L'Express

Flaine cultivates his art of living

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RENOWNED FOR THE QUALITY OF ITS SLOPES, THE HAUTE-SAVOIE RESORT DOES NOT SEEM TO BE CUT OUT FOR STROLLING. HOWEVER, ITS CENTER LABELED HERITAGE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY IS OF REAL INTEREST TO LOVERS OF ARCHITECTURE. THE SIBUET GROUP MADE NO MISTAKE AND HAS SET UP ITS SNOW TERMINAL THERE.

It can be admired from the summits of the station, at an altitude of over 2500 metres. Majestic, the Mont Blanc captures all eyes. The Aravis and Belledonne massifs complete this fantastic panorama. Linked to the Grand Massif resorts (Carroz, Samoëns, Mrillon and Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval), Flaine has no less than 148 marked trails, and many off-piste possibilities, very popular with riders. Appreciated by good skiers, the resort of Haute-Savoie also allows beginners to tame the discipline. The 14-kilometre-long blue piste of Les Cascades, for example, offers an hour's uninterrupted skiing among the fir trees, all the way to the charming village of Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval. On the après-ski side, Flaine is banking on thrills: ice driving, ice squad, bungee jumping...

On the station side, Flaine doesn't look like any other of his mates. It is either adored or abhorred, but it remains, today, the only station of the sixties classified as a Historic Monument? Every Tuesday, at 2 p.m., a guided tour retraces its fascinating history, from its conception by the architect Marcel Breuer _ to whom we owe the Palais de l'Unesco in Paris or the Whitney Museum in New York. It is in this atypical setting, where works by Dubuffet, Picasso and Vasarely are enthroned, that the Sibuet family will inaugurate its latest establishment on 18 December. Decorated with a unique taste, the signature of all the group's establishments, the Terminal Neige breaks the codes of the traditional hotel and is organised around the needs of the skier. The rooms, modest in size, are models of optimization: a space is, for example, reserved for large suitcases and drying clothes. Placed in the centre of the 3-star hotel, the skishop, which is of high quality, becomes a real place to live. The boundaries are also blurred on the catering side: customers can move at will from the bar to the "corner food". They can opt for meat in sauce or a gluten-free dish, or even treat themselves to a regressive session with the alphabet pasta of their childhood. Accessible as an option so as not to add to the customer's bill, the essential Pure Altitude spa transforms gondolas into a sauna, and is enriched by a superb terrace with a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains. Enough to "flaminate" a little!