Chalet Les Mazots

I adore contemporary chalets and designer chalets but I also love genuinely old chalets with real authentic charm, and this Chamonix chalet has heaps of it. It is a beautiful building built early last century and it retains its original Savoyard splendour, oozing old-fashioned appeal and all the history of the Chamonix valley. Just delightful!

Rustic elegance; classic Chamonix chic. Chalet Les Mazots is traditional Savoyard in style – think dark wood panelling, creaking stairs, vintage prints, old books, burnished antique furniture and pretty lace bed linen. You can just feel its history seeping out from all that panelling.

This quaint, luxury ski chalet is built on four storeys, with seven bedrooms of varying shapes and sizes and six bathrooms. It can be arranged to suit almost any type of group, from family to corporate.

It’s a bit of a maze on the upper floors and is sometimes hard to remember when you first arrive which was the door to your bedroom, but that really is part of the charm of the chalet — the owners have preserved authenticity and the character of the bedrooms hasn’t been compromised by forced-in en suites to satisfy modern demands. The upper floor has roof windows in addtion to the normal chalet windows, giving the bedrooms and bathrooms plenty of light and extra views of the mountains.

There are four twin / double en-suite bedrooms, (two with showers, one with bath, one with both), a triple and a single bedroom which share a bathroom (bath and shower) between them, a single bedroom with a basin, a separate shower and two w.c.s on the ground floor and the option of an eighth bedroom in the basement which uses the sauna shower and w.c.

There are also two adorable little mazots in the grounds for when there are just too many for the main chalet. With these there is space for a group of 20.

L’Occitane toiletries, robes and slippers are provided.

Les Mazots is a fully catered ski chalet, and the company that runs the chalet takes food seriously, hiring their chefs from the top restaurants of Europe and around the world. The cuisine takes its inspiration from the specialities of Savoy and further afield, but when I stayed, the chef did not have a fixed menu and was quite happy to create meals to suit the guests’ tastes, using top quality locally sourced produce. Dishes ranged from the classic Alpine, such as a salad of warm goats cheese, to the Asian influenced seared breast of duck, fried egg noodles and oyster mushrooms. Good complimentary house wine was served, too, but you also have the option to upgrade and buy from a carefully selected wine list.

The chalet does not cater on two evenings each week, providing the opportunity to sample some of Chamonix’s many excellent restaurants.

The catered chalet price includes a hearty continental breakfast (porridge, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, croissants etc), homemade cake and tea after skiing and on five evenings each week, a four course dinner with wine.

There is an outdoor hot tub with spectacular views of Mont Blanc and a sauna indoors. In-chalet massages can be arranged.

Chalet Les Mazots provides early children’s suppers. The recently updated basement boasts a games room, and there is a wide selection of board games. The lovely, large L shaped living room has a separate TV corner too, for little ones to hide away in.

The cosy, traditional surroundings and ancient Chamonix ambiance.

Perhaps the maze-like arrangement of the rooms and the fact that not all have en-suite bathrooms, but this in a way just adds to its charm.