CGH Résidences & Spas - L'Alpaga — Hotel in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

The apartment was clean, spacious and well equipped, with a beautiful view, and overall we had a great time. (The lighting in the living room was gloomy but we moved the lamps from the bedrooms which made a big difference.) However, the building is not well placed for access to the slopes, and even getting from the boot room exit at the rear to the road at the front is an uphill struggle. No helpful information is provided about how to access the slopes so you have to find the best way yourself. We found the best way was to walk down the road a bit and then cut through some buildings to the slopes - a bit of a trudge but not too bad provided you don’t have kids in tow, but the way back on skis is only suitable for competent skiers as the piste, although blue, is narrow and icy. The road down to the village and lifts is steep and is not cleared and can be very icy. There is a path from the back of the building down to the village which is a very pleasant way to walk or ski down to the village, but it’s still a bit of a hike to get from there to the slopes and lifts. The free navette stops not far from the building and it runs every 20 or 30 mins but it gets very full at peak times and you might not get on, and 1 day we waited an hour but it didn’t turn up. The sauna and steam rooms were nice in the evening but they were not turned on in the day, even though they were supposed to be available 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. The swimming pool was small and cold and the ‘hot’ tubs were tepid at best, even in the evening. There is a fun sledging slope around the back, used by all ages, and also a beginners slope with a magic carpet, which seemed to be used mainly by kiddies (but we did use it a couple of times on our skis to get back up to the apartments, to save lugging our skis up or waiting for the navette). You can order bread and pastries at reception for delivery to your apartment in the morning, which is useful, but check the price list - we didn’t, and we got a shock at the price of the pain raisins when we got the bill at the end...

We had a very enjoyable stay at L'Alpaga and I would have given 4 stars but for some issues. We booked the apartment because the residence has a Spa. However the swimming pool was so cold that we could not use it. In fact only a very few hardy people used it whilst we were there. It was pretty empty most of the time. The hot tubs were not hot and not even warm really. We did go in but got out very quickly as the temperature was too low to enjoy. The heating in our room was controlled by a thermostat that you cannot alter. We did complain that the temperature at 21C was too cold for us and they did change it.|The staff a very friendly and very helpful. Bread delivery worked fine. |We had a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms and it was very comfortable. However smaller bedroom had a very small wardrobe. You are supposed to be able to sleep 6 in the aprtment but there is no way that this would work due to lack of storage and comfortable seating.|You cannot ski out from the apartments and have to walk out of the ski locker room at the back of the apartments, walk up a slope and then walk up the road from the hotel. At the top of the road you cross over the main road and then walk down and to the left pass a couple of chalets to get on the slopes. A bit of an inconvenience but fine if you are fit. Distance in total is about 200 metres. You can ski back by sking to the road, take your skis off and cross the road and put them back on and then you can ski straight back to the ski locker room. Note though that the blue run back gets very beaten up when the snow is slushy and it is more comfortable to get the bus back and walk 20 metres up the road and then put your skis on to ski back.|Just down the road is a restaurant called La Cotes Du Bois. This is a super restaurant and very reasonably priced. We ate there twice during our stay and would highly...

5 of us stayed in one of the 6 person duplex apartments for a week. Really lovely apartment - one double bedroom with an en suite shower room upstairs, one twin room, another shower room, 2 toilets, lounge/kitchen area with a sofa bed. Sofa bed is separated into 2 twin beds which wasn’t ideal for the one person staying on it. Overall very comfy cosy chalet. We cooked in a few nights - facilities were good although the power did cut out twice whilst we were cooking.|Balcony with an amazing view of the mountains. Location close to ski slopes but you have to trek up a bit of a hill to get to slopes. You can ski all the way back though which was good. |Parking was good we had a van over 2 metres high and we fit in the underground parking - you can pre book a space.|Pool and spa facilities were great to have, lots of options but very busy as everyone goes after a day on the slopes. You only get your standard shower towel, not separate spa towels/robes but I think maybe you can ask for them at reception - we didn’t so unsure. |Would say the whole chalet area felt a bit like a maze got lost a couple of times but after a few days we figured out where everything was. We were staying in Chalet Sirius but the ski locker for our chalet was in Chalet Orion which was on the other side of the chalet complex so not ideal (only seemed to be our chalet that had this). |You can order bread and pastries each evening for the next morning which get delivered to your room. Very friendly helpful staff. |Overall we had a really nice stay here and...