Chalet Papas, La Plagne 1800, France

I stayed at Chalet Papas last week (start of Feb 2010) with 3 friends. We had a fantastic week; great skiing and great weather - most of the time. It's easy to get to/from the slopes from the chalet, it is just 5 mins walk, as advertised. Or hop on the bus if you want. La Plagne 1800 itself is a bit quiet - one Bar, The Mine - but it's only a short ride on the bus to La Plagne Centre if you want more nightlife. We found The Mine was ok though; live music 3 nights a week. It did get really crowded, so don’t go if you don’t like being squashed by rather rowdy drunk fellow holiday-makers. As far as the slopes go, there's plenty to go at in and around the La Plagne area itself. The only real pain in the neck is crossing Plagne Centre. Many of the main lifts converge there and it always seems uphill to the next lift that you want. This is almost as much of a pain for the skiers as it is for the boarders. There’s nice off piste to be had up in the wilds way above La Plagne itself, and in the surrounding area. Even if you only buy the La Plagne area lift pass you can still get yourself a long way north, south, east and west on the [see piste map]. It's worth visiting the outlying villages of Montalbert, Monchavin and Champagny (from which you can clearly see Courchevel on most days). Re lift passes, if you’re a skier / boarder of a few weeks experience or more, I‘d recommend you pay the extra and get the full Paradiski area lift pass, which gives you access to the Les Arcs area too. Or you may want to opt for the La Plagne ‘Discovery’ pass, which gives you one day over in Les Arcs. The skiing / boarding in Les Arcs is great – perhaps a little better than in La Plagne if I’m being super-critical – so it is worth the effort and expense. If the snow’s coming down and/or it’s a flat light day, the tree-lined runs in the Vallandry / Plan Peisey area of Les Arcs are a real winner. There are quite a few tree-lined runs in the Monchavin / Les Coches area of La Plagne, but they’re not quite as good… Most of the time, food on the slopes was expensive for what you got. The exchange rate doesn't help of course... The one exception we found was the self-service restaurant at the top of the Les Inversens piste [the restaurant may actually be called Les Inversens…], good quality food at fair prices, with fantastic views from the terrace. All in all La Plagne is a good destination; not the very best I’ve ever been to (I’ve been to about 15 resorts in France, Austria & Italy), but up there in the top 5. Special mention to Paul and Ben the chalet lads, they were absolutely superb; very helpful, friendly and great cooks. If only all chalet people were like them...

Ian Stuart

This is a very comfortable chalet. Modern, warm and of a very good standard. Our chalet hosts were excellent, great food and service, the only negative which I took off 2 points for was the 300 yards hike to the lifts.

Brian Tulloch