6/10 Okay
Stephen L.
13 Oct, 2016
A disappointing experience, with a lot of road noise.
Les Aupillous chalet is located in Les Casse, a modern estate about 2km south of the beautiful village of Vallouse, but is set above a main road that is noisy , and quite intrusive (Not quite where it is shown on the map).
It has obviously been renovated recently, but I suspect it has been done by the owner as a DIY project, and is amateurish and in many cases badly thought out.
Examples include:
A mezzanine master bedroom that is hot, has little privacy (open to the lounge), is accessed via a steep staircase that you have to bend double to get in or out of.
A kitchen that is tiny and has almost no workspace.
Stairs down to the lower bedrooms that have a dangerous stair gate at the top.
Outside lights that light up the master bedroom at night, and can’t be switched off.
The owner is obviously a fan of technology because there are electronic gadgets everywhere, but to our mind, he would have better off paying for a more professional renovation job. Perhaps because we did not make use of tech.
The description states it is for 12 people, but in reality it is probably comfortable for perhaps 4-6 people. The bedrooms are as follows:
1) Downstairs cinema that has double sofa bed.
2) Small downstairs bedroom with 4 bunkbeds.
3) Mezzanine (studio) bedroom above the lounge with a double, a single and a cot..
4) A double sofa bed in the lounge
When we arrived the owner forgot to tell us about the fact that the small blow up spa / hot tub had a puncture and could not been used. When we asked, he said it would be fixed in the first few days. We were there for a fortnight, but it never got fixed despite many promises. As compensation, the owner did the cleaning for free (we were going to do it ourselves anyway), and did not charge for 3 broken wine glasses and a bed sheet we damaged. It is a shame about the spa/hot tub as this was the main reason for booking this apartment.
At the end of the stay it took many follow up emails to get the deposit cheque back, even though the owner had no issue that would require us to pay for anything.
On the plus side, the village and local area are beautiful, with nice bars and restaurants , and a great market. If you are into climbing, the Ailefroide area is very close and has a vast array of bolted climbs.
Overall, a disappointing experience for the price.
NOTE: The same chalet is listed several times on the site.
Stephen L.
Stayed 14 nights in Aug 2016