Hmc Arc 1950 - Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France     

We booked a week at HMC Le Village through Ski Independence. We chose the resort because it had been built by Intrawest, a US developer with a good reputation for creating user-friendly, attractive ski resorts in North America. They have done a good job in Les Arcs 1950 in terms of planning the layout of the village, the ski-in, ski-out nature of much of the accommodation and so forth. Unfortunately, the effect for us was greatly spoiled by the fact that Intrawest have then given the resort to the French to run - and so there is a general lack of interest in the concept of service, unlike their North American counterparts. Our accommodation was allocated to us when we arrived in the resort. HMC Le Village has three units - Prince des Cimes, Hammeau du Glacier and Refuge de Montagnard. We stayed in Refuge. The other two are linked by an enclosed walkway; Refuge is slightly separate from them. This means that when it comes to the indoor swimming pool (of which more later), you either have to walk in the snow in your dressing gown, or go to the pool dressed and change there. Since there are only two changing rooms at the swimming pool, and the lockers are large enough for a pair of shoes and not much else, it is not ideal. And while we’re on the subject of the swimming pool, the guide says it opens at 10am. So we trooped over there at 10am, only to find (eventually) a sign on the door stating that it actually opens at 10:30. So if you want a morning swim, you will lose a morning’s skiing. The accommodation in Refuge du Montagnard is described in the literature as “US-style apartments”. I guess this is fairly accurate. We had a mid-sized duplex apartment, with kitchen/diner and good-sized living room on one floor, and two bedrooms upstairs (one with en-suite bathroom). The accommodation was comfortable, clean and well-maintained, although the beds were diabolically uncomfortable and the ceilings in the bedrooms were rather low for someone over 6ft tall. There is a nice reception area on the ground floor, although it is manned only on check-in day (even on check-out, if you are in Refuge du Montagnard you have to go to one of the other buildings to complete the check-out, which is again not ideal). The two other buildings have free WiFi access in the reception area, but for some reason, Refuge du Montagnard doesn’t. Which was a shame since it meant we had to keep schlepping over to Hammeau du Glacier for an internet connection. The car parks are directly underneath the accommodation, so getting the luggage up to the apartment is pretty effort-free. Likewise there are ski lockers on two floors – each bedroom is allocated one locker (so a 2-bed apartment gets two). The locker room is very close to a door out directly onto the slopes. So it really is ski-in, ski-out. When we arrived we were given a voucher for a “welcome drink”. So we went to the pub, “La Belle Pinte” to collect. Turns out they won’t give you an alcoholic drink, only a soft one – so the voucher’s worth about two euros. Nice welcome. Now for some restaurant reviews. Le Hemingway. The place where HMC residents get their breakfast if they’re on B&B deal. We weren’t but we thought we’d give it a try. We were told breakfast was EUR 8 for adults, EUR 5 for children, which isn’t outrageous so we went in. Turned out all you get is a buffet with cereal & some pastries (nothing hot). And when I checked my credit card statement back in UK, I found they’d over-charged me by ten euros. So we won’t be recommending this place. Il Valentino. Probably our favourite restaurant at the resort. Friendly and accommodating staff, a wide menu including pizza, pasta and a range of good main courses. Around EUR 100 for a family of four. Los Chicanos. The closest thing in Le Village to a Tex-Mex bar. Good for things like chilli con carne at lunchtime, steak frites was also good. Around EUR 50 for family lunch. La Bolee. A favourite with our kids, who loved the sweet crepes. A very good selection also of delicious savoury crepes. Friendly staff. Typically EUR 45 for family lunch. Le 1950. Without doubt the worst restaurant in the resort. We went for dinner, and first of all they wanted to seat us by the door (a tactic we watched them and others try on many British families – but never on French ones). The table next to us eventually left without paying their bill, having waited over an hour for their main courses. The waiter didn’t want to speak French to me, but when the food came it turned out that his English was so lousy only the children’s dishes were correct. The children’s food arrived probably 20 minutes before the adults’ – which we don’t view as a family dinner. The adult food was abominable. East. An Asian restaurant, offering a buffet starter selection (e.g. onion bhajis, ribs, chicken tikka) and a range of Thai, Indian and Chinese main courses. Needless to say, they offered us the table by the door and refused to give us any alternative so it was a cold and draughty evening. Food was OK, but I wouldn’t rave about it. The Thai green curry, for example, wasn’t in the least bit green, and the onion bhajis were very gooey in the middle. EUR 100 for family. Chez Anne. A Savoyarde restaurant serving everything cheesey! The raclette was absolutely delicious and a lot of fun. The other dishes looked good, too. A definite must if you are staying in the resort. Around EUR 130 for the family, so not cheap though. Luigis. Slope-side Italian restaurant with fairly limited menu. We had one lunch here which cost around EUR 60 for the family and was good (very nice French onion soup, for example). We also had one dinner here which was a bit disappointing because it was the same, limited menu.