Le Hameau des Eaux d'Orelle

The location and the beautiful surroundings were the only positives for us, and I think there are better places to ski. We stayed for a week and found the staff extremely rude. Since we hadn’t paid a cleaning fee, we were expected to clean the apartment ourselves, but no supplies were provided. At checkout, when we asked about that, we were told we could have bought them at a shop, which we found completely unacceptable. We left the apartment cleaner than we found it, but were still criticized over toilet limescale that had already been there and couldn’t have built up during our one-week stay. The kitchenware was all dirty, the fridge didn’t work, and the balcony door wouldn’t shut properly. When we asked the agency to report these problems, they told us not to because it might upset the staff. I really wouldn’t recommend staying here. It isn’t worth it.

There’s a little shop for essentials, and you can order baguettes for the morning. Just check its hours, since it’s closed during the day. The location is nice, the rooms are okay, and the staff are friendly and helpful. Their English isn’t perfect, but they understand you.

We came through a tour agency, so I can’t judge the value for money. The package included the room, ski pass, and roadtrip cost. We stayed on the third floor of house number 8, where the view was amazing. The room was spacious enough and had a kitchen with a drip coffee machine, kettle, toaster, dishwasher, microwave, fridge, and plenty of dishes and cups. The bathroom was bright and cosy. There was a TV with French channels, which is a nice way to practise some French. A free shuttle to the lift ran every 15 minutes, which was convenient since the gondola was 550 m down the hill, about a 10-minute walk. There’s a shop and restaurant at the hotel, but we drove to a supermarket 10 km from Orelle and cooked for ourselves, which was much cheaper. We didn’t use the pool. It was crowded, had very strict rules, and closed at 19:00, just when we finally had time to enjoy it. The hotel and room felt old, with cobwebs in almost every corner. We slept on the sofa, which was very, very uncomfortable. The middle of the room was also quite dark in the evening, and another lamp would have helped. There was no cleaning service, so we had to clean very carefully to get our deposit back. I’d come again, but whether I would depends on the price, which I don’t know.

The rooms are small but have what you need, though ours was dirty. You can get to the slopes fairly quickly using the ski bus and quick lift. I’m giving it one star because the resort manager doesn’t speak English and is simply a racist. This person is in the wrong job and gives the place bad publicity.