The Best Hotels Near UÂO, by the Record
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The old building came down and something shinier went up in its place, which is exactly the kind of origin story a modern Alpine boutique hotel needs. Stone and timber meet contemporary interiors, and the outdoor Scandinavian sauna sits beside a jacuzzi pointed at the mountain. Ski passes and equipment rental are handled on-site, so you spend less time being logistically competent and more time on the slopes.
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The name and the carved Tibetan-inspired interiors come from the Himalayas, not the Alps, which is an unusual design brief for a Val d'Isère ski lodge but somehow pulls off warm rather than themed. It holds two Michelin Keys. Family-owned throughout, which keeps the personality intact in ways corporate luxury rarely manages. Stone bathrooms, designer fabrics, a proper spa, and the slopes a short walk from the door.
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From the outside it reads as classic Alpine lodge; inside, each floor commits to a different design world, Scandinavian, North American, Alpine, and urban-contemporary, so the hotel never quite settles into a single mood. A ski shop, spa, fitness center, and a two-lane bowling alley round things out for when the mountain gets old. Les Barmes de l'Ours holds a Michelin Key. Val d'Isere is not a budget destination, and this place leans into that fully.
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Built inside an old cable car station above Val d'Isère, this boutique hotel sits at the top of the Solaise gondola and is only reachable by riding it up. Rooms range from bunk beds to suites with freestanding tubs and valley views, all sharing the same knotty wood panels and massive windows. Two restaurants, a cozy bar, and a spa with a heated pool round things out, because apparently the altitude alone isn't enough of a flex.
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The Experimental Group started in Parisian nightlife and has since discovered that ski villages suit them just as well. This Alpine hotel, their largest, was redesigned by Dorothée Meilichzon with a visual language that borrows as much from American national-park lodges as from Alpine tradition. Inside: a spa with an indoor pool, an in-house ski shop, a grand brasserie, a cheese-focused restaurant, and an Experimental Cocktail Club. The lifts are a short walk away.
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The bathrooms alone are worth noting: varnished rough concrete and proper bathtubs in almost every room, which is not how ski hotels usually behave. Ormelune is a boutique slopeside hotel in Val d'Isère that shed its Alpine-lodge past during a renovation and landed somewhere more bohemian, as if a well-traveled collector decorated it. Bar, restaurant, and massage are on-site, the slopes are right there, and the mood is considerably less solemn than the mountain requires.
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Three minutes from the lifts in Val d'Isère, this chalet-style luxury hotel earns its place in a town that does not do understated. Rooms look out over the kind of mountain scenery that makes you feel slightly absurd for checking your phone. The two-level spa is serious business, the M Bar runs from morning laptops through to live après-ski sets, and the restaurant delivers fine dining in a space that splits the difference between a hunting lodge and a grand hotel.