Pleasant flat at the top of Belle Plagne · Ski-in ski-out

La Plagne holds the only bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track in France, built for the 1992 Albertville Games and still open to anyone willing to try it. The skiing covers 225 kilometres and 139 pistes served by 77 lifts, climbing from Montchavin at 1,250 metres to the Chiaupe glacier at 3,250 metres below the Bellecôte summit, the second-highest skiable point in the French Alps and the reason the snow stays cold late in the season. Eleven separate villages make up the resort, seven of them perched above 1,800 metres and four spread through the valley below. The Vanoise Express cable car connects the whole area to Les Arcs, opening up the 425 kilometres of Paradiski.

France's third-largest ski area, Paradiski links La Plagne with Les Arcs - Peisey-Vallandry across 425 kilometres of connected runs. Crossing between the two sides takes four minutes aboard the Vanoise Express, a double-decker cable car that spans the valley without a single pylon. Terrain rises from 1,250 to 3,250 metres, and with 70% of it sitting above 2,000 metres, snow cover holds reliably from December into April. The 130 lifts reach everything from the tree-lined slopes of Montchavin, Les Coches and Montalbert to the long high-altitude descents off the Aiguille Rouge.