'It's great location means you can be first on the slopes in the morning'

'We wanted to be near the bars and restaurants and the Apartment was perfect'

'Your fantastic chef spoilt us rotten'

In the know

Sleeps

Six guests in three bedrooms with queen-size or twin beds.

Ideal for

Serious skiing, extreme sports, short breaks and family holidays.

Rates

From £7,818–£13,727 for a week’s hire on a self-catering basis. Fully catered packages start at £11,667 for seven nights and go up to £20,917. Fully catered three-night stays start from £6,917; four nights from £8,167.

Minimum hire

One week if self-catering, but three and four-night breaks are available when you hire the apartment on a fully-catered basis.

Also

The chalet is in the town centre, which is great for sampling Chamonix’s après-ski. There is some traffic noise but the apartment is very well sound-proofed.

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Interior

Bedrooms 

Bedroom 1: This is the master bedroom and has an en suite bathroom. There’s also a flat-screen TV with DVD player in the room.
Bedroom 2: This double or twin bedroom is the smallest room and shares a bathroom with the third bedroom.
Bedroom 3: This spacious double room shares a bathroom with Bedroom 2.

Kitchen The kitchen is fully equipped so if you hire the apartment on a self-catering basis you have everything you need, including a halogen hob, microwave and coffee machine. The rough-hewn sink and the work surfaces are all local granite. There’s an extensive wine cellar with an excellent selection of a la carte wines to choose from.

Living room Deep, leather sofas, comfortable armchairs, a huge plasma screen TV with a full Sky package and a collection of DVDs. There’s also a games cupboard to keep you entertained, as well as a CD player with a selection of discs.

Dining room The dining table is next to the open-plan kitchen and the stone fireplace. It comfortably seats all six guests. There’s access out onto the balcony that has views up to the Aiguille du Midi.

Other There’s a ski locker outside and a heated boot rack next to the front door. The Aiguille du Midi lift is just a couple of minutes walk away so reaching the slopes couldn’t be easier.

Outdoor

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Gardens There’s a small, secure garden. Being in the town centre it’s not particularly peaceful, but it’s a great place for children to play.

Parking The apartment has two parking spaces right outside.

Apartment Angelina

Chamonix, France

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Apartment Angelina

Chamonix, France

Getting there

Planes Geneva airport is 50 miles and little more than one hour away via the French toll motorways (www.gva.ch). EasyJet, BA, Swiss Airlines and Bmibaby fly from the UK. Swiss Airlines from City airport is very convenient for Londoners.

Trains It really makes no sense to get to Chamonix by train. From Geneva’s Eaux-Vives station take a French SNCF to Annemasse or Roche-sur-Foron and change for trains to La Fayet/St Gervais Les Bains. From here you can catch the Mont Blanc Express to Chamonix. It’s panoramic but the whole trip will take three times longer than by car.

Local taxi service Call ABAC Taxi Gopee on +33 (0)6 07 02 22 13.

Directions by road If you’re coming from Geneva, hire a car on the Swiss side of the airport or you’ll be charged extra for using the Swiss motorways. The journey along the A40/E25 toll road takes just over one hour. You can walk to the end of the street in Geneva without crossing an international border so have you’re passport handy. When you reach Chamonix you’ll see the Aiguille du Midi cable car on the right-hand-side of the valley.

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Review

Chamonix has been a popular Alpine destination for centuries and its historic streets have far more charm and character than many of the modern, purpose-built resorts found elsewhere in the Alps. The town is also surrounded by dramatic peaks which make it the undisputed capital of extreme sports, too. Apartment Angelina’s location at the bottom of the Aiguille du Midi cable car and on the edge of Chamonix’s town centre means you can sample both aspects of this sophisticated year-round resort to your heart’s content.

The apartment sleeps six guests in three warm, wood-panelled bedrooms; one is en suite and the other two share a bathroom. Its location and its cosy but spacious size means that Apartment Angelina is ideal either for families or for a small group of friends. With the mountains towering over the town and the main cable car only yards away, extreme skiers will be in Seventh Heaven, too. The apartment has many features of a traditional chalet – light pine panelling, a large wooden balcony and rustic, decorative details – but it also incorporates contemporary style.

There’s extensive use of natural materials throughout. The kitchen is fully equipped and features an unusual, rough-hewn granite sink, while the stone fireplace next to the dining area adds a traditional sense of warmth to the property. Even in the sitting area, where a plasma screen TV, DVD library and CD player provide the modern entertainments you’d expect, soft, deep leather sofas maintain the sense of Alpine elegance. Although the resort’s excellent restaurants are only a short stroll away, there’s plenty to entertain you if you’d prefer an evening in.

There’s a great deal of choice on offer when hiring Apartment Angelina. You can take the property for a week on a self-catering basis and still benefit from the expertise of a resort concierge. They will book and organise any of Chamonix’s huge range of winter and summer activities on request. They will also arrange spa and beauty treatments if you wish to enjoy the mountains at a more leisurely pace and can even provide a shopping service to prepare the apartment in advance so you can simply focus on the Champagne reception.

If your stay is fully catered then the apartment can be hired for long weekends – very convenient with Geneva airport less than one hour away. Fully-catered guests have private airport transfers, a chauffeur, the resort concierge and a chalet chef. Daily breakfast, afternoon tea and gourmet six-course meals will make you feel thoroughly pampered. Carefully selected wines and an open bar are included but the apartment also has a rather irresistible wine cellar with some fantastic a la carte wines to choose from.

Apartment Angelina’s staff can also cater for children and will provide all the necessary equipment so you don’t have to struggle through baggage reclaim with a buggy. Although it’s in the town centre, there’s a secure garden for kid’s to play in and the concierge can arrange ski school on request. Not that adults get left out; any activities, including paragliding, ice skating, mountain biking, rock climbing and white-water rafting are all popular in Chamonix. The staff’s years of experience means they can recommend the very best local experts and operators for you. Hand-picked mountain guides can help you ski some of the most challenging runs in the Alps such as the the Kandahar World Cup runs and the incomparable 23-kilometre-long Vallée Blanche.

This Chamonix chalet sleeping six guests was reviewed by Jim Whyte

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