The Chalet That Rewrote Courchevel
The Alps no longer ask you to choose between a house and a hotel. One property has quietly ended the argument.
Snow was falling when we arrived, in the flat, unhurried way it does at altitude, and the driver stopped short of the door so that we could walk the last twenty metres. It is a small decision, and a deliberate one.
The chalet is timber and stone, built into the slope rather than on top of it, with windows that go dark at the edges as the light leaves the valley. Inside, the fire is already lit and the boots are already warm, and the whole place smells of larch and something baking.
The house that behaves like a hotel
The distinction matters. A chalet makes you feel like a guest in someone's extraordinary house, which is charming until you want a proper breakfast at an unreasonable hour. A hotel makes you feel like a customer, which is efficient until you want to sit in your socks by the fire without an audience.
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