Les Arcs, France

Visitor reviews for Les Arcs

• April 22, 2008
  steve from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I've been fortunate to stay in Les Arcs 1950 twice this season in Jan and April. The snow conditions on both trips were exceptional. For April we had snow 6 out of 8 days, little or no lift queues .. simply fantastic.
  A few comments.
  It's true that the concept board shop can get busy on Sunday am and Friday pm. One alternative is to rent from Arc 2000 taking the Cabriolet lift (which is open until 10pm) .. it takes about a minute!
  My favourite places to eat are Valentinos (pizza), Meli's burger bar (great at lunch time: €5 burgers) and the creperie. Also the waffles by the clock tower are great. I've also eaten in Chez Anne (Tartiflette was good .. they do takeout as well) and the 1950 brasserie (no complaints).
  Nice places to hang out are the wine shop and the club/bar down at the Manoir end of the village.
  The Spar supermarket is very well stocked .. the rotisserie chickens always smell fantastic outside! If you can stock up in Bourg St. Maurice then it's cheaper than the Spar.
  Finally, the accommodation (I stayed at the Radisson side of the village) is most similar to North American facilities rather than the typical concrete pigeon hole. The rooms are large and well furnished. Ours had a balcony, TV with UK TV channels, free WiFI access and most importantly access to a large heated outdoor swimming pool , along with jacuzzi, steam rooms and sauna! I love being outside in a pool when it's snowing!
  Another nice touch is the village is car free. When we were there they had sleigh rides through the village, another time husky rides.
  One final note, it would take < 5 mins from leaving our room to being on the piste. It really is ski-in/out.
  Looking forward to next years season already!

• April 19, 2008
  Fiona from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Prompted to write after seeing the two poor reviews of Les Arcs posted earlier. I would hate anyone to be put off this resort.

  I've visited over the past three years with my husband and four kids and had a fantastic time, particularly this year with the amazing snowfall. I've stayed twice in 1950 (exceptional apartments, high quality and truely ski in-ski out), but unfortunately the resort was fully booked this year, so stayed in 2000 at Chalet des Neiges. Again, I was impressed with the high quality accommodation and facilities (pool, sauna etc). I see that other reviewers have criticised other accommodation. I would say that, as an observer, the older apartment blocks look dated and not that appealing. But, I think it's true to say "You get what you pay for". The newer accommodation is superb and can't be faulted. As for eating out, I would agree that the restaurants are generally expensive and not amazing. Only exception is the Creperie in 1950 which we all loved and is worth paying for. However, the supermarket in 1950 is very good and we were more than happy to grab a quick snack at lunchtime and then cook our own evening meal. Nothing could be nicer than sinking into an armchair with a glass of wine and looking out of huge patio windows at the mountainside. All in all, I think Les Arcs is a fantastic place to stay and the skiing is wonderful

• April 15, 2008
  Alastair from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  First ski trip to Les Arcs & the conditions are awesome. Temp low & lots of fresh snow. Unbelievable conditions for April (actually the conditions would be good even for Feb-March!). If you can get a late booking go for it this year!
  What makes this resort different from the other high altitude French resorts is the variety of runs. When the weather sets in you can head for the trees (unlike Val d'Isere & Tignes when you're pretty much stuck when it's white-out conditions). When the weather clears go high-Aiguille Rouge for challenging, but quiet runs with excellent snow. We love Val d'Isere, but when conditions are this good Les Arcs is better.
  Arc 1950 accommodation is superb and is underpriced considering the quality-but eat elsewhere or self-cater as the 1950 restaurants are overpriced and of variable quality. We found some simple but decent restaurants in 1600 eg La Malouine (with great nautical decor) and if you look you can find good (albeit pricey) on-slope restaurants (eg Les Chalets de L'Arc).

• April 01, 2008
  Matt from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  The resort itself is not bad but the accommodation is the worst designed French rubbish you're ever likely to stay in. I can't comment for the more up market accommodation, but the self catering stuff is truly dire and needs urgent bulldozing.
  As people have previously commented, the food is utter rubbish and, quite frankly, I can't see from this resort how France is supposed to be any leading authority on food when the most basic of foods taste awful.
  If you can put up with the shoddy accommodation and the disgusting food and hit the slopes hard you won't be disappointed, especially when there has been a good dump.

• March 26, 2008
  Guest from ESTONIA
  

  We visited Arc 2000 in the third week of March. I have quite controversial feelings about this trip. Positive issues are good snow & mountain conditions, in general. On the negative side, the time of these "Le Corbusier mountain-industrial" villages should be over. Ski accommodation places like Aiguelle Rouge at Arc 2000 do not respect both people and mountains. They should be demolished and replaced by more human-friendly accommodation places. Les Arcs needs considerable investments to it´s lift infrastructure as well. Arc 1950 seemed a more comfortable place, but a really expensive one as well. Les Arcs, as a resort, can´t be compared with much superior resorts: Val d´Isere and Meribel for example (if we talk about French resorts). Short resume - Arc 2000 was probably a very ok ski resort at 1977, but in 2008 it needs considerable investments to bulldozers, to new architecture and to new lifts. Because the snow & mountains are very skier-boarder friendly there.

• February 29, 2008
  Paul from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Stayed in Les Arcs 1950 - HMC "Jardins de la Cascade" for half term 08. Very pleased with appartment (an "espace" 2 bedroom was great for our family of 5). Really convenient for family (kids ski school on door step, ski back, easy access to Cabriolet cable car, park car under apartment, bakers on doorstep etc.)
  Spirit 1950 school was reasonable, and care of small kids was great (5,9,11).
  Booked equipment on Snowrental.net - they use the Concept Board Shop - astonishing queues to get kitted out on Saturday (1.5 - 2 hour queue).
  Basically everything really good except the restaurants. We found the food to be awful and over-priced - particularly Chez Anne (Savoyarde style) which was disgusting and crazily expensive (EUR160 for a 1 course meal for our family). Leave 1950 to eat out. For lunch, ski down from the village (Pre St. Esprit piste) to Belliou la Fummee - great proper French cooking (not cheap but worth it).
  Paul & Family London N10

• February 11, 2008
  Ken Thompson from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Just had a great time. It snowed on two days, sunny on the other four. Stayed in Bourg and took the funicular. I am warming to Les Arcs. Lots of choice of pistes. Good tree line skiing down the reds into Villandry. Scary blacks, excellent reds, plenty of cruising blues. Excellent resort for a mixed ability group.
  Lots of accessible off-piste but that gets skied out quickly because it's so accessible. There is other off-piste for the hardy treckers.
  They did chuck a lot of low intermediates off-piste when they shut a red run at the bottom for filming. Bad form. A lot of very surprised young ladies looking scared and then sliding on their bottoms.

• January 29, 2008
  Gordon Bloch from ISRAEL
  

  This our second visit to Arcs 1800, and just as good as the first. We had hired (privately) a self catering apartment in Bellecote, adjoining the Golf Hotel, from 18-26 Jan 2008.
  The area had had a huge snowfall the week prior to our arrival, so was extremely well covered and groomed. On the Tuesday there was a fairly heavy fall, with conditions so that we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. We gave it up and took the funiculare down to Bourg St Maurice, where we walked about for a couple of hours.
  The village itself has everything one needs including restaurants and pubs. Enough to keep one occupied, besides nightclubs, that we did not visit.
  The locals are friendly and the pistes are well prepared. Skiing, what can I say, out of this world. No long waits, or no waits at all for the chairlifts or cable cars.
  The slopes are ample, and even though we couldn't get to La Plagne due to the Vanois Express being closed, we had more than enough runs, with some as long as 7km!
  A really enjoyable holiday; good memories, wonderful apartment, good food and wine - fantastic skiing - what more could one ask for?
  Highly recommended.

• January 20, 2008
  Mike Creed from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Just come back from our 3rd year of skiing @ Les Arcs 2000.
  We booked our package through Esprit and I have to say, just like the last two years, the staff, the resort and the skiing has been fantastic. In fact, the snow conditions this year are the best I have ever skied in.
  Already looking to book again for next year.

• March 17, 2007
  alex vickers from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Just came back today from LES ARCS 1800. We stayed at the Chantel apartments which are directly on the Chantel slope in the heart of 1800. The apartments were very clean, tidy and in good condition which was great to find.
  However, this is our second time at 1800 and if I'm honest I would tell anyone who is thinking of a late deal there to book elsewhere in a higher resort because it really is suffering from slushy pistes as high as 2200m and at 1800, itself, it's turning into mini lakes of water. The average temp is +10 daily and at Aguile Rouge (the highest peak) it was +3 at 3300m which is why the snow is suffering so bad.
  Vallandry has snow pushed onto the main blue runs to keep them open but as a whole the PEISEY/VALLANDRY area has no snow except on piste as it's getting baked right into the afternoon.
  If you're pretty good at skiing/boarding then higher up on the reds and blacks over 1950/2000 will give you the best challenge with decent conditions. Saying all this though I hope you don't get totally the wrong idea as we all still managed to rip up the mountain. Just disapointing to see it so poor this season as is the rest of Europe, I guess.
  Many thanks Les Arcs!
  We will be back.

• March 10, 2007
  Family Kemp from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Feb 17th-24th Feb 2007.
  Booked a last minute deal on the internet to Hotel du Golf Arc 1800. Knew the Paradiski area well but not the hotel. It turned out to be a super deal!!! Hotel was good with modern bedrooms and a lovely bathroom with a deep bath. The food was excellent, esp 3 evening themed buffets-seafood, Savoyard and Provencal. Other meals were 4 courses served by staff.
  Jazz bands played in the hotel lounge each night, creating a nice atmosphere and from the end of the year there will be a smoke free area. The hotel staff were very pleasant and spoke English, if required. The television in the room didn't have English speaking channels, which was a minor irritation, but didn't really matter.
  The hotel stands right on the slopes. Ski 50 yards to main lifts and ski back to door of boot room...excellent. All in all, a good hotel in a super ski area.

• March 02, 2007
  helen from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Having an apartment in Arc 2000, means we have skied there 10 weeks in the past 4 years and it remains my favourite resort for skiing with its varied selection of pisted runs. I agree that there is not so much for the absolute beginner but there are masses of blues, reds and blacks which always seem different as the conditions change. There is masses of off-piste too. Both near/inbetween pistes and out of the way places if you know where to look. There are lots of options to link between the 4 main resorts so you never have to queue. I particularly like the on-piste refreshment huts which mean you can stop and snack without spending a fortune and the fact that there are public toilets all over the place which are well maintained and don't involve having to go into restaurants. The nightlife is quiet, but as 1950 is now fully open and the lift to it from 2000 is open later, there are plenty of restaurants and bars if you want a more refined type of apres-ski like me. Arc 2000 keeps its snow well too. Still enough skiing to have a relaxed week at the end of April last year!. The new lift to the top at Arc 2000 (supplementing Plagnettes) is covered so you no longer have to freeze in the wind either!.If you've not been, give it a go!

• March 02, 2007
  Andrew Starkey from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Just came back from a very snowy 4 day break. Stayed at the Hotel Golf in 1800.
  Rooms were nice and clean.
  Sure, most of the staff didn't speak much English but it's France!!
  Breakfast was good, if a little bit busy. Didn't eat in the restaurant in the evening so can't comment.
  Walkways to rooms took a bit of getting used to.
  Skiing was good but found we'd pretty much skied everywhere after 3 days.
  I didn't find the resort particularly appealing. Certainly not worth an evening wander, unlike Courchevel 1850 where I tend go more often.
  Would I go back? Yes, but only for another short break. Certainly not enough skiing for a weeks visit.

• February 16, 2007
  gail rutenberg from CANADA
  

  Skied Les Arcs last week in Jan 07 Lucky to have had a small dump of snow just prior to our arrival. What an amazing ski area Paradiski is, and we have never seen more incredibly beautiful vistas. Half of us (there were 6 of us) took a guide for 2 days to show us the best snow and some easier off-piste (we like moguls and challenging runs). It was fantastic. The other 3 skied hard and fast (they like cruising) and spent most of their time in La Plagne which they loved. This is a truly remarkable area. Would love to come when they have lots of snow. We stayed in Arc 1950 which was excellent. Pretty, even though purpose-built. Will definitely return.

• January 29, 2007
  Sarah Stokes from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I had never been to Les Arcs before and I have just returned from a 1-week break with four friends. We stayed in the resort of 1800 in the Charmettoger Apartments. The rooms were basic but comfortable. Conditions were a bit icy on the lower slopes during the first couple of days but a large fall on snow on Tuesday night guaranteed fantastic skiing for the rest of the week.

  The resort is nice and well laid out with most accommodation within a five minute walk of the main gondola. Lots of nice restaurants and bars although prices can be very steep. Benjis is a great bar/restaurant to eat at with fantastic food at reasonable prices. Watch out for some of the expensive bars (opposite the lift pass office on the main street) we paid 8 Euros for one pint of Guinness.

  Make sure you shop around for your ski/boot hire. Whatever you do don’t go to Ski Set they were double the price of everywhere else. We went to Pop Corn and paid half the price.

  If you can (and you don’t mind steep blue runs), try and ski down into the resort of Arc 1950, it's fantastic. It would probably be quite expensive to travel there by taxi and access by skis is so much quicker.

  Overall, a fantastic holiday. Only problem you would have is if you are a complete beginner as there is a severe lack of Green runs in all the resorts. Some of the blues are very steep in places so try and get someone to check them out for you first. Excellent blue runs for beginners are Chantel and Foret. Foret takes you through some gorgeous tree lined runs with fantastic scenery.

  My only other recommendation would be to take some very warm gloves. The maximum temperature when we left was –13 degrees.

• February 18, 2006
  Valentin Ossman from ISRAEL
  

  Heavy snow for the past few days. Next week visitors will enjoy the fresh snow and agreeable skiing conditions.

• January 24, 2006
  PAUL YORK from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Brill ski ing area! Resort built on moutainside so lots of icy steps to negotiate (tricky). For ski school u have 2 walk up a slight hill everyday (nuisance). Avoid Patrick the ski instructor..horrible to all his his beginner class. If you could learn skiing from a sentence, you would read a book not pay for lessons! My instructor at a higher level brill ( John Pierre ). Had blue skies everyday except for 2 days snow which were welcome, the piste were hard & thats why my wife had 2 fractured 2 bones in her back...Beautiful views.. nice tree runs..no queues. If a beginner, beware you go up on red runs which I dont agree! Not a lot of green runs. My wife bored in her room injured... Kids & i loved it.. got round loads of piste and parks...will go again..dont know about the wife!

• January 08, 2006
  John from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Have been skiing Les Arcs for 15 years, staying in Bourg St Maurice and using the Funicular up to Arc 1600. What impresses me is the variety of skiing - from great blacks (off Aiguille Rouge + Bois De L'Ours), off-piste plus lots of red and blue fast cruising runs - Cachette above 1600 is a great blast. Bourg is a great place to stay - good selection of excellent value restaurants, Supermarkets with normal French prices etc and easy to take a day in Val, Tignes, La Rosiere, 3V - all of which are 20-40 minutes away.

• December 21, 2005
  Chris from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Was in Vallandry for January 3 seasons ago with big dumps and quiet pistes. Won't mention the good off-piste bits as outside of January it gets tracked out quite quickly. Les Arcs is underrated and Martin's comment about quiet nightlife in Vallandry clearly wasn't educated at the Bar Mont Blanc but it's worth the walk to 1800 once in a while.

• November 26, 2005
  Adrian from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I stayed in Le Pre, Villaroger in February last season and what a brilliant place it is to stay. It is one of the few unspoilt villages left that has it's own chairlift linking in to one of the largest ski areas in the World. Les Arcs is very underated by the British skiing public but has always been one of my favourite ski areas in the World. Now that it links to La Plagne it forms the third largest ski area on the planet and Le Pre, Villaroger is the best place to stay when skiing it!

• January 22, 2005
  James from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Depending on what you want from a ski/boarding holiday LesArcs has it all cover. I spen the 03/04 season there. Go to 1800 if you want a party hard and be in the middle of it, 1600 is for more family stuff, nice though. 1950 @ 2000 are a bit of distance and have a newer feel and the price reflects that. It's near on impossible to travel between the resorts after the busses stop (i think is midnight) I've boarded at 10 or more French resorts and favour LesArc. Above all I don't think I've waited more than 3 minutes in a lift que ever which is what you want.. right?

• January 08, 2005
  paul from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  We stayed in les Arc 2000 over the new year 04/05. Snow conditions were good for early season and the fact that the bowl is north facing keeps the sun of the snow apart from 12-3pm. When you get out out of the bowl and down to the other resorts there are plenty of tree lined runs.

  The lifts are to a good standard and there is always a choice of routes to get you back home etc.

  Its a good resort for beginners and intermediates to gets lots of miles under there belts.

  The Aguille rouge was open when I was there and to be honest the claim that it is the longest black descent is just marketing. Perhaps the first 10 metres are black, the rest red to blue. Nonetheless it a good long run from the spectacular views at the top stages down to the tree lines at Villaroger.

• January 05, 2005
  chip from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  i went to les arcs in march 2004 to the championship,now this was my first snowboard holiday and had only just done my lessons in castleford.so before id gone to les arcs id been boarding on artificial snow for about 3 weeks with 6 other novice friends.les arcs has a fantastic night life was 8 out of 10.food was great great,between us all we £210 for seven people eating in six days which was great.i stayed at les arc 1800 apts,accommadated all seven of us comfortable.we was told that there wasnt that much snow there as the snow line started at 1600m,so at the bottom of the slopes it was slushy by midday.the best was at the top.by the end of the week i was doing red and black runs.scary at times.

• December 31, 2004
  Rob McAuley from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Stayed in Arc 2000 during xmas 2004 just after a major snowfall.
  Snow condition was fantastic but, unfortunately, not enough to open the black runs below Aguille Rouge.
  Advantage of 2000 is that in warm weather it will hold the snow and in really cold or white-out skiing can be found in lower resorts of Villaroger, 1800, 1600, Vallandry and Plan Peisey.
  These latter resorts, especially Villaroger, Vallandry and Plan Peisey, have wide, tree-lined reds where you can practice racing turns and superb off-piste tree skiing.
  I have skied for more than 20 years and what was amazing was the peacefulness and lack of skiers on many of the pistes.
  Apres-ski was not widely available but recommended is the Red Rock for a meal / snack and the happy hour from 6 30 to 7 30.

• December 27, 2004
  shaun from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Spent christmas 2004 in Arc 1950. This resort is already fantastic! Albeit still under construction. Accomodation better than Arc 1600,1800, and 2000. Great atmosphere in the village, the sking is suitable for all levels, views of Mont Blanc. The only place to go in Les Arc !

• November 10, 2004
  Duncan Laidler from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Stayed in Arc 2000 Feb 2004 and thoroughly enjoyed the skiing on offer. A great mixture of runs on offer from the open areas above 2000 down to the tree lined runs nr Vallandry. Not an expert in the powder but had a great time coming off the front of the Aguille Rouge down to Arc 2000. My favourite area was near Vallandry in the trees on and off piste. Very underated and going back to stay in Vallandry Jan 2005.

• November 05, 2004
  Martin Nicholas from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I can't add much to Johns summary. Having done several weeks in each of the 3v, Val and Portes du Soleil, and a week in St Anton, Zermatt 2 Alpes, Alpe D'Huez I think this is the best PISTE skiing in the alps. I recon peisey Vallandry end is the best place to stay, although quiet nightlife is the rule.

• January 15, 2004
  John Gothard from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I have skied in Les Arcs for approx 15 years we have had a family flat in Vallandry - for 12 years. The skiing has always, undeservedly, been under-rated by British skiers. There are many challenginging red runs and, indeed, the variety of black runs is remarkable.If weather is poor you can ski amongst tree-lined runs in Peisey-Valanndry. I understand the off-piste sking is good also but our skiing has never been that good to take advantage of this. For non-skiers this is not the best holiday destination (particulary in Jan/Feb)- but things are improving.
  As far as the cable car to La Plagne is concerned (The Vanoise Express) we always thought this was not warranted.Having taken this lift in early January we were pleasantly surprised that it was interesting to ski in La Plagne for a change, although the lift is pretty expensive.
  Les Arcs and the surrounding area ( Le Parc de la Vanoise) is a great place for a holiday in summer also. Usually with hot days and cool nights with plenty of activity available in the day.

• December 30, 2003
  Tom Leckie from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Have been for many years. The British seem to shun the resort for the much busier three vallies or Val d'Isere. I have enjoyed the skiing in Les Arcs more than the skiing from Meribel and as much as that at Tignes. Lacks a bit of village charm though. All levels catered for more than adequately. La Plagne needed the link more les arcs. Dont think that the link will improve thing though as it will be inconvenient to use for skiers from les Arcs.