SMITTEN BY THE FANTASY CASTLE IN KATE’S ALPINE PLAYGROUND
I’d struggle to dream up an Alpine hotel any more wonderful than Les Airelles. Its location alone is simply perfect, nestled among trees next to a tiny winding run in Courchevel 1850, part of the Trois Vallees area in south-east France.
This is the resort where billionaires and royals come to play in the snow – Prince William and Kate Middleton stayed in Courchevel last year – and Les Airelles is in one of the best spots.
The building, with 37 rooms and 14 suites, is a picturesque grand chalet inspired by Bavarian baroque architecture. It’s the stuff of fairy tales both inside and out.
An ornate blushed-rose facade with prancing deer motifs hides a lavish yet elegant 19th Century Alpine-style interior.
We stay in one of the suites, with a living room area, an impossibly comfortable bed, and a rain-shower that creates a sort of mini-monsoon.
And the toiletries? All by Hermes and Cellcosmet. The squeal of delight from my girlfriend tells me they are top-class.
The facilities include a pool in the basement, along with a spa, hammam, sauna, outdoor Jacuzzi and a hair salon, while Pierre Gagnaire’s twoMichelin-starred restaurant keeps the diners happy.
Children are well catered for, too, at Les Airelles. There’s a small ice rink complete with model penguins they can hold on to, and a games room with a miniature castle, Xbox and PlayStation consoles, a cinema, and a Star Wars-themed area.
Every member of staff, from the cleaners to the porters, offers a polite greeting to guests as they pass, and napkins are replaced by the waiters midway through breakfast if they are judged to be too ruffled. A fresh one is placed on the table with a pair of silver tongs. But perhaps the hotel is best summed up by the occasion when the skiboot-room attendant notices one morning that my girlfriend has arrived ready to ski wearing just socks on her feet.
When she returns after a day on the slopes, a pair of hotel slippers are waiting for her to put on for the journey back to our suite.
It’s a hotel that hardly puts a foot wrong (though, gasp, the taps in one of our bedroom sinks are mislabelled).
The downside? Deep pockets are needed, with the cheapest room costing at least €1,100 a night. But if you can afford it, you’ll find yourself cocooned in the hotel of my dreams. And probably yours too.