Lagrange Vacances les Hauts de Comborcière

Really good location just up the hill from the beginners slopes or off the back of a red run if you're more advanced. You could ski to the door if it snowed hard! Good storage system for skis and boots, and the apartments were good size and very comfortable. The village is small though and night life limited, but a lovely place.

We expected and hoped for better - going by the travel operator's information, and the accommodation's own website and limited reviews on trip advisor. So this isn't the place for you if you want a more comfortable and sociable ski experience. The best you can say is that the location is good for the slopes and not too far to walk into town for a good choice of places to eat out. Suitable for many, but just disappointing for us in many ways as seasoned older skiers. Everything about 'Les Hauts' was rather dated, with battered furniture. The apartment was small for 4 and not the best for soundproofing between apartments. The lifts creaked and the communal areas needed decorating and updating. The less than comfy apartment lounge seating was actually the sofabed with a cot bed under as a 4th. This would take up half the living area if used. The table was too big for the space available, and the wooden dining chairs had no seat pads - very uncomfortable. There was one toilet next to the entrance without a handwash basin, so the kitchen sink had to be used for handwashing - less than healthy! The main bedroom area was on a mezzanine - up slippery steep stairs. There was good wardrobe space, but this would have to be used by everyone - not great for two sharing couples, but may suit a young family with small children. There were plenty of other wall hooks scattered around though There was soare, but unusable floor space on our mezzanine area up in the eaves (4th floor), but with little head room - I have head bruises as proof. There was loads of bed linen , but suitable mainly if using the beds as 4 singles, rather than for creating a double out of two beds. There was a good supply of towels though. The one shower room (for4) + washbasin was upstairs, with no toilet. The kitchen and dining area was inadequate for 4, although well stocked with crockery/ utensils etc. There was no food preparation space however, and virtually nowhere for storing non-chilled groceries. A toaster, kettle and coffee machine were supplied, but there was no room to use other than the kettle. Within one short, small, run of kitchen area there was a half kitchen sink only, a slim dishwasher, 2 cooking rings and a good size fridge, none of which we used - we ate out every night due to the catering constraints caused by the lack of space. The microwave was the only oven, and looks like it was a combi, but there were no instructions, so we didn't bother working out how to use that either. Whilst a broom, hoover and dustpan were supplied, and 2 tea towels, there were no soaps, cleaning products , or cleaning cloths supplied. We arrived well after the shops were shut, due to airport delays, so had to wait until the next day and waste skiing time to shop for basic household products. Pack your own if coming here! The WiiFi was very expensive, so we used our own 4G and paid for roaming just for emails etc. This meant that any TV was all in Fren

Access to Blue and Red runs. And at the bottom of the ski area on the green. Can ski down to the gondola each morning. Was never too busy. Check in was from 5pm but when I arrived at 3pm my room was already ready. No extra charge. Pool is open 9am to 7pm with a jacuzzi. I paid the extra €8 a day for access to the sauna and steam room. Great after a days skiing. Doesn’t get too crowded as booking is for 30mins and maximum 10ppl. Steam room can fit 14 and sauna is smaller with 6 persons. Sauna and steam room only bookable between 9&11am and 5&7pm the pool does get busy from 4pm onwards. So if you want your own swimming time I recommend either 9am or 3pm great times to visit. Each apartment gets one free visit to the sauna steam room also. This wasn’t advertised with Crystal Ski. The reception area is only open in the morning and evening. Closed at lunchtime and Closes at 8pm which was a shame as has a pool table in there and chill out sofa areas and tea and coffee. The building is spilt between A, B and C. If you are in the A building like I was that has the swimming pool in the basement and reception area on the ground floor. Each building has its own boot/locker room. On the ground floor. Secured with your room key to each locker. And direct access onto and off the slopes. Great for ski in, ski out. There is a ski rental directory attached to the hotel. Unfortunately it’s not used by Crystal Ski. But a better and ideal place to get your own skis from if and when visiting. So you don’t have to walk them back to the shop elsewhere. There is a small restaurant in the hotel open 5pm to 8pm and also offers takeaway pizza. It’s the 1st time I’ve stayed self catering in a hotel. I’ve always been half board, full board or all inclusive. So I was shocked when I learnt there was a €400 deposit paid 2 days prior to arriving, they sent me a link and prior to leaving you have to mop and hover floors, clean kitchen and bathroom and ***** the bed. The €400 was paid back to me in full upon leaving. The accommodation was great, hot water, good size bath with shower, heating was fantastic, kitchen has a fridge, 4 electric hobs, microwave with a grill and a dishwasher. My room was A209 balcony looking over the main ski area and gondola each morning which opened at 9am and I ski straight down to it. It is a local French ski resort with not many other tourists and I didn’t meet many English speaking people whilst visiting. The night ski on a Tuesday 5:30 to 7pm is mainly aimed at kids with only the button lift open on the green slope and the chair lift and gondola closed. With a small firework display at 715pm also aimed at children. If you’re adults I wouldn’t bother. Best food places although you would need to reserve tables as they get busy: 1. Chez Marcel & Fonsine - Will need to reserve a table two weeks prior to arrival as only has 6 tables and were booked by locals already. 2. Sopar 3. Le Tonneau 4. Les Soldanelles

When booking a place to stay, I always check trip advisor and this place has had no reviews for a long time which made us a bit wary. But we went for it anyway and glad we did. We had an apartment on the ground floor, it was clean and had everything we needed for a family of 4, one bedroom (mattress is very hard, just a heads up) and a sofa bed in the lounge. The water is very hot making for a perfect bath after a days skiing. The staff in reception are very friendly and they allow you to keep your bags there until you can check in. They also have a supply for sledges you can borrow to play on the runs outside, lots of fun!! The pool was larger and warmer than expected, the hot tub could be warmer but it was nice for somewhere to relax. They are situated just off a red run, which you can cut across from the green too. So almost ski in and out which was ideal. If not, just a few mins walk to the gondola and base of the slopes. Each apartment has its own lockable locker for your skis/boots specifically to your appartment. We would highly recommend staying here and if we come back to this resort, will book here again.