Chalet White Sand

A Beach in the Alps …. Almost !

Chalet White Sand is a magical Eden high in the alps, especially if your idea of paradise havers between mountain and beach. White Sand does whimsical with elegance, it enchants while ensuring the highest levels of comfort and luxury, and it is fun.

St Tropez seems to hover over this imaginative chalet. In the spa you might gently swing by the steamy pool, toes in silvery sand. And yet a short swim takes you outside to crispy alpine air and snow-topped peaks. Another of White Sand’s many levels returns you to the Mediterranean, to an elegant café on a boulevard on the Côte d’Azur, where wicker chairs and the clack-clack of boules on the pétanque strip (yes, really) can only invite a gentle sip on a creamy pastis. Only this afternoon you were unclicking your bindings at the chalet entrance (the piste passes right by) and casting off ski boots in a rather magnificent ski room.

If this sounds like a disconcertingly massive set of contrasts we have to say that Chalet White Sand pulls it off with a sophisticated savoir faire. Interiors fuse the warmth of the south and the majesty of the mountains with sunny colours, clever use of weathered timber and soaring windows. It is all held together by calming neutrals with the hue of driftwood. Every one of the six double rooms, all with ensuites, is a haven as stylish as it is restful. An additional children’s room, sleeping up to three, connects with one of the doubles and is a story-book adventure, the bunks gently ascending like a mountain path. Or a scramble up a gentle cliff.

All the facilities and indulgence to be expected from a luxury chalet in one of the most prestigious ski areas in the Alps are to be found within its 1,100m2 spread over six floors. The bright living space takes one floor, with areas for socialising and cosy corners, a bar and a reading lounge. The central fireplace where logs blaze reminds you that there is snow and a piste just outside. Then, on the same level as your Provençale square where the boules roll, there are other spaces with other games. A round of snooker perhaps? Or even a movie, if there is time to settle down in the cinema room with all these amusements to enjoy. And the spa, with its hammam and its sauna, is more than a beach.

Where the playground of the south of France meets Courchevel, a real gem of a winter sports resort, one would expect to be well looked after. The level of service at Chalet White Sand will match the most luxurious hotel with an experienced team of professionals committed to the well-being of their guests. You might be in the mountains, but France always knows how to live la vie en rose.