There was so much snow when we arrived, we didn’t recognise the residence - they had dug out 5ft deep passageways for customers to walk into the building!Ski in - ski out was brilliant! Just straight out of the back door of the residence, clip on the skis and away we went. A nice gentle slope to start the day down to the chair up to top. It was absolute bliss not to have the usual morning crush of the first lift up the mountain. And at the end of the day, we often took the Collossus drag lift out of Plagne Bellecote, and stopped off at the lovely le Dou du Praz café for vin chaud and hot chocolates as the sun went down. Then the children whooped for joy as they skied knee-deep in powder for the last 200m in the fast fading light. Ski lockers are in the basement so you take off and put on boots and skis in there with no need to take them up to the apartment or pay extra for lockers at the lift station.We really enjoyed skiing in La Plagne. There are so many different bits to ski to and it all links up really well so you feel as if you can cover a lot of ground in a day. We rarely went back to the same area twice and will definitely go back for more. Its really nice intermediate skiing, loads of red and blue runs, not too challenging but with some interesting parts to keep the kamikaze kids entertained too. Don’t know how our teenagers managed to miss the big air bag (see my picture on our website) at Belle Plagne, but they’ll certainly be there next time! We didn’t go over to Les Arcs this time but another time we would if the weather was clearer.The apartments are all reached by exterior walkways. They are comfortable and pretty spacious, with enough room for 4 adults and 4 large teenagers to live quite happily. The kitchen area is not particularly extensive. However we were pleased to find that the microwave oven had a conventional setting too, so with the 4 ring hob we could cook everything we wanted. A kettle would have been nice but, hey, this is France and we’ve been often enough to know you don’t always get one. That apart, we found the kitchen area well equipped with all the usual utensils. The beds were really comfortable and the bedrooms more spacious than some we’ve stayed in, with plenty of cupboard/wardrobe space. We had two bathrooms, one with a shower and one with a bath and shower attachment and one of the loos was separate so that all worked well for a big party.The spa is a nice additional facility though the pool does get quite busy at times so you have to time it right. The jacuzzis, sauna and steam room are great for a post ski – pre dinner soak for those not on catering duties!The reception staff were friendly and tried to speak English. Unlike most residences, the adjoining hotel reception is open 24/7, which is quite nice to know in case of emergency. The lounge by reception has a pool table and free wi-fi, so was popular with our kids to go and get there daily Facebook fix. There are loads of lovely squashy sofas there but generally it didn’t seem to be used by many people. The bar in the residence looked nice but was very quiet so we didn’t venture in. The restaurant looked (and smelt) nice and it appeared that a fair number of people opt for the half board arrangement.Monica’s bar was really the only watering hole we tried outside the residence’s own bar in Plagne Soleil but there is more down in Plagne Centre which is about 1km down the road and makes a pleasant evening stroll. There were a handful of restaurants in Plagne Soleil too. If you’re looking for wild night life, I wouldn’t recommend it but that didn’t stop our 16 – 22s having a great time together. We found the local people exceedingly friendly and welcoming. Our award to the friendliest most accommodating, reasonably priced café went to Le Skanapia in Montalbert. All 14 of us were seated without fuss, the portions were generous and very tasty, croque monsieur was enough to feed three(!) and we paid about 9 euros per person – unheard of in some rather more pretentious resorts! They happy acceded to our request for tap water (not always the case, in our experience) and nothing was too much trouble.

» Read More