Last week myself and some friends spent a week boarding in Chamonix. We stayed in an apartment in Le Tour, at the top of the Chamonix valley. Here’s a quick review of the accommodation:

Location:

The chalet/apartment is situated in the small village of Le Tour. As with most things, there are pros and cons to this location.

On the plus side, for just-boarding it is perfect. You are literally on the door-step of the Le Tour area (you can ride to the door). If you have beginners in your group, you are less than a minutes walk from the best nursery slope in the valley. If it dumps, Le Tour is great for good accessible off-piste, so you can make sure you are on the first lift. Using the Chamonix bus service to get to the other ski areas is excellent: not many people leave Le tour in the morning (meaning an empty bus) and not many people return to Le tour on the evening (again, an empty bus).

On the negative side you’re not in Chamonix itself, so you don’t have the large selection of shops and restaurants that you can easily walk to. But you do get some incredible scenery, which I used to practice my tips on taking good snowboarding pictures. How To Take Good Snowboarding Pictures – 7 Helpful Tips!

This trade off is down to personal preference – but there are other factors to consider…

The apartment:

The apartment was great.

• Sleeping 6 – 7 people it was spacious
• 2 double beds, 2 singles and a solid single futon
• A decent sitting area and a great dining area (nice big table with plenty of seats)
• The apartment has a really useful porch outside the front door. The porch is totally enclosed so is handy for taking boots off, storing boards etc. However, the porch door would benefit from a lock – we left our boards out there through the night, unprotected
• Hall area – tiled, with plenty of space for boots
• Ecellent kitchen including dish-washer, but missing a microwave
• Open fire place
• One bathroom, one shower room with toilet, and seperate toilet

Overall the apartment had good character, was spacious, had good sleeping facilities and had plenty of storage space. 6 – 7 people is comfortable. Two things that could be more useful: a lock on the porch door and more coat hangers in the hall way.

Value for money:

In my opinion the apartment is very reasonably priced.

Summary:

For some people a holiday in the Chamonix valley means staying in Chamonix. I’ve been to Chamonix four times – I’ve stayed right at the bottom of the valley, in Chamonix centre, and in Le Tour (twice). Each location has its benefits. For example, the chalet at the bottom of the valley was complete luxury, but it was also a 15/20 minute drive into Cham and there were no buses.

Personally, I really like to stay in Chamonix town. However, I also like to have a good apartment/chalet. Unless you’re willing to pay, these two requirements are not easily fulfilled. If you’re willing to look outside of the centre – and Le tour is a great little village with Argentiere 5 minutes down the road – this apartment is excellent! You won’t get a chalet as good as this for a similar price in Chamonix town – simple.

Next, we’re going to talk about Skiing vs snowboarding. Let the debate begin!