Esprit Chalets



The classic 'room with a view' -
Chalet Sandrine in La Rosiere

"The chalet host's enthusiasm and attention to detail was exceptional - very impressed!"
Kielty-Whites Family, Peisey, December 2006

The informality and friendly camaraderie of a chalet makes a holiday with children relaxed and stress-free, and it is no surprise that over our 25 years of providing specialist family ski holidays, this is the preferred choice of most Esprit guests.

You are welcome to join a chalet as an individual family, or you can book the whole or a part of a chalet for your group. All our chalets are equipped and run with children of all ages in mind, including toys, cots, high-chairs, sterilisers and access to a microwave.

CHALET MEALS

For six days of the week our chalet staff, some of whom may live in the chalet, prepare all your meals, as described here. On the chalet hosts’ day off, they will leave out a simple breakfast for you, and that cold evening you and your family have the chance to eat out in one of the local cafés or restaurants.

The majority of our guests feel that children under 13 years can inhibit the dinner-party atmosphere at evening meals, especially if they are over-tired, so our younger guests are served high tea at about 5.30pm. We do not then allow anyone under 13 at the adult evening meals in chalets, except in our two ‘Family Dining’ chalets.

BREAKFAST

A good breakfast is essential on a ski holiday, so we provide a choice of cereals or porridge, fruit juices, plentiful tea and coffee, local bread (and croissants or ‘pains au chocolat’ in France), meats, cheeses and preserves, and boiled eggs.

This is normally presented buffet-style for you to help yourself.

AFTERNOON TEA

The traditional ‘welcome home’ after a day on the slopes will be laid out for you by your chalet host, ready for your return. A good cup of tea or coffee is the perfect accompaniment to a delicious slice of freshly home-baked cake.

CHILDREN’S HIGH TEA

Served at around 5.30pm and supervised by our staff, high tea provides children under 13 with a healthy menu, but tailored more towards children’s tastes than our main adult dinner.

Chalets serve a fixed ‘menu of the day’, whilst Chalet Hotels offer a choice of menu.

ADULT DINNER

Our four-course chalet dinners start with canapés and an apéritif, followed by an appetiser, main course and dessert, accompanied by a choice of wines, and followed by coffee with mints or chocolates.

We are also happy to cater for vegetarians and other special dietary requirements – please advise us at the time of booking, and specify details on your Booking Form.

FAMILY DINING CHALETS

For those who want to eat with their younger children, we offer two chalets with our Family Dining concept - the Valentine in La Rosière and the Lucas in Les Arcs. Everyone in these chalets eats together in the evening, starting at 6.30-7.00pm. The meals are based on our adult menus with some flexibility for younger taste buds, although not a complete ‘à la carte’ choice!

You can also choose our Family Dining option if you wish in any chalet of up to 10 beds, if you book the whole chalet for your own party, subject to chalet suitability. The additional charge for changing meal arrangements to Family Dining is £35 per child.

ROOM DESCRIPTIONS

To make descriptions even clearer, we have introduced the term ‘Suite’ to describe accommodation with at least two distinctly separate sleeping areas, whilst ‘Room’ indicates that all beds are in one area.

NO-SMOKING POLICY

We feel it is inappropriate and unpleasant to expose children to smoking and so we have a complete no-smoking policy for all our charter flights, coaches, chalets and Chalet Hotels.

Christmas and New Year Celebrations

All our chalets and Chalet Hotels offer traditional fare for Christmas dinner, with roast turkey and all the trimmings, Christmas pudding, nuts, mince pies, crackers and party hats, plus a lively, fun atmosphere for all the family.

This is the one meal that all families share together regardless of children’s ages, so in some properties the dining tables can be quite crowded, but this adds to the festive ambience of all celebrating together! Father Christmas is a welcome visitor during the evening, when he pays his annual visit to our chalets and Chalet Hotels and distributes his gifts to the children.

A special festive menu is also served on New Year’s Eve, but this is for adults only (and those aged 13+ of course), unless you are staying in a Family Dining chalet.

Our two independent hotels both offer special Christmas dinners and New Year Gala dinners accompanied by their own regional, traditional festivities for our guests to enjoy, and this is included in our holiday price. Slightly more formal dress is requested please in our partner hotels for Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners.

For that extra special Christmas Adventure, why not treat the family to an unforgettable visit to Santa's Lapland?


Nicolas & Véronique inspecting next year’s crop

Our Wine Selection

We are very proud of our wine selection for Esprit chalets and Chalet Hotels, which combines crisp and fruity whites with medium to full bodied reds, for a variety of palates.

We select our wines in conjunction with our good friends Nicolas and Véronique Perret the third generation in the Perret family’s fine wine business based in the Savoie. Nicolas is a Master of Wine, having trained at the prestigious Burgundy Wine University in Beaune.

Each season in October, Nicolas & Véronique bring over a new selection for us to sample (someone has to do it!) and together we choose our four wines for the coming season, based on our menus and their pure enjoyment factor.

Wine is an incredibly subjective and emotive subject, however the feedback we have received from our guests over recent seasons endorses our aims of providing wines to enhance your meal and to suit most tastes.

We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!

Ian Hope, Head of Product Development