Arguably one of the world’s most famous ski resorts, and certainly one of the best-known in France, La Plagne started as a ski resort in 1961. Hugely popular with both Brits and French, La Plagne has something for everyone, which is why so many visitors keep coming back, season after season. And with the easy hop over to Les Arcs, intermediate and advanced skiers have 425kms of piste of the immense Paradiski to play on.
La Plagne is actually made up of 11 separate and distinct villages, so you can’t actually “stay” in La Plagne – in fact, you’ll need to be based in one of the separate villages, none of which are called “La Plagne”(!)
The higher altitude resorts of La Plagne including Plagne Bellecote, Aime La-Plagne, Plagne 1800, Plagne Centre are modern and purpose-built and whilst it’s true they don’t have the most beautiful architecture in the world, the stunning mountain scenery certainly makes up for it.
The four more traditional villages including Montchavin and Les Coches are very pretty, and the magical Narnia-esque tree-lined runs with the backdrop of the magnificent Mont Blanc will definitely fill up your Instagram!
We have chosen to be based in Montchavin Les Coches because it’s right in the middle of the Paradiski, so you can easily ski both La Plagne and Les Arcs.
The skiing in La Plagne is truly excellent – there are 225kms of pistes of all types, and varied terrain from tree-lined blues to white-knuckle, couloir-style blacks. There’s around 130 pistes and you can actually ski its entirety on blue runs, so even a beginner can cover good ground.
What we also love in La Plagne is the off piste – it’s far less well known than other resorts for the powder, which has one big advantage – it gets less tracked out, less quickly. Plus we also have one of the world’s top 10 accessible off-piste runs in the North Face of the Bellecote, which is well worth a go (with a guide please!). There are also some easily accessible couloirs off the Roche de Mio – and on a powder day, if you head out early enough, you should be able to get some great first tracks under the Arpette and Inversens lifts.
As well as the volume of runs, the skiing has great vertical too – ranging from 1,250m to a whopping 3,250m. Combine that with skiing on a glacier and La Plagne truly is a snow-sure resort, and has something to offer every type of skier.