I have to say out of all the Esrit holidays I've had I probably enjoyed this one the least. Its the only Esprit place I would never go back to. Maybe its just not my thing, I think I've definetly decided I prefer smaller chalets.
The good things;
Snow Rangers were fab.
DD loved Coco Club
DD was the only child in her ski group so had private tuition all week!
There is free Wifi.
The rooms are very nice, fantastic view, bigger than any other room I've stayed in. Flat screen TV, DVD player.
The not so good things;
I found the hotel too big and too impersonal. Nobody talks to anyone and I missed that part of getting to know other people. We were sat with the same 2 people for dinner every night. Luckily they were really nice and we got on, if we hadn't then it would have been crap.
There is no decent seating area. There is a bar and sofa area in the hotel lobby. But it really is like sitting in a hotel lobby and you wouldn't wonder down there with a book and chill out like in other chalets I've been to.
The pool was too cold, other parents ignored the no chldren in the hot tubs rule and the indoor hot tub were full of screaming, jumping kids. The kids then must have weeed in the hot tub as a few days later it was shut for maintanence.
The hotel isn't secure. French people sneak in the door near the outside hot tub and use the saunas, hot tubs.
The service is terribly slow. They can't start everyones' meals at the same time so one night will call in tables 1-14 first, then 30 minutes later the next tables. Swap over the following night. It can be after 9:00pm by the time you get starters. And it can then be a long wait for main course.
Kids menus were a bit odd. Maybe its my fault that DD isn't a great eater but other parents said the same. Fish mornay? We had tears over the meal most nights. I'm on holiday and can't be doing with it.
Our room was on the first floor and right oevr the kitchen. Kitchen staff had a loud stereo on full blast while they cleaned up till gone 11:00pm every night. This kept us awake. We had to ring up reception every night about it.
Coffee is £4 in the bar
Beer is £6 a pint! There are no coffee making facilities/kettles in the rooms. Bloody rip off.
Quality of the food varied. I had boiled potatoes one night that were rock solid.
The snow was in terrible condition but guess I can't blame Esprit for that. I also dropped my purse in the middle of a blue run and realised 5 mins later. Some fecker has had it as it wasn't handed in. So lost my holiday money and cards. Agan can't blame Esprit but didn't help the holiday.
La Plagne seemed nice and if the snow had been better I think the skiing would have been fab. We skiied over to Les Arcs one day which is worth doing.
Belle Plagne itself is really small, not a great choice of restaurants but we had a meal out at La Belle Cloche which was nice. The mountain restaurant near the bottom of the Hari Kari run over towards Champagny is good, think its called the Belvedere or something like that. Another good restaurant is below the Roche De Mio cable car, not the restaurant right at the cable car station but a little lower down as if you were heading for the Le Tunnel run. Great lasagna there.
Some friends stayed with Esprit in a different resort the same week as us. He's celiac so payed an extra £25 so they could cater for gluten free stuff. They cooked him a cake which they swore was gluten free, he ate a slice and was ill afterwards. He confronted the chalet staff who still swore they were using gluten free flour but when he asked to see the packet of flour suprise, suprise they reckoned they'd used it all up