Alastair Sawday 

10 ski chalets with the white stuff in France – in pictures

The new Go Snow collection from Sawday's features 36 Alpine chalets. Here the founder of the guides picks 10 places to stay in France to treat yourself this season
  
  


Chalets: Chalet Colinn Val d'Isère, Savoie
Chalet Colinn, Val d'Isère, Savoie Mylène and Elizabeth love the outdoors, hence their five-year fight to reincarnate a ruin in Le Franchet de Tignes as a luxury mountain retreat. Join them for gourmet dinners under soaring, raftered ceilings in the grand living space, which hovers above Tignes dam or soak in the terrace hot tub under the stars. Urban rusticity, mountain chic. For daytime adventure: the slopes at Val d'Isère, or Tignes, or the Vanoise park. Just ask Elizabeth, off-piste skier extraordinaire.

• Half-board package with a six-day ski pass from €700pp Photograph: PR
Chalets: Chalet Savoie Faire, La Léchère, Savoie
Chalet Savoie Faire, La Léchère, Savoie Behind the grey facade of this old farmhouse in Fontaines-Naves is one luxurious B&B. Friendly owners Hugh and Nikki – she runs wonderful cookery courses – have put everything into the renovation and each room has charming touches. The arched diner (once the cowshed) is chandelier-hung and atmospheric; the sitting room has a toasty fire; the bedrooms (one a family suite) are a delight with chunky-chic furniture and wow bathrooms. The cross-country skiing is amazing and Trois Vallées is 30 minutes away.

• From €90 per room per night based on two sharing, includes breakfast. Sole occupancy fully catered from €2,800 per week (sleeps eight) Photograph: PR
Chalets: La Ferme d'Angèle Seez, Savoie
La Ferme d'Angèle, Séez, Savoie Savoyard charm oozes from this 1830s chalet. Think flagstones and furs, antlers and candles, wooden headboards. Relax in the starlit hot tub amid swaying larch. With breakfast crêpes à l'ancien, tartiflette, fire-smoked ham and strawberry soup for dinner, Valerie loves to spoil. Ski instructor Olivier finds the best pistes.

• From €160 per room per night, half-board, based on two sharing. Family rooms also available Photograph: PR
Chalets: The Farmhouse Morzine, Haute-Savoie
The Farmhouse, Morzine, Haute-Savoie The day starts with a breakfast spread in the old cattle shed and ends with a dinner hosted by Dorrien. Many years ago he gave up England for the oldest farmhouse at Le Mas del la Coutettaz, Morzine. Big, characterful, comfortable bedrooms are reached via a central stone stair; some have mountain views. At the end of the garden is an exquisite little mazot. A "ski host" at the farmhouse introduces you to the runs, return to a hot toddy in the bar and a crackling log fire.

• From €728pp per week, half-board
Photograph: Paul Tomkins Photograph: Paul Tomkins
Chalets: La Ferme du Soleil Le Grand Bornand, Haute-Savoie
La Ferme du Soleil, Le Grand Bornand, Haute-Savoie The hamlet of Les Gettiers consists of just four old wooden houses. It is high up, impossibly pretty, detached from the bustling world, with views to lift spirits and a deep silence in which to contemplate such beauty. You are a stroll from the top of a chair lift and a quick slide from the bottom of several, so you can stop skiing when you're ready for a blazing log fire and a delicious bite. Big, cosy, beautiful, open and convivial.

• From €700pp per week, half-board Photograph: PR
Chalets: La Ferme du Lac Vert
La Ferme du Lac Vert, Montriond, Haute-Savoie Cow hides and fur, delectable canapés and cocktails that explode in the mouth – live dangerously at the funkiest chalet in the Portes du Soleil! Quirky cow-horn sculptures add personality, bathrooms ooze luxury and Lucy and Rob are full of joie de vivre. A hot tub on the terrace, and bedrooms that are simply divine.

• From £595pp per week, half-board. Sole occupancy from £11,900 per week (sleeps 24) Photograph: PR
Chalets: Chalet Colinn Val d'Isère, Savoie
Au Coin du Feu-Chilly Powder, Morzine, Haute-Savoie The homeward piste takes you to the door; the cable car, opposite, sweeps you to the peaks. Bedrooms are Alpine-swish and themed: there's the Toy Room for families, the English Room that sports a bowler hat. Paul and Francesca can organise everything, including torchlight descents. There's massage, a sauna, a hot tub outside – even an in-house crèche.

• From €695pp per week, half-board Photograph: PR
Chalets: La Portette Bellentre, Savoie
La Portette, Bellentre, Savoie Up the winding mountain road to the church square and the top of the village of Montorlin, and a beautiful old farmhouse owned by Liza and Andy. The enticing family suite is reached from the street, more comfy bedrooms lie above. At the top … great cosy sofas beneath a pitched wooden roof, a long table for fabulous meals, big carved balconies for breathtaking views. In winter, two friendly ski hosts take over, life moves up a gear, every bedroom is filled and you are whisked to the télécabine in three minutes. The snowy slopes of Les Arcs and la Plagne are yours to discover.

• From £420pp per week, half-board Photograph: PR
Chalets: Snowgums Briançon, Hautes-Alpes
Snowgums, Briançon, Hautes-Alpes Gawp at the views from this charming old farmhouse, whose rustic walls and vaulted ceilings hold two big, cheerful and great-value apartments. The cupboards spill novels and games, there are cots and high chairs for the asking, heated floors, a drying room for ski gear and the Chantemerle cable car is two minutes' away by free bus.

• From €665 per week, self-catered (sleeps six) Photograph: PR
Chalets: Maison Coutin Peisey Nancroix, Savoie
Maison Coutin, Peisey Nancroix, Savoie This place, in Chemin de la Fruit, is good year-round. In winter you can ski cross-country, walk in the snow or take the ski lift, 500m away, to the vast ski field of Les Arcs. La Plagne is close, too. Delicious, mostly organic, food is cooked in the wood-fired oven. Your friendly hosts have known the valley all their lives, have three children and will be helpful with yours. Great value and a deeply eco-friendly ethos.

• From €58 per room per night, based on two sharing, includes breakfast Photograph: PR
 

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