Hotel Slalom in Les Houches – a boutique hotel for skiers and walkers

As we arrive at Hotel Slalom in Les Houches, the English propriétaire Tracey, welcomes us with a cheerful Bienvenue and we step into the breakfast room of this unassuming but stylish small boutique hotel. We’ve chosen it as a base from which to launch into our 3 day walk on the Tour de Mont Blanc Trail above Chamonix, as the village is one of the popular start and end points of the 11 day circular walk.

Hotel Slalom is set by the road at the edge of the village of Les Houches, a pretty place with a few restaurants and shops that is a satellite of the much larger and swisher Chamonix, 20 minutes away by bus. With only 10 rooms the hotel is cosy and personally run with a bar area where you can sink into a leather sofa or perch at the bar for a cocktail. In addition to the ground floor bar and breakfast room, there was a little reading corner tucked under the stairs with plenty of books, magazines and DVDs to borrow or use in the bedrooms.

Bar at Hotel Slalom in Les Houches, nr Chamonix

Breakfast room at Hotel Slalon in Les Houches

The hotel operates on a B & B basis with breakfast laid out on the copper topped bar; fresh croissants and baguettes from the boulangerie across the road, with creamy natural yoghurt and reblochon cheese from the local farmer. The hotel doesn’t have a restaurant but we were recommended to try the small Restaurant Le Basilic around the corner where we tried the Savoyard fondue on our first night and on our second visit were defeated by the 3 course set menu, that would have been the perfect end to an energetic day on the pistes. The starter of grilled goats cheese salad was practically a meal in itself and despite my sweet tooth I could only toy with my ice cream desert.

The hotel owner, Tracey, told me how she had left a successful career in the city of London behind, to change direction and run the hotel. She gutted the hotel’s interior and completely remodelled it in a labour of love – at one point in the building work you could see from the ground floor right up to the rafters. Tracey insisted on keeping the authentic wooden bar with polished copper top even though her architect wanted to throw it out, and now it doubles as a serving counter for breakfast as well as the reception desk. The alpine scenery and charming setting haven’t changed though, and you can still throw open your window and washed blue shutters for those mountain views and bracing fresh air.

Hotel Slalom is a haven of good taste – modern but with a nod towards traditional Savoyard style. The rooms are just what you might hope for, with natural materials, carefully chosen furnishings and pretty red and beige quilts and woollen throws in the bedrooms, with charming little touches – a painted dish of sweets or a miniature cactus. Our rooms were a good size, with spacious bathrooms in natural colours, housing a bath tub as well as powerful shower – bliss to soak aching muscles after a day’s walking, climbing or ski-ing. If I was being picky I might have liked to find a hair dryer in my room, or perhaps a slightly more luxurious selection of toiletries than the shampoo sachets and small boxed soap on offer. But having said that, Tracey and her staff were extremely helpful in lending us anything we needed, including the mountain poles I used on our walk, which I embarrassingly managed to break on my way down the mountain.

Bedroom at Hotel Slalom in Les Houches

Bathroom at Hotel Slalom in Les Houches

The hotel is ideally placed to explore the Chamonix valley where there’s plenty to see and do in summer as well as the winter ski season when you can ski to the door of the hotel. All hotels in the area can provide their guests with a free local bus pass in the summer season to get around the valley. Hotel Slalom is a great place to stay in Les Houches if you’re doing all or part of the Tour de Mont Blanc as we did, and a haven to take a rest during your circuit if the basic facilities of the mountain huts are wearing down your enthusism. Tracey can also organise packages with a guide to take you climbing, mountain-biking, white water rafting or any number of other adventurous activities.

I’d highly recommend Hotel Slalom as a well priced, stylish boutique hotel, with extremely helpful and personal service from Tracey and her staff. In the late summer when we visited the room rate was €86-95 for twin or double rooms plus €10 for breakfast.

Hotel Slalom, 44 rue de Bellevue, 74310 Les Houches, Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France, Tel: +33 (0) 450 54 40 60,
Restaurant Le Basilic, 105, Place de la Fruitiere, 74310 Les Houches, Tel +33 (0) 450 54 41 85

Compare prices and book Hotel Slalom in Les Houches with Hotels Combined

Other Tales from the Tour de Mont Blanc

Inside the glacier – at the Mer de Glace above Chamonix
Review of Tour of Mont Blanc Guide by Kev Reynolds at Cicerone Press
Day 3 on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Flégère to Lac Blanc

Resources for those walking the Tour de Mont Blanc

We used the Cicerone Tour of Mont Blanc guide by Kev Reynolds – we found it to be an excellent guide for both the clockwise and anti-clockwise route with detailed route guide, maps, accommodation information and points of interest along the route.

We stayed at Refuges de Bellachat and la Flegere above Chamonix. Bookings for Refuge de Bellachat can be made only by telephone (04 50 53 43 23) and cost €40 for dinner, bed & breakfast. The cost of staying at Refuge la Flégère was €47 per person for dinner, bed and breakfast and bookings can be made by e-mail bellay.catherine@wanadoo.fr or telephone (04 50 55 85 88 ). To avoid disppointment and a long walk, you should book your place in all refuges but can normally do so a day or two before, or from the previous refuge.

We booked our transfer from Geneva airport to Les Houches through Chamexpress and found them to run an extremely efficient airport to hotel service – cost was €25 + tax per person each way.

The walkingthetmb website has useful information to help you plan and prepare for your Tour de Mont Blanc walk, with a packing list and some links to other people’s photographs and on-line diaries to inspire you.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ France – Chamonix photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Fine dining favourites at the top London Hotels

This sponsored post by London based writer, Paul Joseph will give you some great ideas for top hotels in London that also have outstanding restaurants to give you a gastronomic as well as luxurious experience for your stay in the capital.

The key to luxury is in the small touches, and none more so than when it comes to hotels. The delicately-placed chocolate on the pillow, the crisp white slippers, and the elegantly crafted towels all lend a personal touch to the hotel experience.

But for me, one of the keys to an excellent hotel is an equally excellent on-site restaurant. There is something fabulously civilised about ambling down from your room to be greeted by the aroma of gastronomic delights.

Living in London, I try to wait for a good excuse to sample one of the city’s hotels, but occasionally I will simply do it on a whim. I don’t even need a companion, as for me, another beauty of hotels is the solitude they offer. But the one criteria I always demand is that the hotel boasts a top quality restaurant.

In recent years, gastronomy in the UK has gained in popularity thanks to the proliferation of cookery programmes on television and the emergence of celebrity chefs, such as Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsey, who have lent a new rock star ‘coolness’ to food. London’s hotels have responded by prioritising the fare they serve up to guests – often inviting such celebrity chefs into their kitchens and giving them ‘headline act’ status.

Consequently, you now have hotel restaurants in London with names such as Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and Hélène Darroze at the Connaught. If ever there has been a sign that cooking has crossed over into the realm of showbiz, then this is it.

My own experiences traversing London’s hotel restaurant scene has lead me to a whole range of experiences: some good, some bad, some memorable, some forgettable. In offering my recommendations, I will try to be subjective, and forget about the surly waitress, the slightly undercooked lamb, and the rickety table. Because I am of the opinion that no restaurant is perfect, and if it is, it probably means your expectations are too low.

So here are my tips for London hotels with what I consider to be top-quality, value-for-money restaurants.

For ethnic cuisine, I have experienced nothing better than Asia de Cuba at St Martins Lane Hotel. Located in one of the myriad Covent Garden hotels in London’s West End, Asia de Cuba simply knocked me for six when I visited late last year. Even before I put a single thing in my mouth, I was mesmerised by the decor, designed by the world-renowned Philippe Starck. When the food arrived, it didn’t disappoint either. A fusion of Asian and Latin American cuisine, the flavours conjured up by Thai beef salad were something truly special.

My visit to the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair was tempered by the distinct feeling that I didn’t quite fit in. After a while, I realised: whilst this is certainly one of London’s most prestigious accommodations, its location means it is effectively a de facto business hotel. Put it this way, I was one of a handful of guests I saw during my stay that was not wearing a suit.

Anyway, onto the restaurant, which boasts an impressive three Michelin stars (though it is true that this endorsement has been somewhat discredited in recent years, when it has started being thrown around like confetti).

For me, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, named after the eminent French chef who runs the establishment, deserves all the accolades it gets. Offering contemporary French cuisine in modern and elegant surroundings, this is unquestionably one of the city’s finest hotel restaurants.

Located in Knightsbridge, west London, is The Capital Hotel. My opinion of this establishment– based on its location – is that it would be great for couples looking to indulge in some retail therapy during their stay.

Not least because it is just a stone’s throw from the famous Harrods department store, meaning you could do some serious damage to your credit card in just a few hours if so willing.

As for the restaurant, out of all of the prestigious Knightsbridge hotels, this is surprisingly the only one offering Michelin starred cuisine. However, it is lagging behind The Dorchester with only 2 stars to its name. The restaurant offers contemporary British food, so would suit those who possess a sensitive palate.

Finally, a great choice for those who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of Central London is The Bingham Hotel, located some way out of the city centre in Richmond-upon-Thames. This is well worth the trip, not only for its excellent Michelin-starred restaurant, led by highly acclaimed chef Shay Cooper, but also for its location, in one of London’s most picturesque suburbs. Personally, I can think of no better way of walking off a fabulous meal than by taking a stroll around the beautiful environs of Richmond Park.

My thanks for this mouthwatering article to Paul Joseph, a London-based writer and author who has written for national magazines and newspapers and has travelled extensively across North and South America, Israel and Europe.

For more information

Compare prices on London Hotels
Asia de Cuba at St Martins Lane Hotel, 45 St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4HX, Tel. +44 (0) 20 7300 5500
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Park Lane, London, W1K 1QA,  Tel. +44 (0) 20 7629 8866
The Capital Restaurant at the Capital Hotel, 22 Basil Street, London SW3 1AT, Tel: +44 (0)20 7589 5171
Bingham Hotel, 61 – 63 Petersham Road, Richmond Upon Thames, Surrey. TW10 6UT, Tel +44 (0) 20 8940 0902

Other things to enjoy in London

Into Churchill’s underground bunker – Churchill War Rooms in London
Step back in time at the Denis Severs House in London
To Kensington Palace and tea at the Orangery in London

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

Postcard from the military cemetery at Vic-sur-Aisne – in France

I’m taking a short autumn break with my family in northern France in the Aisne region staying at a holiday parc at Berny Riviere with Eurocamp. We spent the day exploring the holiday parc of La Croix du Vieux Pont, that has two lakes as well as all the sporting facilities you could wish for, and looked around the village of Vic-sur-Aisne with it’s pretty small chateau in the town square.

A drive down to the military cemetery on the edge of town reminded us that this area was on the front line of two world wars, with places like Somme, Cambrai and Arras to be passed on the motorway drive from Calais. The military cemetery here recalls those times, and as my husband is a former tank commander, a visit to Cambrai and to the cemetery near Arras, where his great uncle is buried, is on the cards. It’ll be a reality check compared the trip to Disneyland Resort Paris that we also hope to make while we’re here.

Which would you prefer?

More great articles to enjoy

Time to start planning your family autumn break in Paris
Planning my mini Tour de Mont Blanc – French Alps
Living on holiday all year round in Brittany – France

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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