Aprés ski is part of any good ski or snowboard holiday. Whether you’re one for seeing out the small hours or are more into a relaxed restaurant scene, it’s important to wind down after a day on the hill. Due to its family-centric approach, La Plagne isn’t the liveliest of ski resorts – which can be a good or a bad thing, depending how you look at it. But does La Plagne have good aprés ski?

For many of us, a ski / snowboard holiday is the highlight of the year. Consequently, it’s not uncommon for people to prefer to take things easier at night to save feeling rough and potentially losing a day skiing or snowboarding. However, even if that’s you, it’s still good to have the option of a night out, should you want it.

One thing is undoubtedly true – La Plagne’s nightlife is not on a par with much livelier resorts like Méribel or Val d’Isère. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially from the point of view of being disturbed by folk coming home at night. Below is a short guide to the best La Plagne aprés ski to help you make the best of your La Plagne ski / snowboard holiday

La Plagne aprés ski and nightlife – good or bad?

While there are definitely more lively resorts than La Plagne, there is still a good choice of clubs and bars – although to visit the best of them will likely mean a ride on the resort shuttle buses.

The best of La Plagne’s aprés ski happens mostly on the hill, right after the day ends, then transfers down to the bigger resorts. The primary aprés hubs are Plagne Centre, Plagne Bellecôte, Belle Plagne and Plagne 1800. These are also where you’ll find the majority of accommodation in La Plagne and also La Plagne’s best bars and nightlife.

As mentioned, to visit all these bars is going to require a ride on the shuttle bus – although you may well just decide to stick with what’s on your doorstep.

The best on-hill aprés ski in La Plagne

We’ve made a separate feature detailing La Plagne’s on-hill apres ski bars. All these bars start getting lively from around 3pm onwards and are well worth visiting if you’re in the resort. In particular, the Bergerie is a great choice – especially on Wednesdays as that’s the normal day off for saisonnaire workers. In truth, any day is good here. Another good call is Le Bonnet in Plagne Bellecôte.

Aprés ski in La Plagne’s altitude resorts

By far the best aprés is to be found in the altitude resorts with the highest concentration in Plagne Centre and Belle Plagne. The above picture is of the excellent Pickles group in Igloo, Plagne Centre. If you’re a night owl, these two resorts will definitely suit you best. Plagne Bellecôte also has Spitting Feathers (pretty much the only bar worth considering here) and a choice of two clubs.

Plagne Bellecôte and Belle Plagne aprés ski

Plagne Bellecôte aprés ski bars: A relatively good choice of restaurants but if nightlife is more your thing you’re more or less limited to Spitting Feathers. Tim and Anna do a great job of putting on varied entertainment. They also show all the live sport you could want, including the Six Nations rugby. This is one of the best bars for home-nation games against France and, of course, the England/Scotland Calcutta Cup.

Feathers also has a good range of pub grub all at reasonable prices. After that, you’ve got the choice of the two clubs in the main Bellecôte building. These keep changing names but they’re very easy to find. Word to the wise re these clubs: you will see people here that, strangely, you never seem to see anywhere else, at any point of day. Oh – and you also have the option of the gondola link so you can enjoy the . . .

Belle Plagne aprés ski bars: Ask most locals and they’d agree that Plagne Centre and Belle Plagne have probably the best variety of aprés in all of La Plagne. Just like Centre, Belle Plagne has everything you could want in terms of nightlife.

The excellent Cheyenne is often called a cosy bar  – ‘cosy’ really means small – but it has a great atmosphere most nights. It is also within stumbling distance of the Saloon which is open til 5am. Just try not to get too exuberant in Saloon as the prices are what you might expect from an Alpine nightclub (fierce). You’ve also got La Tête (again small) or Le Bowling which, as you might expect, also has tenpin bowling.

Plagne 1800, Plagne Villages and Plagne Soleil aprés ski

Plagne 1800 aprés ski bars: Much of the accommodation in 1800 is chalet-based so a lot of the focus here is on in-house entertainment. There is a small selection of bars. The stand-out is La Mine which has a good atmosphere and often live music.

Plagne Villages aprés ski bars: Forget it. There is literally nothing here – especially if you’re staying in the higher part of Villages. If you stay here, you’ll likely find yourself making your way down to Plagne Centre on the télébus or via shuttle bus. Another alternative is to walk the Écartée piste down to Plagne Soleil (the piste is much, much quicker than following the road).

Plagne Soleil aprés ski bars: Again, a little like 1800, much of the accommodation here is in hotels and chalets. As a result, there’s more in the way of in-house entertainment here – either around the chalet table or in hotel bars. However, there are two exceptions. Le Monica’s and Le 5a7siete. Le Monica’s is a great place to go, day or night, due to its large sun terrace, upstairs restaurant and downstairs bar. Le 5a7siete has a small outside terrace and tends to be favoured more by locals.

Aime 2000 and Plagne Centre aprés ski

Plagne Aime 2000 aprés ski bars: Aime 2000 seems to attract the French more than any of the other resorts and is the chosen base for most of the ski and snowboard instructors. Perhaps as a result, nightlife here revolves more around the restaurants (there is an excellent restaurant here with amazing views over Mont Blanc). Of the bars, La Terrasse and La Rhumerie are probably your best bet.

Plagne Centre aprés ski bars: Having stayed in all the higher La Plagne resorts, Plagne Centre, for me, has the biggest variety of bars, restaurants and clubs. In particular, Igloo Igloo is a good call and often has live bands and a great DJ – however, there are bars to suit every taste. The best thing about Plagne Centre is you can mix and match here. It’s possible to start in a great restaurant followed by one of the bars and then head to the nightclubs. It’s also worth remembering that Plagne Centre is easily accessed. From most areas this means taking the bus but there’s also access via the cable car from Aime 2000 and the Télébus from Plagne Villages and Plagne Soleil.

Aprés ski in La Plagne’s lower villages

In truth, the lower valley resorts don’t have much going on. Yes, there are a couple of bars in Montalbert, Montchavin and Champagny-en-Vanoise but these really are traditional Savoyard villages that happen to be linked into a ski resort. In short, you shouldn’t really expect too much.

More info about La Plagne on the LaPlagne360 site

The La Plagne 360 site and La Plagne 360 blog has extensive La Plagne activity guides, La Plagne information guides and La Plagne ski and snowboard edits – plus a La Plagne gallery to help work out how to make the best of your next La Plagne ski / snowboard holiday and help you choose the best accommodation in La Plagne.

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