Aman Le Mélézin, open only from mid-December to sometime in April, is a seasonal boutique hotel in the heart of Les Trois Vallées in the French Alps. The snow-dusted larch trees in the surrounding mountainside lend the hotel its name.
Set on the Bellecôte piste in Courchevel 1850, with ski in/ski out access, Aman Le Mélézin may look like a quintessential French Chateau on the outside, but the inside is a high-minimalist palette of blonde wood and creamy textiles and the perfect location for winter’s fairytale snowscape right outside its doors.
The hotel amenities include a bar, smoking lounge, library, salon, and free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. It houses the Aman spa, which has a heated indoor lap pool, cold plunge pool, two jacuzzis, traditional Turkish hammam, and fitness and hydrotherapy areas spread over two floors. Parents will be delighted with the Kids’ Club, a hosted experience for children, offering arts and crafts, puzzles, board and arcade games, a tv room, and interactive cooking demonstrations.
Sports enthusiasts are presented with a state-of-the-art ski room with ski butler services, heated boot racks, and a winter-sports shop stocked with the latest equipment and direct access to Bellecôte piste. Aside from the ski slopes, the hotel can arrange a number of unique experiences, from snowmobile or paraglider adventures, first tracks, helicopter flights, to moonbiking.
Dining at the Aman Le Mélézin is an event unto itself. Nama, one of the region’s acclaimed restaurants, is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving elevated traditional Japanese cuisine by Chef Keiji Matoba, who specializes in washoku, a traditional form of Japanese cuisine concerned with the harmony between flavors and presentation. Whether someone is a guest or a non-resident, reservations are required.
Accommodations at Aman Le Mélézin are spread across 24 chambres and 7 suites, all with views of the winter countryside. All rooms have flatscreen TVs with multilingual VOD, Bose bluetooth speaker, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, and Aman Spa toiletries as standard amenities while DVD players are available on request.
Traveling to Aman Le Mélézin has several options. By plane, the Lyon-Saint Exupéry and Geneva airports are a two-hour drive away and the hotel can organize private luxury car airport transfers at a cost of $500, Chambery Airport is an hour and a half away, and private crafts can access the Courchevel 1850 altiport 5 minutes from Aman Le Mélézin. By train, the Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains serves high-speed trains to Paris and Lyon 40 minutes away, and Private-car transfers cost around $100.Aman Le Mélézin is currently closed but will reopen for the winter season on December 9, 2022. Prices for a stay at the Aman Le Mélézin vary according to the season but can average from a low of $2,113 a night for a Chambre Village to a high of $5,723.73 a night for a Suite Le Mélézin. Bookings can be made online. For more information, please visit the Aman Le Mélézin website.