(Barbara’s husband writing this review)
** For those in a hurry: Superb, modern, bright, spacious apartment - perfect for family of 4, with superb mountain views for meal times, but watch out for the very steep hills - car essential and confidence on narrow hilly roads required.**
OK, I almost don’t want to write this review because I don’t want anyone else to know about the place!
This has been the best holiday we have ever had as a family. Sure the weather was perfect for us - sunny every day upper 20s celsius. But hosts Thierry and Marriane, who live in the house above, are genuinely lovely people, the perfect hosts - being around the ‘right amount of time’ to help with anything you need without you feeling like they are checking in on you all the time. They way the building is designed means you just aren’t aware they are there, in any case.
For us, just sitting at the table in the conservatory, with the sliding doors fully open, eating our meals looking at the hills of France opposite, was just a little piece of heaven. The place feels much larger than the pictures reveal, it is so spacious.
Reasonable supermarket 5-7 minute drive away in Puidoux. Quaint but tiny beach at Rivaz for swimming in the lake - some steep hill roads to get there, though. Walks through the myriad of vineyards on the hills are lovely. Chexbres is a lovely town, but Saint Saphorin village is just exquisite. Again we were fortunate enough to be here during the latter’s weekend music festival. Vevey, Montreux, Lausanne all short car rides away.
A car is essential here, by the way. And you need to be happy with steep hill manoeuvres on narrow roads - we had to do a few uphill reverse parking manoeuvres, to park the car in the dedicated off road space. Our hire car handled it no problem. There are buses and trains down in Chexbres, but its quite a walk uphill to the AirBnB if so.
Both bedrooms lovely - both have motorised metal shutters - ideal for bright summer when you want darkness to aid sleep. The apartment is spacious - and very well provisioned, and very clean. We lacked nothing when making self-catered fresh meals. There is a modern gas-fired barbecue on the patio too - which we made good use of!
OK, I hear you ask, any negatives? It almost feels wrong to list any - they were minor in comparison for us - but (1) no bath - only two shower rooms, so if your idea of holiday is lazing in the bath for an hour reading a book, maybe look elsewhere. (But maybe not!) (2) Mattresses were pretty firm - in case that’s an issue. But whilst they’re not our favourite, actually we slept perfectly well on them. (3) Perhaps for some the constant distant motorway noise might be the kind of urban sound you are wishing to get away from. Remember, this AirBnB is in a semi-rural location on the edge of an urban sprawl across the north of Lac Leman - the beneficial flip-side to this being that you can be on the motorway within minutes from the property to go exploring near and distant mountains and cities alike. Errr, struggling to find any more negatives to list.
WE LOVED IT HERE!
Now, please just don’t book the dates we want to return on in the future, but other than that, go ahead and book yourself in! You’ll be warmly welcomed by little Pepite, their lovely dog!