Travel
JC Stays: Villa Rose, Samoens, France
The boutique hotel helping make Samoens the stylish place to ski
February 28, 2017 12:45
The boutique hotel helping make Samoens the stylish place to ski
February 28, 2017 12:45With just five guestrooms — four doubles and a two-room suite — Villa Rose might seem to be the very epitome of boutique.
And make no mistake, this stylish hotel is a real find; a bespoke haven of luxury tucked away in Samoëns, an Alpine village kept under wraps by those in the know. An hour from Geneva airport, it’s just a few miles from glamorous Chamonix and Val-d’Isere but a million miles away from the crowds and the hullabaloo.
Its size is where the standard boutique tag ends though, for this small hotel has its own very distinct personality style and character; from the black toilet paper in my bathroom and hand-painted flowers on the hardwood floor of the salon, to the splashes of rose throughout — check out the antlers of the stags on the walls.
To keep me on my toes, there’s not a rose to be seen in the dining room, just apple-green everywhere, including matching apparel on personal chef Daniel Kyramarios.
“What time would you like dinner tonight then?” he enquired, busily sharpening a rather large knife. Best not to irritate a chef with a sharp blade. “Er, don’t mind, Dan, how does 8pm sound?”
My first floor room, Chambre Caviar, is the perfect sanctuary. A landscape of black and white with silver-leafed Louis XV furniture, Queen bed and the de rigueur rosy window seat. There’s a huge bathroom with his-and-hers sinks, a walk-in shower and separate tub (black of course) plus small dressing room off the bedroom.
Every room is themed differently, although each offers Italian linens, down duvets, Frette robes and all the accoutrements of luxury living, plus those now familiar touches of pink.
Back downstairs, the sun lounge grasps the last rays of Samoëns’ afternoon winter sun, so I take the opportunity to sink into a velvet rose couch and watch evening draw in before my personalised gourmet dinner, including fish and vegetarian dishes.
Add just-baked crusty bread and a glass or three of excellent Savoy red wine to this culinary magic and I retire to the salon fireside for coffee a very happy man.
If you yearn for a winter or summer Alpine experience where you can enjoy the mountains, stay in tranquil luxurious accommodation with a personal chef and house team at your beck and call, then you need to look no further.
