Hotel Athena

“Family ski holiday”

We stayed at the hotel Athena for 4 nights for my February holiday with my husband and daughter. The hotel room was clean and tidy. Our room had a balcony and was bright. The room we were in had twin beds pushed together, a separate room with bunk beds in it which my daughter slept in. A bathroo... more

We stayed at the hotel Athena for 4 nights for my February holiday with my husband and daughter. The hotel room was clean and tidy. Our room had a balcony and was bright. The room we were in had twin beds pushed together, a separate room with bunk beds in it which my daughter slept in. A bathroom with separate toilet. There was a wardrobe with a safe. There is no hairdryer in the room but you can ask for one at the reception. We really enjoyed our stay here. Staff were friendly and Alexandra the waitress who served us for our evening meal was a credit to your hotel. She was funny, helpful and my daughter loved her! The food was lovely. However, it would have been nice to have had another option as it was a set menu every night with no choice. My daughter didn’t enjoy some of the meals but she was offered a burger and chips but it seemed to be the only other option for every night. Therefore if you have a fussy eater it might be a challenge if you stayed longer than a few days. The breakfast was a buffet which had lovely croissants, Bread, cereal, yoghurts, fruit, pancakes, eggs, sausages, coffee, tea, orange, apple juice, etc. The hotel could do with upgrading wth regard to decor. However, it would not stop me staying here. Before dinner we sat at the chairs beside reception. What the hotel lacks is somewhere to sit before dinner to have a drink as there was a few nights were the hotel was busy and there was no seats left. We ended up sitting in the dining room. The older lady at reception was lovely and the man who checked us in was also really nice. I really can’t fault the staff. If you are skiing there is a bus which picks you up at the top of the hill from the hotel and comes regularly each morning. It drops you right at the bottom of the ski lift. The lift took I would say about 25/ 30 minutes to get to the top. You then need to get another lift to ski. This resort is amazing if you have kids that are beginners or any adult learning to ski. We took our 7 year old up to the top of various lifts, right at the top of the mountain and there was enough green/blue runs for her to get down from the top to bottom. On the way back to Brides Les Bains we always got the bus back to hotel but had to take a short walk from Ski lift to main road to get picked up. The bus was free. When we got back to the hotel there was a hot tub, sauna and steam room in the basement. This was fantastic to help the legs after a days skiing. The hot tub was great apart from there wasn’t many bubbles. The sauna was fab but very small, you could only fit two, maximum three people in it at one time. We went to the spa every night before dinner and was a nice facility to have. Be warned Europeans like to be naked in the sauna which my husband experienced. Brides les Bains was a lovely wee town and I would recommend Hotel Athena.

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“Cheap & Basic”

As with all holidays, it’s about cost, quality and convenience. This hotel is good value for basic accommodation located next to the rushing river (Doron de Bozel). There is no tea or coffee facilities in the room or fridge in the room. The parking is really tight. If you are looking at Brides Le... more

As with all holidays, it’s about cost, quality and convenience. This hotel is good value for basic accommodation located next to the rushing river (Doron de Bozel). There is no tea or coffee facilities in the room or fridge in the room. The parking is really tight. If you are looking at Brides Les Bains as a ski base I’d recommend finding something closer to the slopes in Meribel or Courchevel as it takes up to an hour before you are actually skiing so that’s 1.5 hours out of your day. The Olympic gondola is 800m away. Pre-hire your skis and boots online from Intersport at the Olympic gondola and hire lockers up there to avoid lugging gear around. The town has a small selection of restaurants and bars and a Spar convenience store. We really enjoyed the Creperie next to the Mercure Hotel the food was excellent as was the lovely manager. Try the Raclette it’s superb! If you are going in summer for the spa bath then note that there has been a bacterial problem which has closed the facility for the past year or so which can cause a skin rash. The source water is fine it looks like a problem with the pipes which they are currently replacing with stainless steel.

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“Ski vacation”

The hotel is simply but very nice. The food not so good. Breakfast is bad, no fresh food, eggs are cold baked the day before. Could be better. Would be good to have menu for kids, thanks to Alexsandra that she did her best to serve other food to our kids.