From its toned-down nightlife to its excellent ski schools and even its unusual pompon rouge logo, La Plagne is unashamedly geared towards providing the perfect family ski holiday experience. Everything in the resort feels designed for parents and kids. La Plagne even has ‘mystical’ forest pistes above Montalbert. These feature wood carvings of elves and other tree-dwelling creatures of lore to keep children entertained.

Pistes perfect for groups of mixed ability

The majority of La Plagne’s pistes are graded blue, featuring the ideal gradient for children to master new talents while skiing in safety and under the watchful eye of instructors or parents. These runs are the ideal stomping ground for kids to hone the skills required for skiing or snowboarding while also boosting much-needed confidence.

The area is also perfect for groups of mixed ability with a wide variety of options from the top of most lifts. There are almost always including blue runs that often meet later with tougher pistes. This means groups can split and do runs better suited to their ability but still assemble together again at the base. As families often feature mixed abilities, this can be a godsend for those looking to ride tougher challenges but still feel like they’re skiing or snowboarding together.

Family-friendly accommodation

La Plagne’s accommodation is also ideal for families, with most of located piste-side reducing the need for taking buses or long walks that is so common in other resorts. This saves kids (or, more often than not, parents) lugging heavy ski or snowboard gear between their accommodation and the morning lessons. It also makes it easier to get back once you’re done for the day as many hotels and apartments lie directly on ski runs (particularly in Belle Plagne).

Mostly low-key nightlife

Meanwhile, the majority of the nightlife in La Plagne revolves around cosy, family-friendly bars and restaurants with much of the entertainment focused on quality cuisine. If you’re looking for more lively nightlife, you will find some options in La Plagne but nowhere near as much as, say, neighbouring Val d’Isère or Méribel. This is most definitely not a party resort and, with the exception of a handful of bars and clubs, nighttimes tend to be on the quiet side in almost all of La Plagne’s 11 resorts.

Relatively short transfer time

Many of the resorts around La Plagne take considerably longer to reach from the nearby airports of Geneva and Chambéry. In particular, you can add around 60-90 minutes extra to get to Val d’Isère, Tignes or even La Rosière and Sainte-Foy. The same applies to reach Val Thorens. As La Plagne is located so close to Moûtiers, transfer times are considerably reduced – even shorter if you’re staying in one of the valley resorts like Montalbert or Champagny-en-Vanoise.

Is La Plagne good for families – the take out

La Plagne is most definitely aimed at families or groups of mixed ability and tastes. If you’re looking for a full-on, raucous holiday with hectic on-hill aprés and nightlife sprawling into the wee hours, you’d be best looking elsewhere.

While some bars and clubs in La Plagne do make a good effort at providing more expansive nightlife, none of the stations has what could be considered a big aprés scene. This also applies to the on-hill entertainment which simply can’t compete with the likes of Val d’Isère’s Folie Douce (even Les Arcs has a Folie Douce now).

Then again, if you’ve got kids, you likely don’t want these things anyway. Rather, you’re likely looking to see your kids’ skills progress. You’ll also probably want to enjoy some quality time together with the option of a couple of drinks and some great cuisine before hitting the hay ready for another day on the hill come morning . . .

And if that sounds like you, then La Plagne has shedloads to offer.

 

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La Plagne piste map