Eight of the greatest ski holidays for food lovers
Where is the best resort in the world? The answer is of course a place where it has snowed overnight, but in the morning the sun is shining in a cloudless sky and ice crystals dance in the air. It is where friends, family and loved ones stand atop a mountain with empty pistes sprawled out below, and the prospect of a hearty lunch looks very promising indeed.
For many skiers and snowboarders, food is a natural companion to a trip to the mountains and never far from their thoughts. Of course, it’s not just about a long and indulgent lunch in that wayside hut, there’s dinner to consider as well. Luckily, the key Alpines countries are spoilt for choice with restaurants to cater for all tastes, while the pick of chalet operators increasingly focus on cuisine as a primary attraction.
It is no secret that food on the mountain does not come cheap, so do not be afraid to embrace a packed lunch picnic strategy that saves money and waistline for an evening’s culinary adventure.
Unless otherwise stated, prices are per person for seven nights, based on two sharing a double or twin room and include half-board, flights and transfers.
Best for celebrity chefs
1. Courmayeur, Italy
The annual Mountain Gourmet Ski Experience in Courmayeur has become a key date in the calendar of anyone who shares a twin love of snow and food. Usual attendee Heston Blumenthal is busy opening his new restaurant in Dubai this winter so has handed his chef’s hat to Tom Kerridge, a worthy substitute in the kitchen if not on the slopes: Tom’s The Hand and Flowers in Marlow is the only pub in the UK with two Michelin stars. Tom, along with Claude Bosi of Bibendum, will be preparing two gourmet dinners on the mountain in March, accessible only by cable car and snowmobile.
Need to know
The trip runs March 14-17 and is organised by Momentum Ski based at the Grand Hotel Royal & Golf. Price from ￡2,950 includes two half days’ guiding, or instruction (for beginners), accommodation and top-notch, seven-course tasting menus in restaurants across the resort. Transfers are included, but not flights.
Best for Champagne
2. Morzine, France
AliKats Mountain Holidays now offers its gourmet Indulgence Package at three of its collection of chalets in Morzine. Al and Kat (founders and owners of AliKats) introduced the package last season in The View in the French resort and have extended it to their new flagship Chalet Debussy and to Chalet Bisset. One of the key drawers of the week is the special “dine with Kat” experience, where the founder treats guests to a six-course taster menu paired with fine wine chosen by the tour operator’s wine consultant, Rob Wade, and joins them for dinner. Other features of the Indulgence Package are Vintage Bollinger Champagne on arrival, à la carte breakfast in bed, pre-dinner cocktails, and a free massage.
Need to know
A seven-night stay at The View costs from ￡798 including the Indulgence Package, excluding travel, with AliKats Mountain Holidays.
Best for cooking
3. Kirchberg, Austria
The ability to whip up your own gourmet feast could well be within reach after a week at the four-star Hotel Rosengarten, where Restaurant Simon Taxacher, named after its head chef and boasting two Michelin stars, is one of the top foodie destinations in the Tirol. The hotel’s on-site cookery school offers courses in its innovative French-Mediterranean fare that hone participants’ culinary skills and still leave time for the slopes of Kitzbühel, a mile away, with complimentary transfers laid on.
Need to know
From €1,155 for a week, excluding flights and transfer, at Hotel Rosengarten.
Best for adventure
4. San Cassiano, Italy
Moving from valley to valley using any of the ski area’s immaculately prepared 1,200km of runs, this on-piste safari combines some fabulous slopes with fine Italian cuisine. Guests will enjoy the welcoming atmosphere of the region’s rifugios (mountain huts) and explore the culture and history of the mountains while dining on home-made dishes traditional to the Dolomites and sampling its wines.
Gourmet lunch spots are an essential part of the tour, such as the wonderful Rifugio Scotoni above Armentarola, renowned for its grilled meats and succulent polenta. The tour includes accommodation in different rifugios each evening (luggage is transported each day), so end the day tucking into hearty local dishes such as a ragout of venison or rough-cut pasta with a porcini mushroom and red wine sauce.
The safari begins in a luxury hotel in San Cassiano and ends in similar accommodation in Cortina d’Ampezzo, taking in in between the Sella Ronda, Passo San Pellegrino, Civetta, and Cortina’s Cinque Torri ski area.
Need to know
Dolomite Mountains runs bespoke trips for a minimum of four people on dates of your choosing from December to Easter. Seven nights from €3,360 excluding lunches and travel. Dolomitemountains.com; +39 0471 840 005
Best for eating out
5. Val Thorens, France
Those who haven’t visited Val Thorens for a decade and remember it as a lunar-like outpost, where meals were more grab-and-go than gourmet, are in for a real surprise. As well as being the highest, and therefore most snow-sure, resort in the Trois Vallées ski area, with slopes suited to all levels, this resort has grown into France’s leading mountain destination for foodies.
While away a lazy – albeit expensive – afternoon on the sun terrace at Jean Sulpice, formerly l’Oxalys, presided over by the chef of the same name, who has two Michelin stars under his belt. Or refuel in style at Chalet de la Marine, a Savoyard chalet with an open fireplace, sheepskin rugs and mouth-watering cuisine – including scallops with black truffle, lamb confit and honey-glazed pork.
For gourmands wanting to sample the cream of the restaurants, self-catering makes sense. Ski Collection has the four-star ski-in/ski-out Le Hameau du Kashmir, ideally located at the entrance to Val Thorens. Sample the gourmet cuisine at on-site restaurant Le Karmin, or take a five-minute walk into the resort.
Need to know
From ￡1,356 for seven nights for a two-bedroom apartment sleeping two to four people through Ski Collection. This self-drive price includes Eurotunnel crossings.
Best for healthy eating
6. Val d’Isère, France
VIP Ski’s Health and Wellness week in Val d’Isère is designed for the health-conscious and includes, in addition to seven nights of dinner made from fresh and wholesome ingredients, massages and daily yoga sessions. Guests can tailor-make their own menu with guidance from Jo Hollington, founder of NutritionMe, who stays in the chalet too. Accommodation is at the ski-in/ski-out Bellevarde Lodge in Val d’Isère, which sleeps 12 in six bedrooms.
Need to know
From ￡1,449 for the Health and Wellness Week departing January 9, 2019. Price includes flights, transfers and seven nights’ catered accommodation – that’s cooked breakfast with homemade smoothies, healthy snacks to take up the mountain, afternoon tea, three-course evening meal with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks on six nights, and a champagne and healthy canapé reception on the first and last evening, with VIP.
Best for chalet cuisine
7. Vaujany, France
A big-name luxury chalet operator might be expected to steal the recommendation in this category, but instead it is a relatively modest establishment - that does not cost a fortune - in a delightful little village in the giant Alpe d’Huez ski area.
Snowboarding Kiwi chef Marcus Cull, assisted by his Spanish wife Rosa, has been creating his always inventive cuisine here for 25 years. For the last 18, he has presided, too, over the glass-fronted kitchen situated between the two halves of Ski Peak’s Chalet Saskia that can be rented individually or as a whole. Various attempts over the years by wealthy guests and restaurateurs to lure Marcus away to cities around the world have all failed. A catered week here includes a buffet on arrival, one curry night and four four-seven course gourmet dinners.
Need to know
Chalet Saskia sleeps 10 in each of its two halves which have their own sitting rooms. It is conveniently close to the main cable car station which takes you directly up into the Alpe d’Huez ski area. From €1,119, travel not included, with Ski Peak.
Best for value
8. Reberty (Les Menuires), France
Powder n Shine chalets in Reberty don’t fall into the luxury bracket. They are cosy and comfortable places without many enticing extras, but what they do have is excellent food, the sort that might come with a significantly larger price tag in a smarter chalet or bigger name resort. The company only employs highly qualified professional chefs who have worked in fine dining and/or Michelin-starred restaurants such as Noma, Petrus and the Fat Duck.
And in fact, Reberty is a sweet little hamlet up the road from functional Les Menuires, and it’s extremely convenient for getting to Val Thorens and the other Trois Vallees resorts.
Need to know
Powder n Shine have five ski-in ski-out catered chalets in Reberty, including Chalet Neve which sleeps up to 18 people. The chalet has a sauna and outdoor hot tub and boot room that leads onto the slopes. From €515 per week half board, travel not included, with Powder n Shine.