Les Arcs 1950 or Belle Plagne

[Larsson11]

Hello All, Just wondered if anyone has stayed at either Les Arcs 1950 or Belle Plagne and had recommendations on both accomodation / ski schools for 12 & 17 year olds? Would love to stay somewhere friendly and nice perhaps with a pool. Also thinking of getting the train from London so any advice would be much appreciated. We are heading there late March.

[RhubarbFairy]

We're also heading out in late March on the train. We're going to Les Arcs, but staying in 1800.

Evolution 2 are brilliant and they have a base in 1950.

I don't know about accommodation in 1950 as we tend to stay in 1800, but it's generally considered to be of a high standard and I think a few places have pools.

What other things are you looking for as part of your holiday? We've not been to La Plagne. We'd planned to go ladt year but switched to Les Arcs based on our requirements after a couple of recommendations.

[Larsson11]

Thanks for the recommendation, will check out that ski school. That's really helpful. In terms of what we are looking for - just a chilled out time, fresh air and some relatively easy slopes. Did you find booking the trains pretty straightforward. Also, any ideas about hiring skis and do you need a lift pass.

[Roseglass]

We are heading to 1800 too late march. I've booked ski lessons with evolution 2 and will probably book ski hire with intersport as evolution 2 give you a 20% discount. This is our first ski holiday ever so I'm hoping it's going to be okay!

[Larsson11]

You'll be fine!! We are going to try evolution 2 but I think they might be full.

[HardcoreLadyType]

What about Les Coches, for the best of both worlds?

[stringbean]

Les Coches would likely be too low at the end of March - for guaranteed snow at that time of year you need a bit more altitude, so I would be looking to stay at 1800m or higher.

[Thelondonone]

1950 is better snow, good ski in/out but few bars and restaurants. It’s a fake town and feels a bit toy town like. it’s expensive and food quality was ok-huge queues at boulangerie.

belle plagne has more trees/forests and more bars but I preferred the skiing at les arcs.

[stringbean]

If you're travelling by train to Bourg St Maurice you can get a funicular direct from the train station to Arc 1600. From there you can get a shuttle bus to the other villages www.snowcarbon.co.uk/ski-resorts/les-arcs/les-arcs-transfer-guide

[Elsie42]

whilst 1950 looks nice it can be prone to being cut off in bad weather. We went at Christmas and stayed in chantel - arc 1800. There was a pool in the complex and a resort pool. The tree line in arc 1800 helps in poor weather and where the high resorts were stuck and didn’t ski much we got a full week in. Only one lift up and you can ski all the way down to the cable car to la Plagne where it is easy to get to belle plagne.

[Larsson11]

Are both belle plagne and 1950 ok for beginners - just worried about are kids as they have never skied before - are there any green runs?

[RhubarbFairy]

We're staying in Chantel in 1800 at Easter @Elsie42 We skied past it last year and I told DH that that's where we were staying next time so that we could ski to ski school and not have to walk up that flipping hill next to the Transarc to get to the ski school meet point by the Dahu lift.

@Larsson11 Stay in 1800 if you've got complete beginners, then. It's got a really long green that they start on, the Mille 8 run. It's a fun park, so there's xylophones and arches etc.

We've bought an interrail pass as that worked out the best value. You just need to book seat reservations for your chosen trains, then. It has been really simple, though due to the time we're due to arrive in Bourg, we'll get a taxi to the resort. This is my fault for not reserving our seats on an earlier train from Paris before the interrail quota of them had sold out.

Trains are getting booked up, so I'd do it sooner rather than later. What dates are you going?

You will need a lift pass, yes. Go for the Classic pass (the cheapest one). With complete beginners you won't use the Essential (access to La Plagne included in that one).

We're hiring from Précision Ski in Chantel as its at our accommodation. We booked through Alpin Resorts, and they have constant offers with a promo code. The current code is PROMOTIX. https://www.alpinresorts.com/en/ski-rental

If you stay in 1800, Evolution 2 are under the Arc Adventures umbrella from this year. We've booked with them.

[RhubarbFairy]

@Larsson11 if you are set on 1950, it will be absolutely fine for complete beginners. I don't think they've got much in the way of green, but the blues are so gentle. We learned in Austria where there are no greens, so don't let colour put you off.

However, my recommendation would still be to stay in 1800 at Chantel as that gives you the pool onsite plus it's a livelier village and and has La Folie Douce, which is fun.

[RhubarbFairy]

Also, from 1800, it's an easy hop over to Peisey-Vallandry where they have super gentle blues as well as Forêt Pitchouns, which is a longer version of Mille 8. Absolutely ideal for confidence building skis. It's tree lined and gorgeous. You can also get up into the 1950/2000 bowl really easily for access to all those lovely blues, too.

The other reason we like staying in 1800 is that it's central. All of the villages are really accessible from there. You just need to decide where to go left (1950/2000) or right (Peisey-Vallandry).

[stringbean]

Just wanted to check if Chantel is the Alpages de Chantel? Stayed there many years ago and it wasn't recommended for scratch beginners at the time as it was directly on a slope and you had to ski down to the village/ski school meeting point and ski back to the accommodation via a chairlift. Maybe it's changed since - this was in about 2000 - so is it more accessible now?

[Elsie42]

yes it’s that area but there are lots of other apartment blocks there and a dedicated cable car to take you to the village and back up again. The Dahu lift

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Have stayed in Les Arcs 1800, 1950 and 2000.
Skied in La plagne a few times but never stayed there.

Snow in my experience has been better in Les arcs but it could be because the point that you cross over from Peisey to La Plagne is south facing so much icier.

1800 is more central so choice in both directions on the mountain. Can be vv busy/icy at the base of the slopes as a result.
Skiing across the whole resort is excellent for beginners - loads of big wide blues, some lovely greens between 1800 and Vallandry but it's really not an issue. My kids got on fine in 1950 and really enjoyed the ski in ski out aspect. There were lots of new travelators and other gizmos too.

Trains were all booked for the Easter weekend when I looked. If later in the holidays I would def go for 1950 as more snow sure.

[Larsson11]

We have managed to book some afternoon ski lessons with evolution at 1950 so would prefer to stay near there. Any recommendations of somewhere nice to stay? Thought I might look at Le Manoir Savoie and Residence & Spa Les Sources de Marie in Arc 1950. I would rather spend a bit of extra money and stay somewhere nice as long as we can get to the lessons easy enough.

[RhubarbFairy]

1950 is set up for simplicity. Everywhere will be accessible to the ski school, so just pick wherever takes your fancy. It's a well thought out village.

Re trains: SNCF released additional tickets on Wednesday. Travelling out Easter Saturday, there is currently availability on both Eurostar and onward trains from Paris.

[stringbean]

@Elsie42

yes it’s that area but there are lots of other apartment blocks there and a dedicated cable car to take you to the village and back up again. The Dahu lift

Ah, that's good to know

[saz2022]

We are going to Belle Plagne. Good for beginners. We've been to BP many times and are going with Crystal to Les Balcons hotel which has a pool / spa apparently too.

[biarritz]

I prefer Les Arcs to La Plagne and if you are going by train Les Arcs is definitely easier to get to as others have said. I recently searched for availability in March and a lot of the better accommodation in Les Arcs had sold out and train was already getting expensive. So I would not leave it any later. If you are thinking late March it can be very slushy in Arc 1800 at the end of the day so I'd say Arc 2000 is a better base and there are good beginner runs in that area. 1950 is also good. We stayed in Manor Savoie once. Having said this Arc 1800 has some things going for it...like easier to get to via the funicular and a short bus ride so it would still be a good choice as long as you don't mind a bit of slush on the last run home.

[Larsson11]

thanks for your advice - we have booked ski school and trains just need to sort out accommodation in 1950. Do you think we need to buy lift passes as the kids are beginners. Also out train doesn't get into Bourg-Saint-Maurice until 10pm any idea the best way to the village that time of night?

[biarritz]

I would have thought the kids would need lift passes for Les arcs. I’d check with the ski school. If you are arriving at 10pm you’d have to book a taxi I think. However I’d suggest booking eurostar to Lille or Paris the night before, staying in a cheap ibis styles or Novotel and getting an early train to Bourg on the Saturday. Then you could arrive in resort at lunchtime and have plenty of time to sort ski hire out etc and buy food for the week.

[RhubarbFairy]

We're on a similar train. Gets us in at 2245. We're going to get a taxi.

[RhubarbFairy]

And yes, they'll need passes from day 1.

When are you going out? We arrive on the 30th March.