Hotansa Himalaya Hotel

“ We stayed at this hotel during February half term with our 6 children, aged 17, 16, 15, 13, 10 and 11 months in 3 rooms. We were unsure about what to expect but everything exceeded our expectations. The food, though far from gourmet, was plentiful (with 4 very hungry teenage boys, this was important). The rooms were very clean and comfortable and we had fantastic views from 2 rooms of the pistes. Unfortunately the third room was a smoking room so there was an awful smell of stale tobacco. We would have asked for a different room but as the hotel was full this was not possible. The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful, organising lift passes delivered to the hotel to avoid the queues. The pool and jacuzzi are small and in need of attention but we enjoyed them after a long day skiing, nevertheless. The only really irritating thing was that the ski locker padlocks were very temperamental, and on 2 occasions we had to get the maintenance man out to break the code - really annoying when you are wasting precious (and very expensive) lift pass time! It was also great that we could virtually ski out/ski back only a few metres from the hotel - not for beginners as you are straight on to a very busy blue piste (beginners would have quite a long hike in ski boots to the nursery slopes. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel and we will definitely be going back.

“ Top Tip: If you can handle red pistes and above, explore the rest of the Grandvalira area, rather than just Pas de la Casa. Once over the mountain, the pistes are less busy and the scenery is breathtaking.
Our children had a 4 hour refresher ski lesson with a private instructor from the ski school and though expensive (208 euros for 5 people) it was very useful to get them confident enough to do the reds and blacks without any problem. We stocked up on drinks and snacks at the supermarket and took our own picnic in backpacks as the slope-side bars and cafes were quite pricey for a large
family.