Top Ten Luxury Chalets Chalet Uberhaus Lech Austria
Resort: Lech (Austria) is very much its own character; the word ‘genteel’ fits well. This small village provides a great diversity of slopes for all grades of skier and boarder, but with more focus to the beginner and intermediate skier. Lech makes up a part of one of the world’s best ski domains, providing good connections into the neighbouring mini-resort of Zürs and the world class St Anton. Experts will head for off-piste skiing, heli-skiing and the challenges at the neighbouring St. Anton, but I am sure they will time a circuit of the ‘White Ring’ that takes you around the local lift system. New lifts are well designed and attractive for a change, they have also tried to minimise the approach steps to the lifts.
The resort is a chocolate-box Alpine village, charming and with a very refined ambience. Many of the older chalets have been renovated into small but luxurious hotels and new mega-chalets. The resort has numerous restaurants set on either side of the river which winds through the centre of the village, past the centrepiece of the church.
There are few villages the size of Lech that has the local equivalent of Harrods; Strolz department store is really impressive as it offers an excellent range across a wide spread of goods. There are also some boutiques. Regular visitors tend to be rich, famous and/or royal yet the resort remains refreshingly unpretentious.
chalet: Uberhaus, more expensive than we would have liked to offer here but again the status of the resort has tempted us. Uberhaus is located just above and overlooking Lech in the hamlet of Oberlech. In passing, we have to mention ‘chalet N’ as it sets new standards in mega-chalet size at 4,800 sq. m. for up to 18 guests (staff live out) but it still exudes a great atmosphere.
Uberhaus was rightly nominated for the World Ski Awards for the ‘Best New chalet’ in 2014. Built in traditional style using ancient timbers, it is nevertheless very much twenty first century both with incorporating the latest technology and with the flair of the designers. They have cleverly mixed the old with the new to great effect.
The chalet has five en-suite bedrooms including a spacious master bedroom complete with open fire. Two family suites, one contains a double bedroom and a separate children’s bunk room sleeping four children. This suite has a large bathroom with shower and bath. The second family suite has a double bedroom and a children’s bunk in an alcove, the top bunk bed can be folded away to make a seating area. This bedroom has an en-suite shower room. The additional double bedroom has an en-suite bathroom. A guest toilet is also located on this floor. The chalet’s living room is very spacious indeed; it is divided by a fireplace with the dining area on the other side with a table to seat 16 diners.
The outdoor hot tub is located on the extensive terrace, right on the edge of the piste, definitely a ski-in and ski-out chalet and has uninterrupted views of the surrounding mountains.
The chalet has extensive spa and leisure facilities including a sauna, Hammam, gym, massage treatment room, snooker table, library, bar and a dedicated home cinema.
The chef takes one evening off in the week; there is a dedicated driver service. Child care can be organised.
Tour Operator: www.oxfordski.com
