Walking in the Alps - self catering

Out of interest, why not huts? Many have private rooms etc

Air b n b I suppose would work but a hotel could be cheaper if you are staying in a new town / village each day. Most Air bnb type places  have a minimum stay ime  

If you are staying in one place there are loads to choose from. 

You've probably already had a look but to state the obvious there's all sorts of stuff on Booking.com and most are quite happy with a one-night booking for last minute bookings. We find prices drop on the day of arrival so start looking around luchtime when we have a good idea of where we'll end up. If that fails there's a 1kg MSR tent in the rucksac for a miserable night. 🙂 Ski resorts are good bet, if all else fails there will be a covered area somewhere.

Is the aim here more privacy, costs cutting or control of diet by cooking your own food?

I ask in the spirit of trying to help

Yeah, it's dietary requirements. Experience has shown that the best way to avoid disappointing outcomes is to be cooking ourselves, which means either carrying more than we really want to or self catering somewhere 

So we've been reflecting on how the last couple of trips have worked out for us and come to the conclusion we're probably better off being based in one or two places and doing day trips instead. 

You don't say mode of transport, which I would imagine would be quite important for recommendations.

We've based ourselves in Visp/Fiesch which was easy to get to by train from Geneve airport. It gave us access to valais alps north and Zermatt/Saas Fee area South. Trains are regular and from memory the bus station is right outside the train station in Visp.

I like Aosta/Aosta valley, but you'd need transport to get to the best alpine day walk places

Ecrin park is also a favourite, but limited or no cable car access to higher walks and you'd need transport IMO. Somewhere like Ailfroide/la berade would be quite limiting and difficult to get to, without a car.  I don't know what the quality of lower level walking is like. Maybe Bourg d'oisans could be a base for a while and then Ailfroide (if you have a car).

Chamonix/Argentiere would be an obvious one as there are cable cars scattered up and down the valley in all directions to get you up to different high walking areas.

We really loved the Bernese Oberland for its incredible transport network and vast array of walking options. It must be possible to put something together here as there are some high villages with no car access, like Murren and wengen

 I wonder if you could do a sort of Tour of the Chamonix valley using cable cars to drop down to accommodation