Eira Ski Lodge is Baquiera’s Ski Lodge
Baqueira Beret ski resort is Spain’s largest, in the beautiful Val D’Aran of the Pyrenees. Spain is a special place to ski – culturally, scenically, historically, gastronomically, and linguistically, and often drenched in sunshine. For your first family ski trip to Spain from the UK or North America, a lovely four-star chalet is Eira Ski Lodge in Tanau, the highest village in Baquiera Beret resort at 1700 meters.
Eira means snow in Welch, but its pronounced Eda in Spanish. This convivial cozy ski Inn is British-owned and managed, and its just steps to the ski slopes and a chairlift to Baqueira Beret’s vast ski resort. Nestled in the small quiet ski village of Tanau, where the Spanish Royal family has a ski house, its a choice location for families. Eira Ski Lodge has indoor parking spaces for guests, a car is handy to visit the nearby Val D’Aran villages après ski.
What’s special about Eira is it feels like your own ski chalet, only with a Chef serving you breakfast and dinner (included in the package price) and a friendly team of mates that’ll make you a cocktail, bring you snacks and wine in the living room for aprés ski, arrange childcare, or ski instruction, even provide a massage during your stay.
Eira is ideal for several families to take over the lodge given its eight rooms, four of which have lofts and can sleep up to four. It’s also ideal for a ski group of eight couples, a guys or girls ski trip of 10-16. You can rent Eira Ski Lodge for as little as $1,900€ nightly including breakfast and dinner, as affordable as any Alps holiday.
Eira’s rooms within the efficient lodge floor plan are neat, alpine cozy, most with splendid Pyrenees views, either upstairs with lofts, or traditional rooms on the main living level. Down duvets are soft and dreamy for your big sleep after skiing.
The pace at Eira is so relaxing, at your private ski retreat. The great room with bar, living and dining room flows together opening to a spectacular mountain view. Mornings, an English breakfast buffet is displayed, and you help yourself to coffee and juice. Eggs with bacon, or pancakes, can be cooked to order by the kitchen, as you enjoy a ski slope view from the grand communal dining table with your ski house friends. Everyone can come and go as they please, from early riser first chair skiers to slower paced sleep heads.
Calafate Ski Shop is just 50 meters from the Lodge, right next to the slopes, where they’ll have your ski boots dry, warm and ready, a wonderful service for Eira guests -whether you rent from them or bring your own. The team at Calafate will swiftly outfit you with the latest ski or snowboard equipment, from their modern fleet of Atomics, Stockl, Blizzard, and more. You can set up ski lessons or a mountain guide with Calafate’s elite team of instructors too. The friendly crew at Calafate, led by Julio, will even buckle your ski boots – very Four Seasons or Deer Valley. Our ski hats are off to this most energetic and efficient ski shop crew – the best ski shop we’ve encountered.
After your amazing ski day touring Baqueira Beret’s 5,600 acres, yes that’s as big as Vail, you easily ski right back to Tanau 1700. Leave your ski gear at Calafate, and return to your comfy ski lodge for tea and cakes, or a drink from the bar, you can sit by the fireplace and play games, or enjoy the stone patio with a stunning view down the valley and a sunset.
Evenings at Eira are relaxing, no need to find dinner reservations. Appetizers are served in the living room, before all guests gather around the big dining table for a three-course meal the Chef has posted on the menu board earlier. We dined on such savory delights as duck, hake, lamb, with homemade soups to start, and delightful desserts. Kids and special diets are happily accommodated by the Chef.
Wednesday night is your opportunity to explore, its Eira’s staff night off. Dine at Sabor right in Tanau village – a cozy wine gastro bar specializing in beef. Visit nearby Veilha for “pinxto” – a fun friendly tapas style pub crawl of small plates and wines. For the real adventurer, you can dog-sled or snowmobile to dinner, from Beret to a monastery 8 kilometers into a remote valley. Montgarri Outdoors will guide you at night by snowmobile, or by mushing your dog sled along a snowy mountain path to Refugi Montgarri – a 12th century sanctuary for an amazing rustic meal cooked over an open fire in a stone castle.
Staying at Eira Ski Lodge with your family makes for a relaxed enjoyable Spanish ski holiday. The team at the Lodge takes grand care of you, and you are sharing the alpine space with other families, fun for the kids, social for the parents. Having a ski shop, Calafate, just steps from the lodge and ski slopes makes outfitting everyone in the ski family easy – snowboarders too – without having to lug so much gear back and forth.
More on Skiing Spain
Baqueira Beret Ski Resort Review
