Des Guides Hotel

The website is superb and I booked the Hotel on the back of this.In reality the web designer has done a very good job ! We arrived after an excellent transfer with First Choice and were given our room keys and left to it.We wern't told the code to get in and out of the property.We had to que for breakfast (1st day 25 mins) which isn't ideal if you want an early ski start.Brakfast rrom had 5 tables yet Hotel has 25 rooms.... You were provided with 2 bread rolls and 1 yogurt (£3 per extra yogurt) and 1 towell to last you a week with the option of £5 per clean towell.Boot room tiny and often had to que for that too.Owner wasnt overly helpfull with info etc ,the only plus point being its 30 metres from main chair lift ! For £650 Flight and Hotel I expected a lot better !

9 readers found this review helpful

The resort is fantastic. Not really for beginners as the ski school starts at Plan Maison which is either a walk to the Gondola or chancing it on 2 chair lifts on your first day! BUT, if you can ski then this is an excellent place to come. Get the Area Lift Pass and make the effort to go over into Zermatt, where there are some fantastic runs and sights to see. Skiing into Valtournenche is also worth it although a slog at 22km there, but definitely worth the effort! Really great resort with loads of places to eat (although they all serve the same!!) and great runs too. Definitely coming here again.
Hotel Des Guides is not the place to stay if you are coming to Cervinia. The staff either can't or chose not to speak much English and to say there isn't a warm welcome would be an understatement. They couldn't care if you were there or not. The breakfast is dreadful. A rock hard bread roll and some fatty ham with luke warm tea ...... although there is a yoghurt and some jam to be fair .... absolutely vile, I'm glad I bought my own cereal.
The rooms are SO small, think caravan bedrooms / hostel accommodation and you won't be disappointed. We had a triple room which left us with no floor space whatsoever. We had a chest of drawers for 3 peoples clothes and skiing stuff, but it was so old and grotty we ended up living out of our cases. I cannot emphasis strongly enough how SMALL the rooms are, we booked with Crystal who 'warn' you the rooms are small ...... well they didn't warn us strongly enough ! TINY TINY TINY. The sheets were clean but the top blanket looked older than the hotel, the bathrooms are just like a caravan bathroom and everytime you turn round, you will knock into something. Beyond small!
On a postive note about the hotel ......the communal areas of the hotel are very historic with photos and memorbilia about the area, the Mattherhorn and various climbing expeditions which is very interesting, the lounge and bar area are full of leather sofas and chairs and there is free WiFi which is only accessible in the lounge. It's a cosy area to sit and use your laptop and have a free cup of tea or coffee between 4-5pm (and not a minute before or after!!). Some guests said being at the front of the hotel was very noisy as it overlooked the high street which was noisy up to 3am on occassions. I can't fault the location as it is almost ski to door. The 6 man chair lift is 100m away from the hotel and you literally just have to cross the road to get to the slopes. If you are at the back of the hotel (and you aren't allocated one of the 1st floor rooms that doesn't have ANY windows!) and you have a room with a window, you can see the Matterhorn and the slopes coming into the resort which is very impressive.
So, great resort(really great) , hotel is in a perfect location, but very tiny rooms, little hospitality and breakfast is dreadful.
ENJOY !!!

4 readers found this review helpful

At SkiProsMegeve.com, every fall from Oct 28th or 29th to Dec. 20th I do what we call our “Early Bird” ski trips to Cervinia/Zermatt. We at do the same at the end of the season from the 10th of April to the 1st of May. My clients know the French Alps and Megeve very well and we always try and start and end the season here at the Hotel Des Guides.
The hotel is superbly situated in the center of the town and across the street from the lift (high speed 6 person chairlift) !
The rooms can/are a little small but we are only there to sleep so what is the big fuss! The beds are fine and plenty of hot water so what more does some tired skier want.
I must say that at the prices charged by the folks at the Hotel Des Guides you will not be deceived. They are the least expensive that I have found during these periods that I come and ski Cervinia.
The Bar is the best in the whole village with a huge inventory of historical memorabilia regarding skiing and climbing all over the world and Arctic and Polar expeditions.
The hotel also offers a free WIFI connection.
The barman is a great guy to get to know and can arrange everything from a taxi to a helicopter and a restaurant reservation.
Mike at SkiProsMegeve.com

2 readers found this review helpful

Visited Cervinia Italy for the first time Jan 2008, have skied in Passo Tonale for last 2 years (Jan & March) can be a bit cold, but always great skiing, hotel accommodation 3*** always fair.
Skiing in Cervinia is fantastic when the weather is good, meaning no low cloud or poor visibility. Stayed in Hotel Des Guides supposed to be 3 *** I think not! Rooms extremely small and cramped, walk in the room/door and fall onto the bed literally. The walls paper thin, could hear people next door snoring & the rest!
Breakfast very basic, towels only changed once & bed linen not changed during the week. Our room was situated at the front of the hotel on the second floor, guess what - the roof leaked. The water dripped onto the floor and down through into the wardrobe, soaking clothes. The hotel cleaning staff remedied this by laying towels on the floor for remainder of our stay.
As this accommodation is central to the town, at chucking out time from 12am you may need ear plugs to drown out the noise from the main street. I enjoy a late night but the noise can be a bit tiresome after 3am.
The only positive comment I can give is that you walk out of the hotel back door and straight onto the slopes heading towards the lifts. Cervinia itself is a great place to ski and stay if you choose your accommodation wisely. Good luck!

2 readers found this review helpful

Stayed here for a week Feb 2007.
Situated smack in the middle of the village, and about 10m from the bottom of the ski runs into Cervinia and 5m from the ski rent shop.
It’s a family run hotel with a strong historical theme based on mountaineering and exploration. The walls are covered with photos of expeditions to the Poles, Everest and of course the Matterhorn.
The hotel has stunning views out the back of the Matterhorn.
Although the hotel is modern, I think a lot of the decor must have been saved from a previous version circa 1930's or so and refitted.
In particular the main bar is enormous as is the lounge. Free coffee/tea is served to guests 4-5pm daily. Large beer is 5 euros, small 3 euros, a little bit more than other bars but you don't get the leather armchairs there either!
Staff are OK, breakfast room is tiny and coffee was atrocious (I'd bring a bit of Nescafe next time) but other than that I really enjoyed staying here.
The rooms are small but cosy and also reflect a turn of the century style, with lots of drawers and pull out desks etc. You can imagine this is what it must have been like when the first tourists hit Cervinia.
Good heating and shower, although bathrooms are a tight squeeze.
Places to visit in village are Guinness bar (CopaPan), Cafe Whymper; Jour et Nuit (steak restaurant if you are feeling flush) and a restaurant at the top of the street on the left which we think was something like "Le Grenier", best value.
I would recommend booking any night near the weekend.
The skiing is excellent and you are only 100m from a 6 seat chair which takes you half way up and a 3 man chair from which you can ski straight over to the main meeting area of Plan Maison (where the ski school kicks off from).
It’s a 10 min walk to the cable car, but unless you are a complete novice use the chairlifts.
The local pass covers Cervinia and Valtourneche (there's a steep drag to return from Valtourneche - be warned), and if you want to pay another 40 euros or so the full pass covers Zermatt as well.
If I'd been there for 2 weeks I would have gone for the full one but there's plenty of skiing on the local pass for a week.

1 reader found this review helpful

We found the hotel charming, central and historic. The decor was reminiscent of an enchanting alpine museum.
The rooms were small and basic, but we found them more than adequate for sleeping after a hard days skiing!
The breakfast room, although compact allowed a hearty chat between guests in the morning. The staff were pleasant, courteous and friendly. As they say, a little of the language goes a long way!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and look forward to our next holiday at Christmas.

1 reader found this review helpful

A nice small place to stay but with very small bedrooms and breakfast room but more than compensates by having a very comfortable lounge and bar area.
The staff were friendly and helpful. Breakfasts were basic but plentiful unless you pig out at breakfast time. Cervinia is a nice place to ski but it does have access problems to the main ski area as the gondola station is up quite a lot of steps and is at the opposite end of the resort from the des guides(do yourself a favour and order a taxi for only 2 euros each person).
Avoid blue run 5 down to the hotel if you aren't very confident as it really is a fairly difficult red and was in poor condition when we were there through lack of snow.