L'Aiguille du Midi

This hotel is a gem. I stayed two nights in Jan 2012 for a weekend's skiing. The place has the charm of an old-style mountain hotel but with all modern facilities, of course. The staff are lovely; very friendly and helpful. The restaurant serves superb food and a view to boot, and there is a cosy bar/lounge and other social areas as well. My room was a bit crammed, but very pleasant --- although it got rather hot, and turning down the heating did not make much difference. The location is in Les Bossons, a 10-min bus or train ride from Chamonix, so, thankfully, does not attract the clientele who come to explore Cham's nightlife. It works very well for skiing, as the bus and train stops are only a 2-min walk away. The hotel sells lift passes and has a deal with one of the ski hires in Argentiere/Cham, so equipment can be returned to the hotel at the end of the stay if you chose to finish your skiing in a different place from where you started. Also, the ski room is actually kept warm at night, so your you can leave your boots on the boot rack and find them dry the next morning -- most unusual, to my experience. My only slight criticism of the entire experience is the flaky (but free) internet reception. In this day and age, internet access should be free AND stable, but then European hotels still do have some ways to go there. All in all, this very reasonably priced hotel was part of a great weekend in Chamonix, and I would be delighted to return.

The hotel was very smart but the shower was completely unacceptable to the extent that it made our short visit very disappointing. There was no bath and the shower was incredibly small with a curtain that clung to you as you showered. We eneded up showering with the curtain moved away and mopped up the water afterwards.