Concretebuildings,butskiingoutofthisworld
WHEN anyone mentions that Flaine is the world’s only listed ski resort, the standard response is to ask: ‘Listed as what?’
It’s a knee-jerk joke. The French resort may have been built out of concrete in the 1960s, but its designer was the brilliant Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer (pronounced ‘Broyer’).
So leave your prejudices at the airport and you’ll find the modest, modernist village of Flaine has plenty to offer.
It’s a cinch to get to (just over an hour from Geneva by bus). It has a sprawling ski area, but the best runs — including a soothing spread of reds and blues — are in the Flaine bowl itself. It’s almost impossible to get lost. My wife, Anya, who is pregnant, explores what Flaine has in reserve for non-skiers. In Flaine Forum, the lower half of the village, there’s the Hotel Centaures, with a luxurious swimming pool and sauna, available to non-guests for a few euros.
Flaine doesn’t boast much in the way of nightlife. There’s Le White Pub, popular with the British, where you can get a good pint. And the Flying Dutchman, where you can do the same, while surrounded by Dutch people.
This doesn’t bother me. Am I the only one who finds that, after a hard day on the slopes, he can manage little more than a semi-recumbent posture?
There’s nowhere better for this than the terrace of Foret’s Perdrix Noir bar. From here, as the afternoon shadows slant down from the projecting balconies at the backs of Flaine’s buildings, the concrete blends in beautifully with the soft grey of the rocks surrounding it.
Breuer just possibly knew what he was doing. CRYSTAL Ski (0871 231 2256; crystalski.
co.uk) offers a week’s stay in Flaine, France, from £319 in the two-star selfcatering Sunotel Apartments, based on four sharing, including flights from Gatwick and transfers. Direct flights from all major UK airports available.