Resort Review
Eleven individual resorts make up the area known as La Plagne. Huge investments of cash and massive developments over the past 30 years have seen the skiing terrain extended from the original lower villages of Montchavin (1250m) and La Coches (1450m) to the very high modern developments of Plagne Centre (1870m) and Belle Plagne (2050m); the list goes on, with Plagne Montalbert (1350m), Plagne Bellecote (1930m) and Plagne 1800m.
This array of resorts gives the winter sports enthusiast a huge choice of slopes of varying degrees of difficulty. There are 210km of ski runs which favour beginners and intermediate skiers the most. Eleven green, 70 blue and 33 red pistes complement only 6 black runs. From the Glacier de Bellecote (3250m) you can ski either red or black; there is a very good testing run which begins black and changes to red right down to Les Bauches (1800m) with a series of chair lifts linking back to Dos Rond and L'Arpette (2400m) before skiing across to Plagne Bellecote (1930m).
However, if you ski the region of La Plagne and Les Arcs combined (now re-named Paradiski) then you can make use of 239 pistes, 425 km of runs, enjoy two glaciers at over 3000m with a combined 29 blacks, 66 reds, 132 blues and 12 green runs. Enough for everyone! the two areas are linked by the twin cable car link known as the Vanoise Express - and very impressive it is - providing you have a head for heights!
Very much of the skiing area around the new high resorts is moderately flat so blues and red runs abound. Apart from peak Christmas, February holidays and Easter time, there is little or no waiting because there are so many lifts. A cable car, 8 gondolas, 32 chairs and 70 drag lifts ensure plenty of uphill transport.
By way of a change you can try your skill on the Olympic bobsleigh run which is open until March. One thing skiers will enjoy are the wide motorway runs as well as descents through tree-lined slopes. Apres ski facilities are also excellent, as are the extensive choice of restaurants and bistros. Much of the food is French orientated with good local specialities.
For parents there are numerous kindergarten facilities which usually take youngsters from the age of two years - the exception is the kindergarten at La Coches which takes babies from 9 months.
The region is marketed in the UK by Erna Low, a company which also handles the sale of properties at the relatively new resort of Arc 1950.
You can reach La Plagne in around 10 hours by car from Calais following the Autoroute (peage) link down to Lyon and the Tarentaise. Alternatively, there is the Snow Train or flights into Lyon, Chamberg or Grenoble from the UK.
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