hameau de toviere

We booked through SunWeb, and a few details about how this place works might help others. This is an apartment building with some rentals managed by Mountain collection, not a hotel, so there’s no reception. For those apartments, you pick up and return the keys at the office near the lake, around a 10-minute walk away. We arrived during office hours, so it was fine for us, but a later transfer would have made it much more awkward. There aren’t clear signs pointing out the building either. Our transfer driver dropped us outside, and we first went across the road to the wrong place. Mountain collection also required us to hire sheets and towels and collect them from the main office. Get them when you pick up the keys, as we didn’t and had to go back later. We were in apartment 6. The individual ski lockers are in the hallways and aren’t heated, unlike places we’ve stayed before, but there was a heated boot rack in the apartment. To get to the piste, we walked through the building from the locker room, up about 24 steps and down 10, then outside and down more steps. We crossed the road and went up a snowy slope to a flat run that joins the green piste into the village, with access to Paquis and Chaudannes. Coming back, you can take the Le Lavachet chair and ski the green across to the top of the village, or take Johan Clarey, a black run that’s more like a red-black, and use the green spur. The piste ends by the pub, which has lovely staff and is well worth stopping at for a drink after skiing. It’s not far back to the apartment, though walking in ski boots isn’t my favourite. There are several places for food and drinks on the building’s ground-ish level. We tried a few and really enjoyed them. They get busy, so booking helps. We were directly above a restaurant and could hear it, but once service ended it quietened down and wasn’t a problem. Le Lavachet is a great place to stay and I’d definitely return. The building seemed good enough, though the shared areas could use a refresh. We only passed through them, so that wasn’t a big deal.