Our first week in Tignes at the hotel Les Suites du Montana
After our ordeal getting to Tignes, we settled into the Suite Privilège at Les Suites du Montana. Our first impression was not good but once we settled in we were happy enough. The suite was on the first floor across from the ski room. We thought it would be noisy but it wasn't. We thought that it would be dark but we had a nice view of the slopes and La Toviere. At 60 square meters (645 square feet), it was big enough for the two of us and there was good storage. But it was not, however, the suite that we saw on the hotel's website that we would have liked.
We spent about US$672 a night for a suite with three smallish rooms--the salon and two bedrooms. The salon had a sofa, coffee table, a desk, a table with chairs, and a large heating furnace like the one in our Italian apartment. There was a large TV screen but not many channels were activated. We had a balcony too. The main bedroom had bedside tables, a chest of drawers, and an armoire. The twin bedroom had a small bathroom and an armoire. The main bathroom had a sauna as well as a hydromassage tub. There was also a second toilet in the hallway. When we arrived there was a large plate of fruits, and jars of jam, nuts, sweets, and cookies. It was a nice welcome plate. The staff was very, very nice and we enjoyed talking to each of them. Our luggage was delivered to the suite as were the packages that we had ordered online. One of the suitcases that we sent with ShipSkis was already in the room (damaged) and the skis (undamaged) arrived two days after we arrived. Our rental Citroën SUV was parked in the garage for us.
The breakfast buffet was complete and eggs were ordered separately. Daniel and the staff in the restaurant were lovely and helpful.
Les Suites du Montana bills itself as 5-star and it does check many 5-star boxes. The quality of the offerings just didn't make the grade, however. Our suite was well-outfitted but definitely not luxe. There was no individual control for the heat which was a problem. Without opening windows, the temperature in the salon hovered around 77°F (25°C) and in the bedroom 73°F (23°C). In the bedrooms and the bathrooms, there were heated towel racks but without the option to set a temperature.
The gym was tiny with terrible equipment. The steam room needed tender-loving care and our suite needed lots of maintenance. The technician was nice and fixed many but not all of the problems. We like to take showers. In the main bathroom, the handheld showerhead could only be mounted on the wall pointing straight out, not down into the tub. In the second bathroom, the handheld could not be mounted on the wall at all because the screen was placed on the wrong side of the tub. All of the water from it would have ended up on the floor.
We drove our rental car to Val d'Isère on our first day; maneuvering out of the space in the garage and up the ramps was nearly impossible it was so tight. From then on we had Adrien or Lohan bring the car out of the hotel. In Val d'Isère we found Chalet Les Ecrins, the house we rented for two winters: 2001 to 2003. The new owner had totally reconfigured it into a house with many tiny bedrooms. It was awful. No wonder our landlords did not respond when we contacted them to tell them we were returning to the area.
On our first few nights, we took the hotel's shuttle to the restaurants with Adrien or Lohan taking us and picking us up. Then Dimitri started driving if the restaurant we were going to had parking. Parking in public lots was a nightmare because the spaces were small and maneuvering was difficult.
Our skis arrived Monday of our first week and on Tuesday, we skied. Les Suites du Montana was ski in/ski out with a short walk out (or in) the door to the slopes. There was a problem though. Along the walkway, there was a huge mound of icy snow to walk over. We asked the staff to remove it and the solution was to put rubber mats over it. We had trouble carrying our skis and navigating it. The skiing conditions were dure and glacée so not optimal. But the sky was gloriously blue and the temperature lovely. We had a very French lunch on the mountain (coquille Saint Jacques) sitting outside at Lo Soli. We knew we were in France; not for the quality of the snow but instead for the culture. When we skied again we found better slopes (north-facing). One day we skied until 5 pm--the sun was still shining.
All of the restaurants we went to for dinner during our first week were good and our meals, sharing a starter, a main, and a dessert, were around US$70 without wine or coffee. We were happy about that.
Our next 7 weeks at Résidence Boutique Lodge des Neiges
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