Lovely Bareges apartment, well equipped, great views, two bedrooms, wi-fi, pool - Helios 106

We had a wonderful stay at the Helios in Bareges. The apartment was very well equipped, warm and comfortable and has great views of the Pyrenees. It also has wifi that was good enough to do some very heavy duty design and publishing work that I had actually arranged to return to London early to complete. Comfortable chairs and good lighting meant evenings in front of the telly (including a BBC channel) were possible.

Barges is quite unusual for a ski resort in that it is a "real” village – complete with a school, several bars, a few restaurants and a well-stocked supermarket. It is just a few minutes' drive or (free) bus ride from the ski slopes. The bus stops outside the Helios. Good walks are said to start within a few metres.

Barges is part of “Grand Tourmalet” the largest French Pyrenean ski area and we had large amounts of great snow and saw loads of runs from easy to expert and heard about, but did not try, a long off-piste run from the nearby attraction of the Pic du Midi observatory – doable only with a qualified guide, I believe.

Self-catering is a great option in Bareges because we discovered that its excellent butcher, a few metres away from the Helios, specialises in the only appellation controllé lamb in Europe – bred, raised and slaughtered in the area, it's a revelation for carnivores. The apartment had a full complement of cooking equipment and a good micro/oven to enjoy our purchases. Village restaurants were also good. Try the Isba for traditional French catering and Le Hotel Central for upmarket and modern cuisine.

You should not miss Les Thermes, the village’s recently modernised spa – apparently they were built by Napoleon for wounded veterans of La Grande Armée because the local hot springs are reputed to be particularly efficacious for gunshot wounds. Today you can get a mud bath or a massage; a bain hydroxeur – available in a room for two (or solo) – is good fun – a super-strength jacuzzi.

Local bars are full of character(s), including, on our trip, French soldiers learning to ski whose politeness and good manners were a revelation to a couple of Brits.

The owners Pete and Jude are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful and keep the apartment spotless. It was as described in their materials.

We would certainly recommend this apartment.

One note of caution: The pre-book-only shuttle bus from Lourdes airport to Bareges seems a great idea, but it is obviously having teething problems, so make sure you have a print-out of your online