Aquila

This is the ideal chalet for six. It occupies much of the top two floors (there are lifts) of the exclusive, recently rebuilt Aquila building. You can see its position from the pictures. It is surrounded on three sides by the nursery slopes so you really can ski to and from the door, while if you’ve ended the day at La Daille or Le Fornet, the bus stops at Le Rond Point are just outside. The Solaise cable car is 100m one way, the main chairlifts a quick glide the other. The man on the chairlift with yellow legs on one of the rotating photos above is passing in front of the four large windows. By day, the ski schools meet just outside, and you're in the Royal Box for the frequent, fantastic firework displays.

Aquila's delightful sitting-dining room and three tasteful bedrooms all enjoy a breathtaking view across the nursery slopes towards the church. Two of the bedrooms are not huge, but they are all beautifully fitted and finished, with larger-than-average beds and good bathrooms. Two of the latter are fully en-suite, the third about two paces across a landing. The chalet has DVDs and WiFi, and even its own private ski hire shop, the excellent Snowberry, which is on the ground floor.

Not surprisingly, Aquila is one of our most expensive chalets. Not that any YSE holiday can be described as seriously expensive. Knowing that we will fill all of our holidays for most of Val d’Isère’s long season means that we spread our costs very thinly. And while we don’t really count the cost of our food and wine etc, we tend not to squander much of your money on the more ostentatious frills, such as swimming pools or 'wellness centers'. If you can't live without them, the new Oxygen Centre, with its pools, gym, spa, squash courts etc, is less than 200m away.

If there are six of you, and the idea of waking up literally on Val d'Isère's nursery slopes appeals, look no further.