Chalet Bonami is a converted farmhouse of 450 m² in Les Bois, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. Six bedrooms, five en-suite bathrooms, fourteen people at most. A group of eight uses four or five of those bedrooms depending on who is sharing with whom, and each one comes with its own bathroom.
- Chalet Bonami gives a group of 8 the run of 450 m² (4,840 sq ft) in Les Bois, 3 km (2 miles) north of central Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and 550 m from the Flégère gondola.
- The chalet has five en-suite bathrooms across six bedrooms. With eight of you, four or five bedrooms are in use and each keeps its own.
- Two of the five king-size beds split into twins, so a group that is not all couples still gets everyone a proper bed.
- €8,600 to €32,200 per week for the whole chalet, spa and the end-of-stay clean included. The date sets that gap, not your numbers.
- Self-catered and booked direct, one point of contact from first email to keys, three-night minimum and an arrival day you choose.
Eight people at Chalet Bonami: who sleeps where
Chalet Bonami has six bedrooms, five of them with a king-size bed and an en-suite bathroom. With eight of you, four or five are in use. What decides it is the make-up of your group, not its size.
The sixth is a bunk room sleeping four. With eight of you nothing obliges you to use it, and nothing stops you either: you rent the house whole, every room included.
| Type of bedroom | How many | Beds | En-suite bathroom |
|---|---|---|---|
| King-size, fixed | 3 | 1 king-size bed | Yes: shower, bath, WC in its own cubicle |
| King-size, splits into twins | 2 | 1 king-size bed or 2 single beds | Yes: shower and WC in the first, shower, bath and separate WC in the second |
| Bunk room | 1 | 2 bunks, so 4 beds | No. There if you want it, not needed at 8 |
| Total | 6 bedrooms | 14 beds | 5 en-suites |
Count your sleeping units instead of your heads: a couple counts as one, a person travelling alone counts as one. Up to five units, everyone gets a bedroom and a bathroom. Beyond that, solo travellers pair up in the two twin rooms, two separate beds and one bathroom between them, up to those four places.
The table below counts adults. A group bringing children puts them in the bunk room, which frees up bedrooms accordingly.
| Group of 8 | Bedrooms in use | En-suite bathrooms | What that gives you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 couples | 4 | 4 | One king-size bedroom and its bathroom left over |
| 3 couples and 2 solo travellers | 4 or 5 | 4 or 5 | The two solos share a twin room, or take one each and fill the house |
| 2 couples and 4 solo travellers | 4 | 4 | The solos take the two twin rooms, two to a room. One king-size bedroom left over |
| 1 couple and 6 solo travellers | 5 | 5 | Four solos in twin rooms, two to a room; the other two get one each |
| 8 solo travellers | 5, or 6 with the bunk room | 5 | Seven get a bed to themselves. The eighth shares a king-size or opens the bunk room, the only room without a bathroom of its own |
None of those five bedrooms is without a bathroom, and none shares one with the room next door. The bunk room is the only one without, and at eight nobody has to open it. Every room is listed item by item on the chalet page.
What the two splitting beds change at eight
A group of friends rarely divides into four neat couples, which is where the two splitting beds earn their keep. Taken apart they give four single beds, on top of the three king-size beds in the rooms that do not split.
So seven people at most get a bed to themselves without the bunk room coming into it. The eighth either shares a king-size or opens the bunk room. That is the only limit on sleeping arrangements at eight, and it only applies to a group of eight people all travelling alone.
What "sleeps 8" usually hides in Chamonix
Open the eight-person pages of the valley's agencies and most of the properties on them sleep ten to fourteen. That is not sloppy filing. Small luxury chalets barely exist in Chamonix, because houses in this bracket are converted farms or recent builds designed for large groups.
The ones genuinely built for eight tend to run to four bedrooms and two or three bathrooms, often with a bunk room making up the numbers. British operators reach eight another way, with a triple or a quad room that is en-suite on paper and holds three or four adults in practice. Either way, two couples end up sharing a bathroom, or two adults end up in bunk beds because the house offers nothing else.
So the line worth checking is not the headline number: at eight you want one en-suite bathroom per bedroom in use, which means four or five of them. A listing that does not give you that ratio tells you nothing about what you are buying.
Where the chalet sits, and how far the lifts are
Les Bois is a hamlet of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc between Les Praz and Le Lavancher, 3 km (2 miles) north of the town centre. The chalet faces the Drus and the Aiguille Verte, two summits of the Mont Blanc massif, with meadows and forest around it. This is the quiet side of the valley, five to six minutes by road from the shops.
Allow 550 m (600 yards) between the chalet door and the Flégère gondola, which serves the Brévent-Flégère ski area, one of the valley's four. No piste reaches the house: you cover those 550 m on foot with your skis, on the shuttle bus or by car, in the morning and again coming back from the gondola.
A standard airport transfer van seats eight, so a group of eight travels from Geneva in a single vehicle. Allow about an hour and a quarter by road. Once here, a group skiing Brévent-Flégère needs no car at all; the valley's three other ski areas, Grands Montets at Argentière, Balme above Le Tour and Les Houches at the far end, are reached by car or on the Saint-Gervais to Vallorcine train, with Les Tines the nearest stop.
Eight of you fit in one transfer van, but you also fit in two hire cars, which is often the cheaper route and gives you the valley's other ski areas. If you hire, note that winter tyres or chains are compulsory across Haute-Savoie from 1 November to 31 March, Chamonix included, and Swiss hire desks do not always fit them by default.
Read more: Which part of the Chamonix valley to stay in
The rooms you notice with a group of eight
Eight people in a house built for fourteen shows up first at the tables. The dining table seats ten and the sheltered balcony has a larger one for eating outside; the spare table for four in the living room only comes out above ten.
The kitchen is self-catered and set up for a group that cooks: a Miele multi-function oven, a KitchenAid steam oven and microwave, a stand mixer, a Smeg blender and hand blender, a Jura bean-to-cup coffee machine, two fridges, and a fondue and raclette set. A private chef can be booked for a single dinner, for the evenings you pick or for full board across the week.
There are three spa rooms: a steam room holding four to six, a sauna holding six, and a hot tub for six out on the covered deck. Eight is too many for any single one of them and comfortable across any two, whichever pair you end up in. The hot tub runs hot all week, arrival day included.
Then there are the rooms you go to when you have had enough of the other seven: a cinema room with a 4 m screen, a gym kitted out by Technogym, a wine cellar, a children's playroom.
Bonami's tip: tell us how you want the beds made up when you book, not when you arrive. Two of the rooms go up as a king-size or as twins, and that choice is made before you open the door. Groups of eight often change shape between booking and departure, and it is the detail people forget to mention.
Read more: Catered or self-catered in Chamonix
What a week for eight costs
A week at Chalet Bonami is €8,600 to €32,200 for the whole house. The gap runs from one to nearly four depending on the date, between a quiet week and the week of New Year: it is the week you choose that sets the price, never how many of you there are.
The rate does not drop because there are only eight of you. It is the house rate, tourist tax included, and it is the same at eight, ten or fourteen. That is also what explains the gap with the valley's ordinary eight-person chalets: what you are renting here is 450 m², six bedrooms and five bathrooms, of which you use the share that suits you.
| What you get | Status |
|---|---|
| End-of-stay housekeeping | Included |
| Bed linen and towels | Included |
| Steam room, sauna and hot tub | Included, no separate deposit |
| Utilities, welcome hamper, concierge | Included |
| Tourist tax | Included |
| Daily housekeeping, or a clean during the week | On request, priced separately |
| Private chef, from one dinner to full board | On request, priced separately |
| Driver and transfers, ski lessons, guiding, massages, a food shop on arrival | On request, priced separately |
The security deposit is confirmed when you book, with the quote.
Booking Chalet Bonami for eight
The arrival day is flexible and the minimum stay is three nights. A group of eight that does not want to take a full week off can come for a long weekend, and eight diaries line up more easily than fourteen.
Eight adults travelling without children have an advantage worth using: nothing ties you to February half term or the Easter holidays. The same chalet in a quiet January week sits at the bottom of the range rather than the top, and the Flégère gondola has no queue at all.
Booking goes direct, with no agency in between: the same person handles it from your first message to the keys. During the week a concierge takes over and sorts what you ask for, from a private chef to a food shop waiting when you land.
Chalet Bonami is booked direct. Send us your dates and we answer within 24 hours.
Three nights is the shortest stay we take, in any season. The February weeks, half term among them, and New Year go eight to twelve months ahead: on those dates you will be picking from what is left rather than naming a week. Quiet January and March weeks are a different story and often come up late.
Read more: Booking a chalet direct with the owner
The chalet also takes larger groups: see the Chamonix chalet for 10 people, where all five king-size bedrooms are in use.
Frequently asked questions
What groups of eight ask most often before they block out a week.
How many bedrooms and bathrooms does a group of 8 get?
Four or five bedrooms depending on how your group splits, and the same number of en-suite bathrooms, one per bedroom in use. Chalet Bonami has six bedrooms in total, five of them king-size, and five en-suite bathrooms across 450 m² in Les Bois.
Can eight of us book and have two more join mid-week?
Yes, with no supplement and no extra room to book: the house is rented whole and sleeps fourteen. Depending on how your group splits, the two arrivals take the spare bedroom or the bunk room. Let us know before you arrive so the beds are made up.
Why pay for a chalet that sleeps fourteen when there are only eight of us?
Because the rate is for the house rather than per person: at eight you pay the same week as a group of fourteen, tourist tax included. In return you get 450 m² built for fourteen, and rooms your group never uses: the bunk room always, and depending on your split a king-size bedroom with its own bathroom.
Is Chalet Bonami catered?
No. It is self-catered and rented whole, so the kitchen and the timetable are yours. If you would rather not cook every night, a chef comes in for a single dinner, for the evenings you name or for full board across the week, quoted separately. The end-of-stay clean is already in the weekly rate.
Can we book for less than a week?
Yes, from three nights, all year round, with a flexible arrival day. Short stays are quoted on request depending on the date.