Just a 2.5 hour drive up into the French Alps is Meribel in the Three Valleys, a cluster of villages, warm timber chalets, hotels, bakeries and restaurants. One such village is Mottaret, in winter it’s an easy 7 minute ski from here to first tracks, or ski school or a 5 minute walk to apres ski and boutique shopping.
The Three Valleys is on the Epic Australia Pass, making this region a cost-effective European choice for families or groups and an excellent choice for a multi-age group travelling together, including babies and toddlers.
Hotel Mottaret
In the heart of Mottaret, is Hotel Mottaret, It’s the perfect location for a travelling group. Built in traditional French Alps timber style, it’s monochrome light brown exterior with balconies is offset by white snow, like a Christmas decoration, and and you walk up the path, hot tub steaming and glowing in the light, Hotel Mottaret neon sign lit up for weary travellers, to step inside feels like a warm hug of welcome from long distance travel.
Lounging About
Walk straight into a scene of the Great Gatsby ‘snow edition’ but the size of the hotel’s interior is deceiving, as to the volume of guests it can accommodate. Certainly the guest room lounge gave no clues, even from the well-stocked bar, coffee machine and guests sitting around exchaging jovial banter. Nor did the opulent nooks and crannies of the lounge room, communal spaces with tables toppoed with monopoly, checkers or chess boards. Or the pool table located in an airy nook, thus was the artfully French designed lounge areas with use of low lighting, curtain placements creating sections to the room, feau chandleirs, comfortable chairs and a warming fire.
Ski-On Ski-Out
In the morning, after a hearty buffet French breakfast, it is easy to walk 50 metres straight ahead to the green run and snap boots straight onto ski boots, give an uphill a safety glance for other skiers, before gliding getting down the hill. What will you do today? Join friends, drop kids to ski schools, enjoy another coffee or jump on one of the many chairlifts and gondoas that services 600km of interconnected terrain for the day. Where will you lunch? And where will you apres?
Stay
Our room at Hotel Mottaret was traditional Alpine style. A lovely balcony overlooked the mountains beyond as the pedestrian gondola lazed by 100 metres away. Room decor was simple and tidy, with use of timber, carpeting and a little lounge area next to the bed.
Dining
It was the dining room that gave it away, that this well-lit timber restaurant with snowy views at the lowest level of the hotel, could indeed discretely accommodate an extremely large group, should you choose or need to travel with one. With a well-practiced system it seeemd, the layout of hot and cold breakfast options, multiple coffee machines to disperse thirsty guests, it could accommodate up to 60 to 70 people at any one time it seemed. A system repeated for dinner and every evening a themed cusine – Italian, Asian , French in buffet style, which suits families not wanted to make far away bookings or trek too way in the dark with tired children. I recommend Hotel Mottaret for French Alpine group travel, with ski rental on-site and regular live music in the lounge. Hotel Mottaret does what so many hotels cannot do and make their guests feel like they are the only guests in the chalet.
