Ski La Plagne: resort guide Extensive and varied intermediate pistes, plus excellent off-piste • Good nursery slopes • High and fairly snow-sure • Wide choice of resort villages - high or low, convenient or cute • Wooded runs of lower satellite resorts are great in poor weather • Cable car link to Les Arcs from one of those satellite villages Few steep pistes • Still lots of slow old chairlifts • Serious high season queues • Lower villages can have poor snow - sunny Champagny especially • Pistes get very crowded in places • Brutal architecture in some villages • No long green runs • Upscale accommodation still rare Take your pick The high-altitude villages vary quite a lot in character; our rating relates to Belle-Plagne and Plagne 1800, where most Brits go. The first unit to be built, in the 1960s, was Plagne-Centre. Typical of its time, it has ugly square blocks and dreary indoor "malls" that house shops, bars and restaurants. At last, as the resort celebrates its 50th birthday, a three-year renovation project is being started to improve the malls, with better access, lighting and leisure areas. More recent developments are more stylish, but they can't compete with Centre in terms of facilities. Plagne 1800 is all in chalet style, so is visually inoffensive. Aime-la-Plagne, in stark contrast, is a group of monolithic blocks given a nominal chalet-roof shape. Plagne-Soleil and Plagne-Villages mainly consist of small-scale apartment buildings finished in chalet style. The apartment buildings of Plagne-Bellecôte form a gigantic wall at the foot of the slopes leading down to it. By contrast, Belle-Plagne just above is built in a pleasant chalet style, and has a mini-resort centre, though few shops. No worries at altitude The high-altitude villages are mostly ski-in/ski-out - but much of Plagne 1800 presents challenges because of its steep setting, which has to be negotiated on foot. At Plagne Bellecôte you'll walk further inside your apartment building than outside. Belle-Plagne is now quite large, and spread over a steepish hillside that provokes complaints from readers who find its multiple levels exhausting. Readers find Plagne-Soleil works well. Look to the horizon The scenery makes an attractive and varied backdrop to the less attractive core villages. And Mont Blanc looms big on the horizon, especially from Montchavin and Les Coches. Generally good except low down Most of La Plagne's runs are snow-sure, being at altitudes between 2000m and 2700m on the largely north-facing open slopes above the purpose-built centres. The two sunny runs to Champagny are something else - one is often closed, the other (Les Bois) is kept open as much as possible with lots of artificial snow. Snowmaking on runs to all the villages is being improved. On our March 2011 visit we found most of the pistes in great condition, despite the lack of natural snowfall. Better alternatives to ESF Each centre has its own ESF school and we had positive reports in 2011. Champagny: "For the near beginner in our group, the lessons were fun, and the instructor built up a real sense of camaraderie among the diverse group." Belle Plagne (arranged by Ski Esprit): "My four-year-old had positive and encouraging instructors, and progressed well." There are some very worthwhile alternatives too. The Oxygène school in Plagne-Centre was said to be "superb," "brought us on by stretching us over more and more difficult terrain." Reflex based in 1800 and Evolution 2 based in Montchavin have had good past reviews. Antenne Handicap offers private lessons for skiers with any kind of disability. Last year's snowfall provided by the Ski Club of Great Britain December January February March Upper Piste (cm) Lower Piste See the latest snow reports Good facilities Children are well catered for with facilities in each of the villages. The nursery at Belle-Plagne is "excellent, with good English spoken." The one in Les Coches is not apparently (see "Les Coches"). Several UK chalet operators run childcare services - Esprit was particularly highly recommended by a 2012 reporter ("excellent from start to finish"). One or two reporters were concerned by the crowded pistes. more on Skiing in France