I’ve just got back from an amazing week away in La Plagne with 19 other ‘up for it’ ski friends staying at Skiworld’s Altesse Chalet in La Plagne 1800. So much so, I thought I’d share my top ten reasons for visiting La Plagne and a share a few things to avoid.
Snow family 2012
1. Lunch at La Loop bar. We stumbled across La Loop bar about 150m from our chalet which proved a fine mountain restaurant for our first lunch in resort. With a friendly laid back atmosphere we ended up making La Loop one of our regular après bars for vin chaud and Desparado.
2. Snowcard. Don’t fancy expensive mountain restaurants? Pick up a snowcard at the beginning of your holiday for 5€ and enjoy up to 40% off at 13 mountain restaurants across La Plagne and Les Arcs where you can choose from a wide selection including (on most menus) tartiflette, spag bol, soup, pizza and chips plus drink for approx 12€ in most places. Some places even through in a hot drink. We enjoyed some leisurely lunches at: Roche de Mio, Grande Rochette and La Roche in La Plagne and Arpette over in Les Arcs.
Lunch at La Roche
3. Bar crawl. For 10€ bar crawl with Skiworld starts off in Les Plagne 1800 at the Bobsleigh bar with downing a toffee vodka shot off a ski, followed by Spittin’ Feathers in Bellecotte, Igloo bar, Scotty’s and Mouth in Plagne Centre (although by that stage they could of been on any level!). Word of warning… if you’re planning on partying into the early hours make sure you wear good shoes for the trek home, otherwise if like me you’ll be sliding home down the slope on your sweet derrière!
Ski shots anyone?
4. Need some R&R? Head up to Plagne Centre where for 25€ in the mini shopping centre you can have a Jacuzzi, sauna and hammam.
5. Chalet host night off. Fancy French cuisine, then book a table at Aime 2000 L’Arlequin for a traditional French evening run by a lovely couple. Take your pick from raclette, cheese / meat fondue, hot plate and tartiflette.
Dinner at L’Arlequin
6. La Mine Bar. If you like live music and an upbeat atmosphere. Head to La Mine bar in La Plagne 1800, reminiscent of a cave, but don’t let looks put you off as this is a friendly French bar who on our fancy dress evening the band let our friend play drums to Prince’s Kiss.
7. Ski Lessons. We choose Oxygene for a 2 and a half hour afternoon ski lesson polishing our parallel turns, carving and mogul skills for approx 40€ each in a group of 3. Julien the instructor was your typical French ski instructor: tanned, good looking and an amazing skier – oh and his English wasn’t too bad either!
Post ski lesson apres drinks!
8. Champagny En Vanoise. Not only are the views of Courcheval spectacular from the top of the Roche de Mio on the Champagny side, the snow is awesome and there is an amazing restaurant before you reach the Carella lift and perfect for sunbathing.
And who said deck chairs were just for the beach…
9. Plagne Montablert to the far right of the Paradiski is a low down resort at 1350m has the perfect cruising blue runs to blow away the cob webs in the morning and some fabulous loos in resort as well!
Sunny Plagne Montalbert
10. Just add a good bunch of friends who are all up for a laugh on and off piste which makes the perfect recipe for a great snow holiday!
Where’s Wally?
And what to avoid in La Plagne?
1. Last bus home at 12.30. Unless you fancy walking or in my case shuffling down the slope on your bum.
2. Free flowing shots from the Mouth nightclub. I thought being put to bed my by best friend on a Skiworld bar crawl in Meribel back in 2004 was bad, but too much shots and losing the ability to stand up on snow meant I was a little bit poorly sick… 🙂
3. Oxygene night sledging. Just avoid full stop.
4. Slalom down the Sardane on kids day. Unless you fancy a telling off by a French ESF instructor.
5. Route des bauches down to the Vanoise Express. Unless you like roads!
Here’s to 2012 and bring on 2013! xxx
