Luxury skiing: Where to find the chicest chalets (but don't forget the slopes)
Catered chalets are in demand this winter as skiers try to avoid poor exchange rates - and high prices in resorts - by booking all-inclusive holidays in English pounds.
Some chalets can deliver exceptional value in tough economic times. The robust breakfast of fresh bread, home-made jams, cereals and cooked traditional English (the latter a pricey extra in hotels) sets you up for a high-energy day on the slopes.
Chic and cheerful: Chalet Floralie is one of the best chalets in the Alps
Your chalet host may well let you make a lunchtime sandwich for your rucksack, helping you steer clear of expensive mountain restaurants. Then, after an exhilarating day, tea and cakes await, often by a roaring fire.
Dinner (for six of the seven nights - chalet hosts get one night off) is increasingly elaborate, with three, four or even five courses, sometimes with champagne aperitifs and unlimited wine.
Happily, the standard of chalets in Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France has improved vastly in the past decade. Gone are the days of creaking floors and non-soundproofed walls, tired-looking communal bathrooms with only enough hot water for first-comers, and mediocre food from untrained cooks.
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These days you'll find en suite bath or shower rooms, communal spa facilities and conscientious staff no longer simply doing a minimal job for you in order to fund their own skiing.
Chalet boys and girls, now known as chalet hosts, are often couples, and I have found this arrangement can work well. They are generally far more professional than the much vilified 'sloppy-Sloane' chalet hosts, and they generally provide good cheer and a pleasant atmosphere as well as a clean environment and good food.
So be respectful - it's a much harder job than it used to be. But for all this improvement, the chalet market is suffering from the same syndrome as 'gastro pubs'. When everybody claims to offer the best or most luxurious, it's hard to identify the genuine article.
My advice is to hit the internet. Sadly, there are no comprehensive price-comparison websites as there are in the motor insurance market, for example, but a bit of research could save you thousands of pounds.
The boom in upmarket chalets has led to the creation of a range of online luxury chalet firms. I call them 'broker brands' - and they are a great place to start your hunt. The sites include www.consensioholidays.co.uk, www.skiinluxury.com, www.chicchaletguide.co.uk and www.oxfordski.com. The same chalet is often found on all of them, and not always at the same price.
Cosy concern: Chalet Floralie is an excellent option for the Three Valleys region
I took a quick ! look whi le trying to find a good-value luxury chalet holiday in a sought-after ski area. I searched for easy access to the world-famous Three Valleys in France, as it is still one of the most popular with British skiers, despite high prices in bars, shops and restaurants.
I also looked for a degree of comfort: spa facilities, five-course dinners, designer bathrooms, complimentary designer toiletries and bathrobes, and possibly extras such iPod docking stations, wi-fi access, high-quality sound systems, sumptuous lounge areas and libraries of books, computer games and DVDs.
I was struck by the huge price difference between some of the many chalets I found in the well-known resorts of Courchevel, Meribel, Val Thorens and Les Menuires and the authentic Savoyard village of St Martin de Belleville.
For example, the best low-season price I could find (for January 15 to 22) for Chalet Floralie in St Martin de Belleville, just 50 yards from the telecabine that whisks you up towards Meribel and the heart of the nearly 400 miles of piste in the Trois Vallees, was 800 per person with www.chicchaletguide.co.uk.
This completely refurbished property was ranked among the Top 10 Alpine chalets by Conde Nast Traveller last year, and pictures of it are alluring.
Then I spotted Chalet Les Brames on www.oxfordski.com, located on the edge of Meribel village. For the same week, the price was 2,841 per person.
Now this is also an exceptional chalet - I loved playing snooker on a full-size table there many years ago and it remains one of the most spacious and finest rentable properties in the Alps.
But it is certainly not worth three times more than Chalet Floralie when they both deliver such luxury and, most importantly, direct access to the superb skiing of the Three Valleys.
Interestingly, for that January week, Chalet Floralie was 900 at its lowest listed price with Ox! ford Ski Company, 100 more than the lowest price when booked with Chic Chalet Guide - so there's even more reason to shop around and check like-for-like prices and properties across the board.
Bear in mind that the prices I have quoted are for catered accommodation only. It might prove hard to beat a catered chalet package that includes flights, transfers and, in some cases, ski hire, ski carriage and even packed lunches.
Some companies are already offering deals. One of the new Platinum properties offered by veteran chalet firmwww.skitotal.com is Chalet Hotel Abendrot, close to a lift in the Austrian resort of Ischgl. Seven nights from January 15 with cooked breakfast, tea, five-course dinners with wine, two saunas and a steam room, with flights and transfers, costs from 729 per person.
Another established operator, www.skibeat.co.uk, is offering deals in major French resorts, and www.leski.com is promoting its new luxury spa hamlet, Scalottas Lodges, in Courchevel 1650 with all-inclusive rates from less than 1,000 per person.
Market leaderwww.crystalski.co.uk has ten properties in its new Chalet Plus programme offering all-inclusive packages with unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks after 5pm, with prices starting from just 475.
Upping their game: Many chalets now offer a considerably more professional service than was once the case
A relative newcomer that caught my eye is www.powderwhite.com. They offer good-value properties in a wide range of resorts with the option to tailor-make your holiday from totally self-catered to fully catered. If you want them to organise transf! ers, chi ld care, massages, ski school or in-chalet entertainment for children, it's all on a drop-down menu and, refreshingly, they don't over-use the word 'luxury'. They don't arrange flights, however.
Look out for early-season half-price deals on lift passes, ski hire, ski school, massages and child care in Val d'Isere and Meribel at www.fishandpips.com.
And if you're really on a budget, you could always pack a car with your mates, get a ferry across the Channel, drive down to Les Arcs in France or Anzere in Switzerland - and stay with www.hostelworld.com from just 21.24 per person per night.
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