Hotel Des Alpes - Champery, Switzerland     

We spent a week at this, small charming hotel in Champery. The staff was very helpful to us, and most speak good English. (My French leaves something to be desired.) We were on the third floor (no elevator). The room was clean but very modest. We had a lovely view of the mountain. The windows do not have shades, just sheer curtains. There is a bar in the hotel that is quite happening at night. The contintental breakfast (included in our rate) was nice with excellent coffee and rolls. We ate a few dinners at the hotel. There is a choice between a 5-course chef's choice dinner, or an a la carte menu. We tried both, and they were both good. We decided not to include dinners in our rate, because we wanted to try local restaurants. There was no snow while we were there, but if you are going to ski, the hotel can arrange for lift tickets, too. There is onsite, free parking. The hotel is located at the one end of the small, quaint town, with the cable car up the mountain at the other end. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk to the cable car, which takes you to the top of the mountain (to ski or hike, etc.) We rented a car in Geneva, and that turned out to be a good move (given the lack of snow). We drove to the natural mineral baths in a nearby town, and also to Verbier to ski, because the altitude is much higher. Overall, the hotel met our needs and was quite reasonably priced.

Stayed here for a week over new year 2006/07 with my wife and 3 sons. Excellent simple hotel with lots of character - the hotel must date back over 100 years. It is in the quiet end of Champéry. Ground floor consisted of Reception, small, well stocked, Bar with separate small TV room, a la carte Restaurant, standard Restaurant (for those taking breakfast or "half pension". Three further floors of bedrooms. The ski room consisted of a very small "cupboard" just outside the main door - this was overflowing when the hotel was full! But at least they allowed you to take boots back to the rooms for drying overnight. The rooms were very clean, basic with modern en-suite shower room, television (limited English channels - but who cares!) and comfy beds. We took the half pension package; continental breakfast was really good with a choice of breads, croissants, jams, hams, cheese & cereals washed down with good coffee/ tea. The set dinner was excellent with 4/5 courses of local and international cuisine, they put on an authentic cheese fondue dish one night. The wine list contained good wines at modest prices. The staff were excellent, very helpful and not minding when we tried to speak to them in our limited French! We travelled from Gevena Airport by train - changing at Aigle, this was easy, because if you are near the front of the train, platform 1 is adjacent to platform 11/12, from where the local train departs. This is the civilised way to travel, although taking an hour longer. Get off the train at "Champéry Village" stop, which is nearer to the hotel. Champéry is a very pretty alpine village – it had all of the charm I expected from a Swiss ski resort. Although it was very quiet, our sons found a couple of livelier bars that stayed open into the early hours – but don’t expect a wild time. There is a free bus to/from the cable car, stopping outside the hotel, which is better than the 15 minute walk. There was almost no snow when we were there, only two runs open in Champery sector, but at least the connection to France was open and the ski passes were discounted. Avoriaz had man-made snow but was very crowded with a 30 minute wait at a popular lift. We also ventured towards Châtel, where there was at least a reasonably long shaded red open and the best mountain restaurant for lunch I’ve been to in France – Le Vieux Chalet – highly recommended we went back twice!