Hotel Les Balcons Village & Spa Belle Plagne

The staff were excellent, friendly, and genuinely helpful. Our balcony looked directly onto the slopes, and the view was stunning. The rooms had lots of space for the Alps, with plenty of storage, hanging room, and space for luggage. The beds were very comfortable, and getting to the slopes was effortless. It's a short ski down to the new Roche de Mio gondola. The set menu food was good quality, but it stayed the same all week. As a vegetarian, I ended up repeating meals. Breakfast was decent, though cereal choices and hot options were limited. Restaurant service could be slow at busy times. The boot room is small but useful, with roomy lockers operated by your room key. I wasn't sure the boot heating worked very well, so I dried mine in my room. There's also a lovely sauna on the fifth floor, great after skiing.

The location is good, and although service was slow, the staff were cheerful. Dinner was good overall on our half-board booking. We stayed in the hotel, which also has self-catering apartments called residences, accessed through the garage. Breakfast was poor in both quality and choice. The spa and pool are in a separate building and only open from 3 to 8, but we couldn't use them because it was busy with kids until 7pm. The pool table costs 2€, a pint of beer is 9.70€, and drinks are expensive.

The location is excellent and the staff are very friendly and nice, but the rooms were quite dirty. The bathrooms had mold everywhere and need a good scrub. There wasn't even soap or other basic hygiene supplies, so we had to buy them the next day. If skiing location is your priority, though, this is the best place.

You can ski in and out, but the lifts are unreliable and seem to be out of service half the time, leaving you to carry your gear up two floors. The restaurant is pricey and needs to be booked, though the food is nice. Vegetarian options are very limited, and breakfast is very basic.