Christmas Skiing in La Plagne and Les Arcs

The joys of a Christmas ski trip are plain to see. Guaranteed snow on Christmas morning? This alone should be enough. Now that’s been settled, there are a couple of choices to make. Which resort deserves your Christmas spirit and what sort of accommodation will be best suit your group/ your tree.

Christmas always happens to be at the same time each year, which means it is always the early season. So to ensure that snow on Christmas morning, it is useful to get yourself to a higher resort if possible.

The Paradiski resorts of Les Arcs and La Plagne come into their own here. Not only do they have a fantastic amount of choice and variation in accommodation, but they are also high up and ideal for families.

Lets run through a few of the points to consider before you go ahead and secure your place for a dream week of Christmas skiing.

Why Paradiski

As we have mentioned, the Paradiski brings a lot to the table when it comes to Christmas week. Firstly, Christmas is for families, right? Well, luckily Les Arcs and La Plagne are both firm favourites for family ski holidays, due to their massive variety of skiing and abundance of non-skiing facilities.

Starting with La Plagne, perhaps the king of family skiing. The amount of activities on offer for kids of all ages is amazing, the list is endless and includes tobogganing, ice skating, swimming, bowling and much more. Definitely a few things in there that can be passed off as Christmas presents?

Les Arcs is just the same, with a huge array of options on and off the slopes for all. The Skiing itself is also high up on the world stage in both resorts. Helpfully there is a pass available that gives you access to both, and lifts that helpfully link the two. From the shallowest of bunny slopes to the most intimidating off piste you could hope for (and everything in between). The Paradiski area will supply over 420km of skiing, including 264 pistes, between 1200m and 3250m, and 2 glaciers! Just an amazing skiing exerience.

Your Base for the Festive Week

The variation on offer doesn’t stop at the foot of the slopes, but continues past the doorsteps and into the accommodation. Whether you are after a chalet with all the luxurious trimmings, for a large family reunion, or just a small getaway for a select few, you’ll be covered.

Chalets

Starting with the chalets – catered and private are both on the cards. If you want someone to take the reins and do all the work, then definitely get yourself into one of our homely, fully catered properties. Alternatively, for those who know exactly how they like their roast potatoes and just don’t trust someone else with such an important task, the private chalet will be the way to go.

The modern yet traditional Chalet Crocus Blanc is a high-quality chalet apartment that boasts an enviable location in La Plagne Solieil. Part of the Mountain Flower chalets, Crocus Blanc offers the ultimate ski convenience in the magnificent Paradiski area. This Independent Chalet is on a self-catered basis so you can enjoy the benefits of a ski chalet with the convenience of ‘doing it your way’ during your ski holiday. Plus, you can also opt for tasty family-size meals delivered straight to your chalet during your ski holiday

Apartments

If an apartment is more your style, the Paradiski team of Les Arcs and La Plagne once again show their worth. Ski-in/ski-out apartments can be found across many of the villages that make up the two resorts, with plenty of these offering other extras, such as swimming pools and wellness facilities.

A bonus with apartments is the great selection of sizes to choose from. From studios, all the way up to 6 bedrooms, the scale and shape of your group doesn’t matter here.

In Les Arcs there is Le Village 1950. Built by the same company that developed one of the world’s best ski resorts, Whistler in Canada, Arc 1950 and its apartments were luxuriously designed with all of a skier’s needs in mind from the moment you enter the village, to the moment you begrudgingly have to go home! There is also the Les Alpages de Chantel. Facilities here include an indoor heated pool, sauna, steam room, fitness area and a games room with pool table. This residence is ideal for first-lift fanatics looking for enhanced accommodation, great facilities and convenient access to the snow.

In La Plagne, there is the Residence Bellecote village, which is a resort within a resort.  Here you’ll find plenty of shops, bars and restaurants as well as a cinema and a games room to keep everyone in the family entertained. If you want to check out the central hub of Plagne Centre, resort buses operate from 8am until midnight. Another option in La Plagne is Residence Le Sun Valley. This property has ski-in/ski-out access right onto a blue piste, just 100m or so uphill from the Bergerie lift, plus a heated indoor pool, sauna and steam room.

Hotels

Finally, if looking for a hotel in the Paradiski Ski Area at Christmas, a couple of options are the Hotel Vancouver in La Plagne and Hotel Taj-I Mah in Les Arcs. Hotel Vancouver is a traditional hotel and offers the ultimate convenience with its ski-in/ski-out location in Plagne Soleil. The Hotel Taj-I-Mah also boasts a ski-in/ski-out location right on the slopes, next to the Cabriolet and St Jacques lifts. Enjoy a luxury Christmas escape at the Hotel Taj-I-Mah in Arc 2000, the only 5-star property in Les Arcs. Oozing elegance with its modern, chic design and balance of luxury and comfort.

Dates for Christmas and New Year 2021

Christmas is set in the calendar as we have discussed. This is great for planning when you need to get down the shops to buy the last-minute presents, but brings up other challenges. The higher altitude of the resorts solves the snow problem, but there is also the issue of departure dates for the festive holiday.

Christmas Day and New Year’s day both fall on a Saturday, which is normally the day when we would be getting up a bit early to hop on the transfer home. However, the thought of doing either of these doesn’t sound very appealing. Who wants to travel on Christmas day? And the morning post-New Year’s eve isn’t one for an alarm clock.

The easy solution is this- make the transfer day Monday for these weeks. Meaning the Christmas week would run from 20^th – 27^th Dec and New Year’s week from 27^th Dec – 3^rd Jan. This enables us to enjoy Christmas day and Boxing day in the Mountains, not to mention allowing an appropriate 2 days to recover from the New Year’s celebrations before heading home.

These dates are always some of the first to go. So why not make sure that next Christmas is one to remember, and let the Paradiski become your new home for this jolly time.

 

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