Just five minutes from the main lift is the most imaginative of the two five-star hotels in Val d’Isere. Les Barmes de l’Ours divides up the style and design of the rooms into four different looks – on the first floor the Scandinavian look is packed with white furniture and floors, subtle furnishings and simple, Ikea-style elegance, on the second floor the American lodge look is comfortable and homely with plaid furniture and deep rugs, the Alpine Chalet on the third floor is warm and wooden, with rough edges and sloping eaves, while finally on the fourth floor the Contemporary look fuses graffiti with modern hotel – the principle suite, Lours l’Ours, is something to behold with its own cinema and Jacuzzi.

Downstairs there are three delicious restaurants: the Coin Savoyard is packed with local specialities, La Table de l’Ours is a wonderful gourmet restaurant set around a roaring open fire and La Rotisserie offers a wood-cabin-ed interior that does what it says on the tin. A genteel piano bar and the resort’s best-looking spa round off the hotel’s offerings – making the Bear’s Footprints our favourite hotel in town.