalet in the centre of Val d’Isère
• Two pretty bedrooms, each with own facilities. Bedroom 1 can be made up as either a twin or a double (please specifiy which you prefer when booking)
• Sitting-dining room looking towards the nursery slopes and Bellevarde, with TV for the use of DVD player and WiFi
• Convenient ski and boot locker (with boot warmers) downstairs, reached by a lift
• Beside the church, just yards from the slopes
• One chalet cook, who lives out

2 bedrooms for 4 guests
1 bath, 1 shower

Bedrooms in order of preference (in our opinion)

Bedroom 1
Twin/double (11′ x 10′) with smart en-suite bathroom and wc.

Bedroom 2
Twin (10′ x 9′) with en-suite shower-room and a separate wc outside the bedroom.

Sitting-Dining Room
(20′ x 13′) Attractive room with two vast, comfortable sofas, windows and balcony looking towards the Face de Bellevarde. Separate kitchen.

We start with a proper breakfast. Fruit juice, porridge, cereals from Rude Health, bacon, eggs, baguettes straight from the famous local bakery, yoghurt, tea and fresh coffee from Nespresso machines (with instant or infusions for those who prefer them). On one morning breakfast will be self-service with fresh croissants and pains au chocolat delivered to your chalet.

You return from the slopes to find bread and jam, a freshly-baked cake (except on staff days off), tea and coffee left out for you. If you would like hot chocolate, please inform your chalet staff (and tell them how you like it!).

Dinner is where we pull out all the stops on five nights of your holiday. Our policy on food is straightforward. We start with the best cuts of meat and the best fresh fruit and vegetables, not really counting the cost. Everything we need is available in Val d’Isère. Most people are very happy with our normal formula of canapés followed by a three-course, fixed-menu, dinner-party-style meal. The cuisine is largely French, though with a fusion of other influences.

A small proportion of our guests wishes to eat different food from the rest of their party. If you request a different diet, we will be able to offer one alternative meal so that the normal meal or this alternative will be suitable for vegetarians, vegans, dairy free, no red meat or no onions/no garlic.

Or you could tailor-make a menu for your party for the week and ask us to cook, say, two fish meals, one chicken, one red meat (when vegetarians can simply not have the meat) and one vegetarian meal – or whatever combination suits your group. This way everyone enjoys the same meals all together and, dare we say it, eats a little more healthily.

If a diet is more complicated than those mentioned above, we may have to make a charge for special ingredients but we will let you know in advance. If you want us to buy in special non-dairy milks and yoghurts there will be a charge in the resort, much the same way as the alternative wines mentioned below.

There are some diets we cannot cater for. We regret that we do not have the separate fridges, etc., required for Kosher diets, we do not have access to Halal meats, and we cannot guarantee that our chalets will be nut-free.

With dinner, we serve free unlimited quantities of a selection of very drinkable French AOC wine and vin de pays. This is, unfortunately, only with dinner, not breakfast, and we stop serving the wine when the coffee appears.

We also have a wine list from which you can buy everything from slightly smarter wine to Châteaux Lafite-Rothschild or d’Yquem. We sell these wines at less than they cost because you are not drinking the house wine.

Damage deposit for all bookings