Hôtel Arcadien

Location: Proximity to ski slopes , with a short walk to lifts , though not ski-in/ski-out.

My daughter and I had a short stay at this old style hotel for some skiing. The room seemed cheap with a nice discount. Booking direct from the hotel was better than other websites. While there we got a second room to enable my daughter to sleep and would have booked single rooms to start with, but the website only seems to allow this if you book 4 people (2 rooms) and then reduce to 1 person per room, though I didn't know this trick when we first booked. We took the funicular up from Bourg St Maurice rather than take a long ride up from the valley. The journey takes 7 minutes but the walk to the hotel is not short as it is on the other side of Arc 1600. The last part of the walk involves going up some stairs across some snow (next to the ski school meeting place) and then down some stairs. There is a road route but getting to/from the funicular to it also involves stairs. Getting to the ski lifts involves going across the snow and up to the lift rather than down the stairs to the shops, so not too far. There is no way to ski out though potential to ski in if there is LOTS of snow. The hotel is well staffed with some pleasant welcoming young people. They are fairly multilingual so we managed quite well. Room keys are manual and the ski lockers are just lockers (out in the hallway of the complex). There is nowhere to dry boots so they have to dry in your room or the corridor. The rooms are not huge but good by French standards and they are kept very clean. The twin beds can be made in to a double but there is not a lot of storage space generally. The bathroom was reasonable with a bath (poor water pressure on the shower) and a sink with an awkwardly placed shelf. Every time I went to wash my face I would hit my head on the shelf. We had a small balcony too and the soap was very nice. The hotel is arranged over 4 descending floors. Reception at ground level, below that a lounge, below that a bar and below that the restaurant and spa, though the spa is accessed via a spiral staircase in the bar. The top 3 floors are where the rooms are and there is no lift so no idea how they cater for disabled people. We were half board so we enjoyed the breakfast and 3 course dinners, drinks extra. Breakfast is continental with cereal, breads, cakes, yogurt, cheese and meat. There are boiled eggs which you boil yourself and coffee from a machine. It's all self service. Dinner on the other hand is chosen from a menu on the board at the start of the meal and brought to the table. There is a choice of 2 options for each course (though we were never asked about allergies so had to spot when there may have been nuts which my daughter is allergic to). The food was very nice and tasty with highlights being the salads and St Marcelline Buns. The profiterole is worth mentioning too as it's huge and singular - nice though. Overall a pleasant stay but not the greatest value. And the wifi is utter rubbish!