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Which Neilson Ski Holiday Resort Is Best? 2022 Guide To Neilson Ski Chalets And Hotels
Neilson is a respected name in the snowboarding and skiing holiday market for UK families. They're at the posher end of the ski hotel and ski chalet market but they do have some good deals and offers.
The first thing to realise is that Neilson offer two types of skiing holiday – Neilson ski hotels and Neilson ski chalets.
This guide looks at things like customer reviews, travel time from the UK and distance to the slopes before deciding which Neilson resort is best.
If you want to skip all our waffle, then here's the summary:
If you want a bit more detail, keep reading...
The first thing to realise is that Neilson offer two types of skiing holiday – Neilson ski hotels and Neilson ski chalets.
- Neilson Ski Hotels work much like any other hotel. You book a room or two and then eat your meals at the hotel. They vary in size a bit but all have about 20-60 bedrooms.
- Neilson Ski Chalets vary in size with space for 4-24 people. Your meals are provided by a Neilson host who works in the chalet. It’s a bit like renting a holiday cottage but having a host on hand to cook for you.
This guide looks at things like customer reviews, travel time from the UK and distance to the slopes before deciding which Neilson resort is best.
If you want to skip all our waffle, then here's the summary:
- Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra is the best value Neilson ski hotel
- Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France and Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France are highly rated ski hotels but they're more expensive.
If you want a bit more detail, keep reading...
Which Neilson Ski hotel gets the best reviews?
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Let’s start with the Neilson Hotels.
There are seven Neilson ski hotels at the time of writing. They're in France, Andorra and Italy. We’ve ranked them in order of review score by adding together the TripAdvisor and Google review scores.
The ones with an asterisk (*) are ones which Neilson call their Mountain Collection Hotels rather than 'Mountain Collection Chalet Hotels'. The advantage of the Mountain Collection Hotels are that:
We will have a look later at things like typical holiday costs and travel time (that’s what they call a teaser to keep you reading…). |
Neilson's hotel in Val d'Isere gets outstanding reviews from customers...
...as does Neilson's Hotel Del Clos in Andorra which has this sun terrace
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Which Neilson ski chalet gets the best reviews?
An alternative to a Neilson Ski Hotel is to hire a Neilson Ski Chalet. The idea is that you gather together various relatives and friends that you can tolerate for a week and then hire a whole chalet. Neilson’s host provides most meals and drinks and you get the whole place to yourself.
The main downside is that you’ll spend weeks trying to organise all your relatives to agree on a location and date. You’ll need a WhatsApp group and a lot of patience.
We’ve ranked the Neilson chalets in order of size, as that tends to determine which one you want to book.
Chalets (from smallest to largest, with average review scores where available):
(We calculated review scores by adding together the TripAdvisor and Google review score. If only one was available, we doubled the score).
The main downside is that you’ll spend weeks trying to organise all your relatives to agree on a location and date. You’ll need a WhatsApp group and a lot of patience.
We’ve ranked the Neilson chalets in order of size, as that tends to determine which one you want to book.
Chalets (from smallest to largest, with average review scores where available):
- Neilson Chalet Le Valentin in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy sleeps 12 people. Review score of 8.1/10
- Neilson Chalet Alexandre in Les Deux Alpes in France sleeps 14-18 people. Review score of 9/10
- Neilson Chalet Sandy in Les Deux Alpes in France sleeps 15. Review score of 7.8/10
- Neilson Chalet Chartreuse in Les Deux Alpes in France sleeps 18 people and scores 9/10
- Neilson Chalet Motxo in El Tarter in Andorra sleeps 24 people and scores 8.9/10 from reviewers
(We calculated review scores by adding together the TripAdvisor and Google review score. If only one was available, we doubled the score).
This Neilson Chalet in Italy sleeps 12 people...
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...whilst this French chalet has space for up to 18 people
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Which is the cheapest Neilson ski holiday hotel?
For our price comparison, we’ll start with the hotels.
We looked for the cost of a holiday for a family of four for a week in mid-January 2022. Of course, school holidays are more expensive and the tail end of the season is cheaper because you might not get decent snow.
In order from most expensive to cheapest:
Neilson Chalet Hotel Casale in El Tarter in Andorra didn’t have any availability when we checked.
So, there’s a significant difference in price between the most expensive Neilson hotel and the cheapest (about £2000). The three hotels with (*) symbols are the ones in the Mountain Collection which offer an extra meal, ski coaching and guiding. Three of the Mountain Collection Hotels also offer childcare.
It’s worth noting that two of the posher hotels with the best reviews are more expensive than most (Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France and Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France)
However, there are other hotels which are in the posher Mountain Collection or which get great reviews but are at the cheaper end of the scale. These include Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra and Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy.
We looked for the cost of a holiday for a family of four for a week in mid-January 2022. Of course, school holidays are more expensive and the tail end of the season is cheaper because you might not get decent snow.
In order from most expensive to cheapest:
- Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France* - £5100
- Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France* - £4336
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy - £3432
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Edelweiss in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy - £3248
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Le Crȇt in Les Deux Alpes in France - £3228
- Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra* – £2944
Neilson Chalet Hotel Casale in El Tarter in Andorra didn’t have any availability when we checked.
So, there’s a significant difference in price between the most expensive Neilson hotel and the cheapest (about £2000). The three hotels with (*) symbols are the ones in the Mountain Collection which offer an extra meal, ski coaching and guiding. Three of the Mountain Collection Hotels also offer childcare.
It’s worth noting that two of the posher hotels with the best reviews are more expensive than most (Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France and Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France)
However, there are other hotels which are in the posher Mountain Collection or which get great reviews but are at the cheaper end of the scale. These include Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra and Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy.
Which is the cheapest Neilson ski holiday chalet?
Unfortunately, when we searched we couldn’t find any availability for any of the Neilson chalets for mid-January 2022.
We’ll revisit this guide once the inventory has been updated on the Neilson website.
We’ll revisit this guide once the inventory has been updated on the Neilson website.
Which Neilson Ski Hotel is nearest to the UK?
There are a few things to look for when picking a location for a Neilson ski holiday. First, we’ll look at how long it takes to get to the different ski and boarding resorts from a UK airport.
Here they are ranked from shortest to longest travel time. We added together the flight time and the transfer time but we didn’t include the time you spend stood around in the Airport waiting for your bag to appear etc:
The difference in travel time between the closest and furthest Neilson ski resort is about 2 hours. There are resorts in Italy and France which all take about four hours so you might want to put them on your shortlist if a quick journey is a priority.
We’ll add these numbers into our conclusions when deciding which ones to go for.
Here they are ranked from shortest to longest travel time. We added together the flight time and the transfer time but we didn’t include the time you spend stood around in the Airport waiting for your bag to appear etc:
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Edelweiss in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Le Crȇt in Les Deux Alpes in France – 4 hours, 5 minutes
- Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra – 5 hours
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Casale in El Tarter in Andorra – 5 hours
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy – 5 hours, 5 minutes
- Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France – 5 hours, 5 minutes
- Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France – 5 hours 35 minutes
The difference in travel time between the closest and furthest Neilson ski resort is about 2 hours. There are resorts in Italy and France which all take about four hours so you might want to put them on your shortlist if a quick journey is a priority.
We’ll add these numbers into our conclusions when deciding which ones to go for.
Which Neilson ski hotel is in the best ski resort?
This is obviously a bit subjective but there are various opinions on the ‘best ski resorts’ in Europe.
Conde Nast Traveller ask their readers’ to vote for the top 20 European Ski and Snowboard Resorts. As of 2021, the highest rated resort which is served by Neilson ski holidays was Val D’Isere at number nine (Neilson Hotel La Tovière is in Val d'Isère).
Les Menuires was number 17 in the top 20 in 2020 (Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa is in Les Menuires) but had slipped out of the top 20 in 2021.
Conde Nast Traveller ask their readers’ to vote for the top 20 European Ski and Snowboard Resorts. As of 2021, the highest rated resort which is served by Neilson ski holidays was Val D’Isere at number nine (Neilson Hotel La Tovière is in Val d'Isère).
Les Menuires was number 17 in the top 20 in 2020 (Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa is in Les Menuires) but had slipped out of the top 20 in 2021.
Which Neilson Ski Hotel has the biggest and best range of ski slopes?
If you're a beginner then you aren't likely to do a huge amount of exploring during a week's skiing or snowboarding.
However, if you've been skiing before then the range of pistes and slopes available can make a difference.
You can measure these things in various ways, such as the number of beginner and expert slopes or the total distance of the ski runs. However, for simplicity we've ranked them by the total number of ski runs in each resort. It's a little complex, as some skiing resorts are linked but let's not worry about that. From most to least:
However, if you've been skiing before then the range of pistes and slopes available can make a difference.
You can measure these things in various ways, such as the number of beginner and expert slopes or the total distance of the ski runs. However, for simplicity we've ranked them by the total number of ski runs in each resort. It's a little complex, as some skiing resorts are linked but let's not worry about that. From most to least:
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy – 668 different ski runs
- Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France – 275 runs
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Edelweiss in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy - 212 runs
- Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France – 159 runs
- Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra – 128 runs
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Casale in El Tarter in Andorra – 128 runs
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Le Crȇt in Les Deux Alpes in France – 75 runs
Which Neilson Ski Hotel is closest to the ski slopes?
For new skiers, this might sound like a bit of a minor point but bear with me.
Once you've got your cumbersome ski boots on, you then need to make your way to the nearest ski lift whilst carrying your skis. This is not great fun, particularly if you're towing three children and a grumpy spouse.
So, we've ranked the seven Neilson ski hotels based on how close they are to the nearest ski lift. From closest to furthest away:
So, the furthest walk will be about half a mile. That would only be a 10 minute walk under normal conditions but will take a lot longer whilst wearing ski boots and carrying skis.
Again, this is a little complex as some hotels are close to gondola stations which will take you to the top of the mountain, whilst others are close to a small lift which might only cover one part of the mountain. Anyway, let's not complicate things any further.
Once you've got your cumbersome ski boots on, you then need to make your way to the nearest ski lift whilst carrying your skis. This is not great fun, particularly if you're towing three children and a grumpy spouse.
So, we've ranked the seven Neilson ski hotels based on how close they are to the nearest ski lift. From closest to furthest away:
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Edelweiss in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy - 50 metres
- Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère in France – 120 metres
- Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires in France – 200 metres
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Le Crȇt in Les Deux Alpes in France – 200 metres
- Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra – 350 metres
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Casale in El Tarter in Andorra – 650 metres
- Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy – 875 metres
So, the furthest walk will be about half a mile. That would only be a 10 minute walk under normal conditions but will take a lot longer whilst wearing ski boots and carrying skis.
Again, this is a little complex as some hotels are close to gondola stations which will take you to the top of the mountain, whilst others are close to a small lift which might only cover one part of the mountain. Anyway, let's not complicate things any further.
Conclusion - which is the best Neilson ski resort?
Right then, what can we conclude from this huge list of data and statistics? I've been staring at the numbers for ages and have reached the following four conclusions:
- If you want a good value all-rounder, I would start by looking at Neilson Hotel Del Clos in El Tarter in Andorra. I was so surprised at the price that I checked it twice.
It gets the joint highest customer reviews yet it was the cheapest in our price comparison. It's part of the Neilson Mountain Collection which means you get an extra meal and the option of ski coaching and childcare.
The downsides are that it's not a world-famous resort like Val d'Isere. It's also not got quite as many runs as some resorts and it takes an extra hour or so to get there compared to some other Neilson resorts. - If you want to stick with a French Alps resort then I would have a look at Neilson Hotel Le Menuire & Spa in Les Menuires or Neilson Hotel La Tovière in Val d'Isère. Le Menuire has a better range of runs and offers childcare whilst Neilson Hotel La Tovière gets slightly better reviews and is in a world-famous resort. They're both nice and close to the ski slopes.
They've both got the same downsides of being expensive and being a relatively long way from the UK. One advantage for me would be that I can fumble my way through a French menu, but I wouldn't have much chance with a Catalan menu (the main language in Andorra). - Neilson Chalet Hotel Dolomites Inn (Penia di Canazei) in Val di Fassa in Italy is worth an honourable mention. It has the biggest number of ski slopes by some distance, so it might be a good option for an experienced skier who wants to do a lot of exploring. It was also a good-value option and scores well with customers.
The downside is that it's not one of the Neilson Mountain Collection hotels so you don't get as many bells and whistles. Plus, it's a long walk from the hotel to the ski lifts. - Neilson Chalet Hotel Edelweiss in Sauze d’Oulx in Italy also got our attention as it's one of the quickest to reach from the UK and the ski lift is very close to the hotel. However, it is a bit behind on reviews and doesn't have a big number of ski slopes to choose from.
