At the foot of Mont Blanc, on the foothills of Chamonix, Philippe Courtines built an astonishing hotel-museum, a hamlet of chalets that he dismantled and then reassembled with his team board by board to house an exceptional collection of furniture and objects savoyards hunted for forty years. This man of the world, author, director, producer, who has worked with the biggest names in cinema, theater, music (…) established himself here more than forty years ago, determined to make this place its last refuge, an unclassifiable site that is at the same time hotel, table d'hôte, museum, spas, cinema, a magical village also a place of memory, a final creation!
Currently there are nine chalets, attics (or mazots) from Haute Savoie, most of them built on three levels, each with a different architecture. The Clarines and the Barattes come from the Morzine valley and Lake Geneva, others from the Aravis massif, Viuz-en-Sallaz, etc. Each is named in a nod to a Savoyard singularity. The Clopet (two-seater chalet) evokes the grandfather who has had a little too much to drink and is going to have a little clopet (a little nap), the Clarines these little bronze bells that we hang from the necks of the cows, the Lavaret a fish from the lakes of Savoie, Fenil the hay barn, etc. “I knocked on the peasants’ doors, we drank a shot of génepi. I shop when I fall in love, it has to touch me. » Philippe still has three flat chalets (ready to be assembled) that he recovered in the mountains, chalets from the 18th and 19th century
Philippe Courtines has never liked rankings. As a child, he didn't like school, he hated grades. As a hotelier, he refuses stars, signage, reservation platforms, etc. “I focused everything on the welcome, the regulars who return. I relied on word of mouth. I think I’m the only one in the valley not on Booking.com.” In fact, the man is an adorable, generous host, a passionate storyteller who brings his thousand lives to life in the large tables that he loves to see form and deform as the days pass. And if he refuses any classification, there is nevertheless a place that he very much wishes to succeed in "classifying", this hamlet of chalets which he hopes to complete by reassembling his three chalets flat, but also an 18th century baroque chapel, a bread oven, a natural lake. The drawing of the project, produced by a watercolorist, is visible on a painting reproduced on his site. “I’m thinking about handing over. I don't want to pass it on to someone who could destroy 40 years of work. It is a universal memory. We have customers who come from four continents. They are extremely sensitive to delving into Savoyard culture and heritage. So I want to protect this hamlet. »
Les Chalets de Philippe
718 Rte du Chapeau
74400 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
www.chaletsphilippe.com
