Chalet Wiesenheim

We had a wonderful holiday in Selva with Ski Esprit in early February 2010. This is one of the most beautiful areas I have been to. The scenery is stunning and the ski area is designed so that you can make the most of it. We had a week when the weather was great, blue skies every day bar one and the snow was in great condition as it was still pretty cold.

Selva is right the heart of the ski area with options in most directions. The skiing is more intermediate level and is more limited on runs to resort for beginners than other resorts. That said we were able to take the kids up and they happily skied down the various runs into resort.

There is lots of variety in the skiing with the Sella Ronda - a large circular ski tour around the area, ski parks, ski-cross, a 10.5 km run (dubbed James Bond run following use as a scene in one of the films), world cup runs and even a car to ski over (the kids loved that).

We took advantage of the ski-hosting on the fist day, which was really useful for getting to know the place and picking the brains of someone who knew were all the best runs were.

This was our 5th holiday with Esprit and the staff were as good as ever. This clearly varies from year to year, but we mostly have great service. We were looked after well by both the chalet and resort staff. The kids (6 and 9) were in ski school all day. This is the Xtra version of the normal ski school as they prefer skiing to snow club. They really liked their instructors, but they want to ski with us given any chance.

Chalet Wiesenheim is one of Esprit's lower cost chalet's so it doesn't come with the facilities you get with other chalets such as sauna, hot-tub, etc. We were on the ground floor with two rooms and a separate, shared bathroom. We didn't think this was a problem with a little forward planning. The bedrooms were large enough. The lounge / dining area was smaller than expected and was cramped at breakfast. The rest of the time it was absolutely adequate.

The food was great and there is always plenty of it, like the wine.

The chalet is a 5 min walk from the nearest piste (10 in your snow boots after a long day skiing, but there is a ski track which gets you closer). We only ever had to walk back once, most of the time we used the offer of a ride in the minibus, which means you can get the lifts which are a longer walk away more easily too. After a good night of apres ski, we had a slow start one morning, but the chalet hosts were still able to offer us a lift even though it was later than they typically offered.

I would definitely return to Selva again, there was so much skiing we have yet to do. I would probably look for a different Chalet to get some additional comforts - which you pay for. This holiday was great value for money and I would do it again.

What a dump!

The rooms they sell as having a kitchenette are really kitchens - with about a foot around the beds that must have been built in there.

The eating/ relaxing area is too small for the number of costs with only soft seating for 8 in a chalet of 20! Breakfast is a crush with not enough room for everyone round the table at the same time.

The nursery is in the basement, quite dark. The SnowClub was in another chalet and was very cramped. The SnowClub staff last season were not great, but as always it can vary from season to season. I complained to Esprit about them leaving DD on the floor sick and asleep without calling me.

The chalet staff were lovely though and made up for Esprit on the whole.

We complained particularly about the accomodation and we were made to feel like we were lying - in fact the opposite was true.

The food was good and well cooked by the staff, who worked very hard. The resort looked good, although the Wiesenheim is well out of the way and requires you to either wait for the minibus or lug your skis.

Not a great holiday.