Chalet Bavaria

Country House Tradition Meets Swiss Alps

Chalet Bavaria makes a statement. In fact, several statements all at once. Then manages to mix them up and bring a smile to your face, as if Fatboy Slim had blasted a TUNE, interwoven a funky beat and held it all together with a sprinkle of Beethoven quartet.

Chalet Bavaria hints at English country home, references a touch of fin de siècle elegance and adds some beautiful, solid antique cabinets that could be from a Black Forest lodge. Then, it wraps it all in timber and displays the 
Swiss Alps through pretty alpine chalet style windows. Marvellous!

But this is not just about aesthetics. Chalet Bavaria also harmonises the features that create that joy of the best chalet holidays. The expansive living area under soaring beamed ceilings with space that wends around social activities. Deeply cushioned sofas cosy up to a large fireplace at one end and a rather sophisticated games corner gazes knowingly from the other. Chess anyone? A corner reveals an enclave for the TV. The other corner, guarded by a traditional stone stove, takes you to a dining table that hints at banquet and runs alongside an open-plan kitchen well-situated for engaging the chef in chitter-chat as dinner is prepared.

Bedrooms full of pine achieve a luxuriously rustic ambiance, throwing in a few carved hearts characteristic of chalet vernacular. Reassuringly modern bathrooms are resplendent with gorgeous tiles reflecting the sea. And shiny taps. The huge master presides, taking up the top floor. Four more - a double, two twins and a children’s bunk room - are on the first floor, the double with an en-suite bathroom and the others sharing two separate shower rooms. A further bunkroom sleeping two guests is on the ground floor and has an en-suite shower room.

From the outside, you see a properly chocolate-box chalet that has possibly occupied its position on the side of the mountain for a few hundred years while the world changed around it. However, the huge outside jacuzzi on its decked platform is a complete giveaway. It connects with the ground floor spa where a glassy sauna comes with the wonderful facility so often neglected in modern “wellness” areas and yet which the popularity of cold water therapy might bode a come-back. The plunge pool!
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f course, this is Verbier, and Chalet Bavaria is not on top of the mayhem of the Place Centrale nor at the foot of the Médran. It looks calmly across to them all from its stately position from where the views are not only beautiful but fascinating. Mountainside, ski lifts, pistes, forest. It is a mere six minute drive to Médran lift station and you have a dedicated in-resort driver from 08:00 to 01:00 every day. You also have a place in the parking magically accessed by a lift 10 metres from the chalet front door.

So yes, Chalet Bavaria is a symphony to joy and a mash-up of treats. The artwork is wonderfully quirky too.