Snowsure: 4.7
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Les Arcs is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Les Arcs Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
March 10, 2026
David from
United Kingdom
David from
United Kingdom
I learnt here 50 years ago and we have intermittently visited to see its development over the years. Now we go every year as it really suits us and we never feel let-down. Great ski-in, ski-out, espcially in 1800. New lifts being added every year, New TransArc 2 years ago, New Vallandry 3 years ago, new Villaroger 10 person bubble this year. It could do with more capacity up to the Aiguille Rouge to reduce queues but I guess the receding glacier doesn't really justify this. Very snow sure and snow-making is comprehensive (but it is also a B Corp and very environmentally conscious). The number of tree-runs around Peisey Vallandry means white-outs are still ski-able. We often pop over to Val d'Isere/Tignes and Courchevel/Meribel and are very pleased to come back to Les Arcs. Les crowded, less glitzy, more focused on skiing. Plus you have the Intermediate dream of La Plagne available on the same lift-pass. The timber clad and distinctive buildings are unique among custom resorts and are officially part of the French Patrimoine, Charloote Perignan (designer) was a true pioneer. Overall, for the range of facilities, range of slopes, and variety of accommodation we think Les Arcs is right up there in terms of value for money amongst the major ski destinations, and we have skied all over the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe.
April 12, 2023
James from
France
James from
France
Les Arcs huh, where to begin. Ski area is vast, we were there in April 2023 and snow was decent above 2000m. For this time of year and under the current ski conditions across the Alps this was ok… we had fresh snow!
We stayed in Arc 1800 and locality and ease of access to the slopes is ideal. Great for popping back at lunchtime etc and good for kids.
Access to Arcs via Bourg St Maurice is easy. They want silly money for taxis transfers from Chambery. Save your money.
Taxis from Chambery airport to train station is roughly 30-40 Euros
Train for one adult and child return is 24 Euros (online). Once at Bourg your train ticket grants access in the funicular (at same station), which takes you to arc 1600, then free bus. Only issue with this approach is if you have very early returning flights.
Pricing - ok, the Euro is bad and basically 1 to 1 for the British pound atm. This makes things expensive and over priced. 20 Euros for basic burger and chips without drinks, no thanks. Forget about anything fancy, self catering is obviously cheaper but the local supermarket is limited and once again costly. Ok, I know it’s mountain prices but still.
Overall and as a first time snowboarding for my son it ticked all the boxes ….. would I return unlikely (unless there’s a deal to be had).
March 17, 2022
Lukas
Lukas
March 05, 2019
c roberts from
United Kingdom
c roberts from
United Kingdom
As a few friends of ours were going, we decided to return for the second time to Les Arcs. No one can fault the lifts here: modern and fast and the big ski area with good snow was a delight. Then I remembered why we started to give France a miss a few years ago and chose Austria and Italy: the prices. Every time you use a mountain facility you just feel ripped off. The prices are daylight robbery, usually served by a grumpy Frenchman who makes it feel Brexit is your fault. Also, the accommodation across these super expensive French resorts is super small and you end up with your son sleeping on a make shift bed by your feet. For the same cost in Austria you get a hotel with swimming pool. Our chalet owner reckons the skier numbers are dropping by 4% a year in France. Maybe they should look at their pricing? I'm off to Austria for Easter and probs Italy next year where a coffee still costs 2 Euros and a decent dinner on the slopes is under a tenner. Single sausage and small chips each for me and the boy and 2 soft drinks: 42 euros. Having a laugh, me thinks.
March 12, 2018
Martin from
United Kingdom
Martin from
United Kingdom
Stayed in early March 2018 as my second full trip. I'd also previously spent a couple of days here on trips from La Plagne.
I really like Les Arcs. For one of the big-hitter French resorts, it's got a lot of long tree-lined runs of all standards for when the weather turns bad and you need the trees to see properly. I can't think of another high resort that does so well for trees. Even La Plagne's trees are more spread out in smaller areas.
The highest areas above Arc 2000 are perhaps less appealing. The run down to Villaroger from the Aguille Rouge is great but it's quite limited and the queue for the cable car is often very long. Go at lunchtime if you go up there. Don't be put off by the black piste designation. Apart from an avoidable bit near the start it's like an easy red. The 3 chairlifts you need to take to return are very slow.
The runs in the main bowl above 2000 are good but again, a bit limited in that they're mostly easy cruising blues.
A day trip to La Plagne is easy from most of Les Arcs (not Villaroger) but I'd be tempted not to go there. La Plagne is brilliant but, on a day trip from Les Arcs, you'll end up trying to traverse the nice areas without the time to properly explore them. So go to La Plagne but on a separate trip staying there. However, if you're staying in Vallandry/Peisey then La Plagne is very achievable as day trips; maybe focusing on one area at a time.
The villages are mostly quite ugly and mostly lacking in nightlife although waiting for my transfer bus at 5am in Arcs 2000 there were people going home after a night out so there's late night fun to be had if you look for it!
There's good food on the mountain and in some resorts. La Table de Lys in 1950 was great and felt like good value at about 150E for 2 people including good wine and glasses of champagne. Les Infents Terrible, on the piste above Vallandry, was good for lunch in the proper restaurant and only marginally more expensive than the self-service restaurant below.
The Yuge app is quite good for tracking your progress/location/webcams/weather etc so download it.
Finally, if you do get the full Paradiski pass, it currently gives you the afternoon free on the day before the pass starts so if you arrive in the morning you can get a free afternoon of skiing.
Would I go back? Possibly, but I'm really keen to go back to the 3 Vallees first as I feel I've done Les Arcs for a while now. If I did go back, I'd stay in 1800 or in Vallandry for easy access to the cable car to La Plagne.
February 27, 2016
Casey from
United Kingdom
Casey from
United Kingdom
At Les Arc 2000 from 20/2/16 for 7 days. Had been snowing prior to visit. Party of two 26 year old males and 1 male send (ed?) 3 females hearing 60 years (ed?). All experienced skiers. Last visit 4 years ago staying 1950. Stayed at Le Source Apartments. Only 1 year old and probably best stayed in. Beautiful pool, sauna steam room etc. Staff also best. Right on piste: ski out/in.
Weather varied, first two days sunny with snow coming in 3 pm on Monday. Next 3 days snow, cloud visibility on off. Last day Friday fabulous, sunny. But all 6 days the snow was brilliant for skiing. Les Arcs is great for all standards of skiers. It has the best sign posting I have ever experienced. No need to keep looking at the piste map. All runs clearly coloured, also explanation on what they link up to and how they direct the skier to the various skiing areas i.e. Arc1800, Arc 1600 and link to La Plagne. We all agreed we would return rather than go to our usual The Three Valleys, Val D' Isere etc. only down side is 2000 does not have the greatest après-ski. In fact we found it quite quiet. However, did have a good night at the Bowling and several good restaurants, the Kilimanjaro and the Pizzeria to name a few.
March 23, 2015
Ollie from
United Kingdom
Ollie from
United Kingdom
From a 45yr old experienced skier with 2 young daughters:
Les Arcs is a fabulous, family find. Having skied all over, I can't think of a better established European resort for all the gang to enjoy. It's 'ski in - ski out' (truly!) It's high so during those warmer, Easter holidays it invariably has snow. It's well linked with a variety of intermediate runs, along with snow-parks and a ski/snowboard-cross course. Oh, and Euros are cheap right now, so France is a winner over Switzerland for all but the least cost conscious by a long way. Ok, there is minimal nightlife compared to other European resorts and truly challenging terrain is limited, but those are relatively unimportant for a family trip. What you do get is plenty for adults and kids to enjoy together, until maybe your kids start outstripping you which happens all too quickly.
February 02, 2015
Irbis from
Russia
Irbis from
Russia
April 11, 2014
Mike from
United Kingdom
Mike from
United Kingdom
Review by father of family group of 4 all now adult (age years at least!) staying at Arc 1800.
First time skiing in French Alps although have skied Italian Alps, Italian Dolomites and Rila / Rhodopi / Pirin, in Bulgaria, previously.
By comparison, Les Arcs was a near perfect ski location for late season skiing. All runs had great snow cover and exc. grooming. Yes, it was a little icy on a morning but that's the time of year.
Piste choice amazing; perfect for a middle aged intermediate skier like myself. Lots of cruising blues where you can practice those turns or pretend to be Bode Miller (I can vouch for the scary speed you can hit on a deserted long blue ;^) Be warned beginners there are steepish elements to many of the blues though. This can be daunting for new skiers and those nervous returners to to piste. For these I would recommend the long cruise laden ski-road merging to wider pistes from the Col De La Chal (2600mm) above Arc 2000 ("Col de la chal" is the name of the run at the start, which turns into "Vallee de l'arc" and "plan des eaux" on the way down to the Arc 2000 lift "Arcabulle 48" to take you back up.
The reds were great, if challenging in places, for me but you don't go on reds for an easy ski. The "Aiguille Rouge/Arandelieres" reds from the 3226m peak are incredible runs with views to die for (figuratively speaking!) but not for the timid. Vast choice of runs. I stayed away from the blacks as these are left ungroomed "natural" in Les Arcs and as a result were all covered in challenging moguls. If there had been some fresh snow these would have been great fun, but they looked icy and unforgiving to my old eyes!
Lift staff were great, chatty and smiley in the main.
SkiRepublic were 1st class for equipment / service.
We stayed in some 70's built tired looking apartments right next to slopes (virtually everywhere is!). Great location; skied from/to door daily first week in April!
We expected more of nightlife; it was very quiet! Locals said it had been same since mid March despite great snow. Lack of nightlife = clear head/often deserted pistes. We never waited for more than 30 seconds for a lift / gondola the whole week!
I got the distinct feeling this is a relatively low rent destination in comparison to other more trendy resorts in the Alps. The Gucci set were absent, in the main, which suited us just fine!
On the last day we skied from 3226m peak down to 1600m in just over an hour. Having seen all 1600/1800/1950/2000 levels / accommodation bases, I would probably advise 2000 due to close proximity to our collectively favourite pistes/lifts but nothing in it really. 1600 was suffering from very heavy snow (although plenty of it) late on so predictably better staying higher so late in season.
We spent a lot less than anticipated (lack of apres-ski) and the small supermarkets were adequate for a week in self catering without being extortionate. Eating out was more of a challenge than expected given lack of tourists. I would advise booking in advance to avoid disappointment. We only ate out a couple of nights which was average once and excellent on our last night. A meal for a family of 4 cost 140 Euros on last night and we didn't have much drink included. To many this is par for the course, but we would have spent 1/3 of this for equal quality in Bulgarian resorts. But the ski area/lift system/piste prep don't compare. ps BG great but advise you go mid season.
All in all, a fantastic ski holiday and wholeheartedly recommended for a wide ability range of skiers. If I were to find a criticism, it would be the need for a few nursery greens for beginners/nervous skiers to build confidence on before heading onto the vast array of wonderful blue runs.
Hope to return again next year; perhaps a little earlier for the night-life!
I hope this was interesting/of help to others considering Les Arcs as a ski destination. Don't hesitate, give it a try.
February 24, 2014
Stephen from
United Kingdom
Stephen from
United Kingdom
Stayed in Les Arcs 1950 for a week. Beautiful resort; step out of the boot room, put your ski's down and off you go. Good restaurants and bars, but more family orientated. Excellent for the kids lessons as it has 3 ski gardens with rope pulleys and a magic carpet for the little ones. Can't recommend it enough for the kids lessons.
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