Part of the vast Paradiski ski area, La Plagne combines incredible skiing with a collection of high-altitude resorts and traditional mountain villages, making it an excellent choice for families, groups and skiers of all abilities. Linked with Les Arcs by the spectacular Vanoise Express cable car, La Plagne forms part of Paradiski, offering an enormous 425 km of interconnected pistes. With 70% of the ski area above 2,000 m, snow reliability is excellent and there’s enough variety to keep even the keenest skier exploring all week.
La Plagne has an excellent reputation for beginners and intermediates, with plenty of wide, confidence-building pistes and dedicated learning areas. Long cruising blues and reds connect its different villages and landscapes, taking you from wide open high-altitude slopes to atmospheric woodland runs lower down the mountain. More experienced skiers shouldn’t underestimate La Plagne either, with challenging reds and blacks and some superb off-piste skiing, particularly around Bellecôte and its famous North Face.
Head towards Live 3000 and the landscape changes again. The Glaciers gondola carries visitors from Roche de Mio towards La Plagne’s highest terrain, with spectacular panoramic views across the surrounding glaciers and mountains.
And then there’s Les Arcs. The extraordinary Vanoise Express spans the valley between La Plagne and Peisey-Vallandry, opening up an entirely different mountain to explore. Keen skiers can easily cross between the two sides during the same day, while those staying in Montchavin and Les Coches are particularly well positioned to take advantage of the connection. La Plagne’s real strength is its variety: you can cruise gentle blues one morning, ski through the trees after lunch and spend the next day exploring the slopes of Les Arcs.
Why You Will Love It: La Plagne offers fantastic variety, from gentle tree-lined pistes and traditional mountain villages to high-altitude skiing and the enormous Paradiski area. With so many different villages to choose from and 425 km of skiing extending across to Les Arcs, it works brilliantly for families, groups and mixed abilities.
One of the things that makes La Plagne unusual is that there isn’t one single resort. Instead, it’s made up of a collection of villages at different altitudes, each offering its own atmosphere and style of holiday. Belle Plagne, at 2,050m, is an attractive pedestrianised high-altitude resort with excellent ski-in/ski-out access, while Plagne Centre sits at the heart of the lift network and provides a convenient base for exploring the mountain. Plagne Soleil and Plagne Villages offer quieter slopeside accommodation, while Plagne 1800 has a more intimate chalet-style atmosphere and a fascinating history linked to La Plagne’s former lead and silver mine. Aime 2000, with its distinctive modernist architecture, occupies one of the highest positions in the resort. Lower down the mountain, Montalbert, Montchavin, Les Coches and Champagny-en-Vanoise offer equally good access to the ski area with more traditional Alpine character.
There’s plenty to do when you’re not skiing too. La Plagne is home to France’s only Olympic bobsleigh and skeleton track, originally built for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, where you can experience the 19-bend course for yourself. For something completely different, Aérolive offers a unique open-air journey towards Live 3000 aboard one of two specially designed Glaciers gondola cabins with no windows or walls. Over in Les Arcs, you can take to the skies on the spectacular zip line.
Across the villages you’ll find a huge variety of winter activities, including ice skating, dog sledding, snowshoeing, paragliding, winter walking, ski touring, swimming and spa treatments. La Plagne also hosts a packed calendar of events throughout the season, from traditional torchlight descents to La Gorzderette, Champagny-en-Vanoise’s wonderfully quirky winter sports festival. Other highlights include the spectacular Born to Be Show in Plagne Centre and the end-of-season Mega Bell Course, which combines skiing with plenty of fun and unusual challenges.
Whether you’re looking for easy access to miles of skiing, a family-friendly base or the atmosphere of a traditional mountain village, La Plagne’s variety means you can choose the part of the resort that suits your holiday rather than having to compromise.
