Arriving at night time within the concrete-towered French resort of Flaine, there’s a contact of Hollywood razzmatazz amid the greyness – a bulb-framed signal saying, ‘We'll Rocky Pop you’.
Who is aware of what which means?
However stroll into the brand new RockyPop resort and it’s clear it is perhaps a variety of enjoyable. Inside, an astronaut and an alien stand on the entrance, whereas a sliding door marked Platform 9 ¾ results in a bar and seating space full of cloud gentle fittings and wall-mounted plastic dinosaur heads.
Resort homeowners Assas – who opened the primary RockyPop in Les Houches, Chamonix 5 years in the past – have actually taken the pop-art theme and run with it.
Across the lounge areas, individuals are taking part in desk soccer, pool, board video games, darts and on old-school arcade machines.
Solely the enormous concrete fire offers a clue as to the constructing’s austere Nineteen Sixties beginnings.
It was designed by Hungarian modernist Marcel Breuer, famed for his hyperlinks to the Bauhaus faculty.
Given the temporary to suit buildings inside the pure bowl of the valley, Breuer opted for concrete-and-wood towers which can be described both as a marvel of modernist structure or a blot on the panorama.
Flaine itself sits at 5,250ft (1,600m) and is a part of the 540ft Grand Massif ski space, with hyperlinks to Samoëns, Les Carroz, Morillon and Sixt.
The resort is fashionable with British skiers for its good snow, ski-in, ski-out lodging and quick switch time (lower than 90 minutes to Geneva airport).
I spend a primary day cruising Flaine’s extensive, groomed slopes, stopping on the 8,200ft summit to admire gorgeous views of the Mont Blanc, Aravis, Belledonne and Jura mountain ranges.
On the second I cowl the miles in the direction of the extra conventional villages of Samoëns and Les Carroz.
Again on the resort, there’s a good-sized pool and steam rooms, and a Nuxe spa, the place I unwind with a heavenly half-hour therapeutic massage (€60/£50).
Upstairs, the 118 rooms characteristic normal doubles, connecting rooms with bunk rooms connected for households and 6 suites accommodating as much as ten folks.
Lastly, there’s a nod to the atmosphere with a tile within the bathe urging prospects: ‘Save water, bathe à plusieurs’ (with a couple of particular person). Now, that basically is an indication of the occasions.
So tacky: What are you able to eat there?
And in an space famed for its cheeses, lunch decisions are simple.
French onion soup with lashings of Gruyére (€12/£10) at Le Michet in Flaine and soupe châtrée – Comte cheese, bread and onions – at La Luge à Téran in Samoëns.
There’s extra to return after I dine at Frometon, one in every of RockyPop’s three eating places.
It serves up rib-sticking fondue with melted Reblochon. Close by there’s an indication saying, ‘Candy goals are made from cheese’.
The resort’s different eating places are a buffet, the place breakfast (£14) and ranging dinner cuisines are served day by day (£31), and a sushi restaurant.
Resort supervisor Yann Crottet tells me: ‘We might have simply had one however we would like folks to remain and revel in all the pieces.’
I’m too stuffed to argue.
Easyjet flies from London to Geneva from £17.99 a method, easyjet.com. Rooms at RockyPop Flaine from £117pn, rockypop.com/en/flaine. Go to en.flaine.com and savoie-mont-blanc.com
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