Review of La Plagne

14th April 2008 by Alistair Bell 

I have recently come back from a week spent in La Plagne where I stayed in Chalet Michelle, Plagne 1800, run by Thomson/Crystal. The chalet itself was compact and bijou but adequate for a week. The food provided by our host Ian was superb.

Although 1800 is separate from main departure areas for lifts it has its own small nursery area and access chair to the slopes of Aime la Plagne and beyond. La Mine provided good evening entertainment, Mamma Mias excellent Pizza, Budou Sports helpful service. There are other sport shops, bars and restaurants and a local info centre.

My girlfriend had group lessons with ESF and found them to be no more than glorified guiding. Granted day 1 was evaluating abilities, days 2 and 4 it snowed all day, but still she and others expressed concern. We paid for her to have a private lesson with Oxygene based in Plagne Centre which she found superb, and her instructor was “well fit, but married”. Others in the chalet had private lesson with ESF which they enjoyed also. It appears that group lessons booked through uk tour operators are seen as money spinners!

The slopes were excellent and varied with enough to amuse complete beginners through to experts. Most runs were well groomed, but some got ignored which could cause problems for timid people as you did not know which runs had not been pisted. Champagny was always superbly looked after and has a great area for fast carving and mixed abilities. Centre as its name suggests is the main hub and serves all types of runs for everyone. Runs from Roche de Mio are long with good snow. I was enjoying myself so much that I didn’t even venture to Montchavin/Les Coches or Montalbert, but others in the chalet found both areas to be excellent on the snowy days, especially for those with less experience.

Food in general was good, if a little pricey, but then our exchange rate is awful and the French do big lunches so you did get a lot for your money. La Maison in Centre for steak is worth a trip. Scotty’s also in centre does great sharing food like ribs, chicken wings etc and if you get in with the seasonaires they may get you a discount!

Drinking is expensive with coke costing the same as beer £3 for small, £5 for large. Supermarkets however were very reasonable.

There were other activities on offer such as parapenting, skidoos and bobsleigh runs but I was there to ski.

Overall I found La Plagne to be an excellent resort with a wide selection of runs which meant that queuing was only really a problem at the end of the day as people wanted to get back to their own sector. I would go there again.

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