This Undiscovered Hideaway in the French Alps Just Added a Spectacular High-design Retreat

For now, however, Val d’Isère, the location of their new 113-room hotel, is the still under-the-radar best place to ski in the French Alps. Pretty but sedate Megeve and ultra-luxe but flashy Courchevel are better known, but this frisky, fun-loving Alpine village is the connoisseur’s choice for going downhill because it has world-class skiing from November to early May, lots of nightlife, a good-looking young crowd, and a lot of atmosphere without being cloyingly Alpine twee.

As she did with the Hotel Regina in Biarritz, the Experimental Group’s Paris-based signature interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon took a sow’s ear—the 110-room Aigle des Neiges hotel—and turned it into a silk purse with witty interiors in warm colors that manage to be cozy and edgy at the same time. Think a mix-up of traditional French Alpine style—lots of wood furniture and trim here and there, along with wooly fabrics, revved up by curvy Big Sur, California style Fifties and Sixties retro pieces that bring to mind the caveman decors of cult cartoon TV shows like The Flintstones or The Jetsons. The mash-up may be be a little hard to imagine, but it works like a charm, because the rooms at Chalet Val d’Isère are both visually playful and very comfortable.

Rooms are snug, but they get all of the details right, too, including made-in-Brittany Davilaine mattresses guests will want to roll up and take home as well as toiletries by Swedish natural skincare brand L:a Bruket in baths outfitted with white and oxblood tiles and marble-framed mirrors.

Après-ski, all of the action is downstairs anyway, including the hotel bar, which serves some intriguing locavore cocktails, like a Green Fizz with Chartreuse génépi and celery bitters and a Fluffy Garibaldi made with Campari, coffee, and a spicy mousse. The hotel also has two restaurants, the L’Aigle D’Or brasserie and alpine-cosy Savoyard L’Aiglon, both of which helmed by chef Rudi Ballin, a Joël Robuchon-trained alumnus of Experimental’s Frenchie in Paris.

Their menus run to sophisticated high-altitude comfort food, like a superb pâté en croûte, beechwood smoked foie gras, marinated leek poireaux vinaigrette, and raclettes made with Grand Bornand reblochon or classic Savoyard fondue with Beaufort, comté, gruyère and white wine, served with local charcuterie.

Lest all of that melted cheese push your belt out a notch, the stylish hotel spa has a lap pool, sauna, and steam room and offers hot-stone massages and facials designed by German aesthetics pioneer Dr. Barbara Sturm.