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Les Arcs - With the introduction of Arc 1950 and the brand new connection between Les Arcs and La Plagne, Les Arcs is destined to be the most talked about ski resort of 2003. Arc 1950 is a brand new village created by the North American developer, Intrawest. Located just below the Aiguille Rouge with spectacular views of Mont Blanc, where the first and best snow falls, it is in the heart of the Les Arcs ski domain, one of the most extensive and varied ski areas of the world.The Grand Domaine of Les Arcs-La Plagne has a new name - Paradaski - and this will now bvecome one of the largest ski areas in the world, as Les Arcs and La Plagne will be linked by the longest cable car of its type ever built.
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The cabins will be large enough for 200 people and will cross the Ponthurin Vally in just 4 minutes. When completed (scheduled to be in 2008), the village at Arc 1950 will be fully self-contained – with its own shops, restaurants, bars, ski school, equipment shops, thermal spa, swimming pools and underground parking.
Found in the Tarentaise, Les Arcs sits directly above the town of Bourg St Maurice. Although 15km by road the resort can also be reached by funicular from Bourg St Maurice. It was created by the visionary Robert Blanc in 1968, who was responsible for the revolutionary teaching method 'Ski Evolutif'. This system - where you get longer skis as you improve - is still used there today. The resort is made up of three modern 'villages', with Arc 1800 the biggest and most popular. Most visitors self-cater and benefit from traffic-free streets; non-ski activities are thin on the ground. 1800 has most of the shops, restaurants and clubs, although these are perhaps not amongst the Alps' greatest hotspots. There are really only two bars of any stature. Families will particularly like Les Arcs, with the resort gaining the highest grade from the Board of Tourism for its children's facilities.
1950 as stated above will be fully self-contained – with its own shops, restaurants, bars, ski school, equipment shops, thermal spa, swimming pools and underground parking.
On the skiing front, things are much better. The lift system is one of the best, with few queues except at rush hour. Beginners and intermediates are spoilt for choice, with well over 50% of the 120 pistes graded as blue or red. Advanced skiers don't miss out, with lots of off-piste and challenging black runs. Boarders have much to thank Les Arcs for, as it was one of the first European resorts to pick up on the sport in the '80s. They have a specialist park, with a half-pipe, jumps and boardercross course. If you're really up for it, have a go at the speed skiing course…
Overall, an all round skier's resort - ideal for those not fussed about hectic nightlife and excessive Alpine charm.
GREEN RUNS - 56
BLUE RUNS - 120
RED RUNS - 115
BLACK RUNS - 37
DRAG LIFTS - 75
CHAIR LIFTS - 69
GONDOLAS - 37
CABLE CARS - 2
FUNICULARS - 1
DISTANCE
Calais 937kmLe Havre 880km Zeebrugge 955kmGeneva 156kmLyon Airport 200kmBourg St Maurice 10km
Description
Les Arcs is made up of four road-linked villages: Arc 2000, Arc 1950, Arc 1800 and Arc 1600.
The skiing
The system offers all grades of skier a lot of options, 1600 and 1800 offer very good ski options for beginners and intermediates, where the 2000 area is more suited to intermediate and advanced skiiers, including a 2000m vertical drop on one black or red run!
Advanced
With several challenging black pistes, Arc 2000 is ideal for experts. There are also lots of off-piste areas to try. Of course, the world famous "Flying Kilometre" speed track is something you just have to try!
Intermediate
The well groomed, red slopes of Arpette and Col des Frettes are great for the more experienced intermiediate, as the runs are quite steep. For the more cautious intermidiate, there is a great range of blue runs above 1800.
Beginner
The nursery slopes at 1800 are best for complete beginners as the ones at Arc 1600 may be too steep.
Family
The mainly traffic-free villages of Les Arcs are very family friendly. With a recently built childrens area and wall climbing activities to keep the children busy, 1800 is the place to visit.
Snowboarding
For big jumps and rails, Display Zone wont let you down! With two border-cross zones, and The Games Zone is another place to try.
Apres ski
With live music at the Red Hot Saloon and Jungle Café Arc 1800 is the place to be.
Description
Les Arcs is a major resort in France, and consists 6 separate villages. These villgages are as diverse as the old Savoyard village of Villaroger, a huddle of ancient farm buildings, to the purpose built Arc 2000 with its modernistic high rise hotels and chalet type apartments. With a vertical height difference of over 2100m between the top of the Aiguille Rouge at 3226m (with great views) and the lowest piste, Les Arcs has well over 200km of skiing to suit most people’s requirements. Wherever you stay in the higher resorts you will never be far from the slopes – if convenience for skiing is your top priority and not village charm – then Les Arcs should be high on your list. The new lift in Plan Peisey will link Les Arcs with La Plagne for the 2003/04 season and will make this resort even more popular.
The skiing
The Glacier du Varet guarantees snow – though the height of Les Arcs makes the snow record good. Being mainly a purpose built resort means that the slopes are well laid out and moving around is generally quick and easy with no major queues. A high percentage of runs are above 2000m which means that you can stay high when necessary.
Advanced
Experts will be very happy trying out the vertical drop of over 200m from the top of the Aiguille Rouge down to Le Pre. There are various off piste opportunities in most areas of the resort.
Intermediate
Intermediates have plenty to choose from – and this area particularly suits mixed ability groups as most runs have an easy and a more difficult route to choose from.
Beginner
Beginners have nursery slopes just above the three main villages of 1600, 1800 and 2000 and a wide range of blues to progress on to.
Family
There are nurseries and ski schools for children at all heights of Les Arcs.
Snowboarding
With boarder friendly lifts and its great mixture of terrain Les Arcs has truly become a snowboarding ‘Mecca’. There is a park, half pipe and boarder cross at 1800 and a flood lit half pipe in 2000 which attracts some of the world top snowboarders – Les Arcs is truly the place to be!
Apres ski
Les Arcs 1800 is the real centre for nightlife – however 1600 has its fair share and 2000 is the quietest. The red Hot Saloon bar in 1800 has live music and the JO bar is open until the early hours. Other activities are few and far between with few shops and no sports centre either, however both 1600 and 1800 have cinemas with English speaking films twice a week.
There are plenty of shops and cafés in each village of Les Arcs. With over 30 restaurants to choose from with a variety of cuisine and numerous bars providing a lively ambience, nightlife is informal and has something to suit everyone's taste.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
For those looking for more active pursuits after skiing, there is a skating, plenty of cross country trails to explore and organised snow shoe walks to join.
Reviews
Russ
Date of holiday:Mar 06
We stayed in Arc 1950 fantastic place great atmosphere. The week we where there great snow conditions.
A word of warning from what we saw 1950 is the only place to be in this great massive ski area.
Rob
Date of holiday:Mar 06
The ski area was fantastic - a bit of something for everyone but the resort itself was charmless, characterless and boring. If it wasn't for the red hot saloon, it would have been a nightmare in the evenings.
Jen Hicks
Date of holiday:Jan 06
Big group of us went so didn't choose the hotel, was only a 2 star but surprisingly nice. The snow was great for the first 5 days and most of the slopes were empty (head over to Vallandry) Off piste was a bit dissappointing but with no one on the slopes it didn't matter too much. Will be going again next year.
richard batson
Date of holiday:Jan 06
good happy hour drinking but then went very quiet until 22:30 and the roof came off but was to drunk to stay out all week... pretty expensive in the night clubs aswell but had a good holiday but will try other places... well worth the 230 smackers i paid for the holiday... average resort try it u might like it...
Matthew Benson
Date of holiday:Jan 06
Excellent skiing - lifts were excellent - only thing that let it down was lack of apres-ski - few nice bars and restaurants - but the skiing was excellent, was a superb time.
Jack Whiteley
Date of holiday:Feb 05
Wicked wied steep groomed pistes, prefect for carving turns, long and short
AYANNA DE VILLE
Date of holiday:Dec 04
Arc 1950 is THE place to stay: the resort is an attractive, friendly and exclusive haven: ideal for families who want 4star ski-in ski-out accomodation in centre-village with flexibile dining options, gentle apres-ski, independent ski school with attention to British market and the bonus of high latitude in huge ski area and the best mountain restaurant in the alps on your home run (Le Chalet)- altogether hard to beat so we're going back a third time!
john
Date of holiday:Mar 05
Huge range of very good skiing. Very convenient resort.
Bernard Saunders
Date of holiday:Jan 05
The skiing was great for all standards, we had ski in ski out apartment which was great, i think you should check to see if your apartment is close to slopes as some apartments have a uphill walk to the slopes.
Nightlife was non existant in arc 1800, there was agreat gadget shop for the grandchild.
Brilliant mogul field and breathtaking views above arch 2000. Date of holiday Jan 2005, intended to go back in 2006.
Eurostar made it the most relaxing way to get there superb holiday, a place not to ba missed, great runs through the trees.
Date of holiday:Jan 05
We traveled with Club Med and as a result had all inclusive (ski passes, food and drink) because of this the lack of night life out side of the hotel wasn't a problem, why leave a free bar!! I see how the entertainment outside of the hotels could be a bit boring though and it was not cheap. With this in mind I still feel the resort is good for skiing (ski in/out of the hotel and not to busy) and as such we have just booked for Jan 2006.
Louisa
Date of holiday:Jan 05
I stayed at the L'Aguille Rouge hotel. V nice, good fews, and right at slopes. Very handy. Several good bars, but not overly busy at night. The slopes were good, with several easy runs back to the hotel. Overall, a very good snowboarding area!
john
Date of holiday:Mar 05
We stayed at Arc 1600 and this is one of the most convenient resorts to get to from the UK. One of the party got on a train at Ashford and the next morning he was phoning from the funicular asking the way to the apartment; no airport lounges, or transfer buses to worry about.
The skiing was excellent with a huge variety to choose from. It was typical spring conditions with firm pistes in the morning going soft in the afteroon. Naturally it was better at altitude The beginers in the group made excellent progress, even skiing from the Augille Rouge by the end of the week. Considering that this was Easter week, there were few lift queues.
I like 1600 as a resort, everything is near at hand and live music can be found most evenings in the bars. The restaurant at the Pre st Espiit is very, very good for lunch. Arc 1600 is adequately served by restaurants.
Nigel Charman
Date of holiday:Feb 05
Stayed in Arc 1950 which has really good sized accomodation, loads of character and a good selection of restaurants and bars. Also a good grocery store and a really good bakers opens early each morning.
Only two quite steep hills back into the village which my wife (a nervous skier!) found too much to handle. Excellent powder for boarding and lots of good runs although many blue runs higher up are quite flat.
Lifts etc very good but the French have never heard of queuing so you need to be quite firm to keep your place and try to go out of school holidays as it was busy on the slopes.
Ski patrols are needed as skiers and boarders are both guilty of hurtling down the gentler runs at dangerous speeds. I was knocked down three times in one morning and slower skiers needed to be very aware.
Great holiday overall though!
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