Chalet Cascades Courchevel

Has anybody been here lately?
Is it (The chalet) any good?

Nick,
I assume you're talking about the Chalet Cascades in Courchevel 1650.
If you're not then this doesn't apply.
We went there for the last week of January this year with Ski Total (I
assume you're travelling with them as they were running the whole
thing last year and it's in their brochure again this year.
If you look at the pictures in the brochure (alternatively the same
pictures are on the website. www.skitotal.com ) the entrance is below
the "L" on the left hand canopy (digital code lock not a key), the
rest of the ground floor is used by the shop and there is no access
from the chalet. At the end of a small corridor you come to the
staircase, downstairs one flight leads to the ski/boot room (a little
on the small side if the place is full) and the lounge and dining room
(the other two pictures in the brochure) with views back out over
1550. Upstairs leads to the bedrooms. Our bedroom was on the first
floor at the back. It wasn't the most plush accommodation but it was
comfortable and warm with a double bed, 1 wardrobe and 2 bedside
cabinets. We had an en-suite with wash hand basin, toilet and shower.
It all worked properly and was clean but quite cramped and you'd need
to be really good friends to get two people in there ! No balconies at
the rear of the building. Our room was fine but some of the people we
talked to that week had complained about the standard of
accommodation. If I remember correctly the staff told us that the
hotel had been "done up" the previous summer but, unfortunately, they
had run out of time and some rooms hadn't been done, I believe these
were going to be done this summer. The other thing I would warn you
about is that the stairs and corridors are all concrete and are quite
noisy which can be a bit of a pain if you want an early night and have
some all night party people in the place.
Staff were good and the food was good but wine was a bit patchy.
Reasonable choice of restaurants for the staff night off.
The location can't be faulted, directly over the road (from where the
picture is taken) is the post office, tourist office and the escalator
leading to the base station of the Ariondaz gondola and, a bit further
on, all the drag lifts out of 1650 (2 of which are free if you get
there early as we did). Reasonable choice of shops and you can always
catch the bus to one of the other Courchevel resorts. 1650 is not as
lively as 1850. 1650 is not as handy if you want to explore the 3
Valleys but Courchevel has enough skiiing of it's own to keep most
people occupied for a week and you can save a bit of money by just
buying the Courchevel pass (you can buy an upgrade for the day for the
3 Valleys).
To summarise I wouldn't regard the Cascades as a bargain but,
consdering Courchevel prices, it is value for money especially if you
can wait till the last moment and get a special offer. We would go
back there as we felt that the pros outweighed the cons.
E mail us if you would like some more information.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 06:10:41 GMT, "Nick Hounsome"
wrote:

Has anybody been here lately?
Is it (The chalet) any good?


Tony Henley
Pembroke, South Wales