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.

I'm looking to book a holiday for me and my daughter from 30th March. Considering 1800 - you think it will be ok for snow by then? For context, my daughter (13) will have just come back from a first time skiing trip with school and I haven't skied for years (husband is a hater hence the girls holiday) so pretty much both beginners.

Avoriaz and Montnegevre are also in the mix.

We go to 1950 every year and love it. You can book self catering apartments on Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia or through Pierre & Vacance. Every apartment block is ski-in-ski-out and ski school is easy to get to from all of them, so it's great for beginners.

The resort is car free, so very child friendly. I'd recommend booking accommodation in either Prince des Cimes, Hameau du Glacier or Refuge du Montagnard if you want access to the indoor pool (which is in Prince des Cimes). All of the other blocks have access to an outside pool / sauna / gym (pools are small, though).

Beginners might not need a lift pass on the first day, but you definitely will later in the week, so it's usually cheaper to buy the six day family pass.

Last funicular is at 9pm, so think you'd need to get a taxi if arriving after that.

We're staying in 1800 from the 30th. It'll be fine for snow. We were there the same week last year. It's a bit slushy down at 1800 from about lunchtime, but there's such easy access to the higher slopes from 1800 that you'll be absolutely fine. The Mille 8 run is great fun. It's a green in 1800.

Super helpful @RhubarbFairy and @allchildrengrowup. Thank you 😊

Unless total beginners they'll need lift passes straight away. You might get away with it for the first morning if they are total beginners but usually instructors like to take them off to a quiet spot on the mountain once they've gotten past the first morning.

Taxi from Bourg St Maurice station is the easiest. But book in advance, just google and send them an email unless your French is polished. Most will speak basic English but it's helpful to have a clear air/dep time on paper to avoid misunderstandings

Will look into a taxi. Did you book ahead with a local taxi company?

Might be a silly question but where do you buy the lift passes. We arrive on Sunday.

You can buy then from the lift pass office in 1950. https://www.seelesarcs.com/ski-passes/offices/arc-1950-ski-pass-office-les-arcs-1950-47359

Download the Paradiski Yuge app. It's excellent. You can buy your passes on there ahead of time and then you just go and collect the physical card when you arrive. You can do this at a self serve machine.

We're arriving after 10pm on Saturday, and gave booked a taxi from the station to resort.

Just to flag that everything will be closed in 1950 when you arrive. So you won't be able to get a table in a restaurant or pizzeria that late.
There's a restaurant La Belle Vache (?) which has a big red cow outside that does takeaway pizzas but closes around 10.
So if only arriving into Bourg station at ten it's worth getting food on the train or bringing multiple picnics.

We're staying in 1800 and are bringing supplies, plus eating en route. Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

Sorry for jumping on this thread, how are you getting the train? Eurostar from London? What route do you take? Thanks

Good morning from snowy Les Arcs. We arrived last night. 16 hours door to door by train.

Yes, we got the Eurostar to Paris. We then went Paris-Lyon and Lyon-Bourg St Maurice. The most stressful part of it was navigating Gare du Nord as the ticket machines had ridiculous queues with people being clueless about what they needed, so we bought the tickets on our phones via the SCNF app. But it gets moody if you have more than one ticket on there and the contactless is temperamental. The first barrier I ended up tailgating someone as DH and the DC got through but mine was being a dick. The second one, we got the DC through and then both our phones wouldn't let us through. But we were saved by a guard who scanned us through the big gate as we had two giant cases. Next time I'd just buy one ticket per phone and take a DC through with each of us.

We bought an interrail ticket for the 4 of us and opted for First Class as standard was around £750 and First was £900. Worth absolutely every penny.

This was our route and the timings. We had three hours in Paris as I waited too long to book that train so availability on the earlier ones sold out. However, it worked for us as we went for some food and I was able to run a last minute unexpected errand. The blocked out one is our local station to London. We also got a taxi either side. 5 minutes on the home side and 20 minutes on the Les Arcs side. That 4 hour journey stops at loads of stations, including Chambéry for 32 minutes. Next time I'll be savvier with my booking and try to book a more direct one. That journey could have been at least an hour shorter.