My wife and I recently returned from our annual ski holiday. This year was a little different to previous years, as instead of going with a group of friends, we would be taking our 7-month-old son for company. So this is a review of a Family Ski holiday in La Plagne.
Rather than booking somewhere with lively apres ski, our main concern was good childcare for the little man and short transfers. In the end we booked with Crystal Ski to stay at the Terra Nova hotel in La Plagne, which has a crèche on site and is known as a family resort.
Family Ski holiday in La Plagne
It was our first package ski holiday for a few years as we normally book independently – so we were hoping to be well looked after. Small things do actually make a difference to the experience: Not flying a budget airline meant check-in was stress free, and actually having seats assigned on the plane made for a much more civilised start to the holiday.
On arrival in France there were Crystal Ski staff on hand to assist with our bags, which was helpful as we had far more than we could handle – once you factored in the baby and push chair. The transfer was not great, longer than we expected thanks to having to change buses, but again the friendly staff helped and kept us informed.
We arrived at the Terra Nova hotel fairly late in the evening. Even so, check in was very quick and food had been thoughtfully left out as we had missed dinner. Our room was very nice: immaculately clean, modern décor and plenty of space. Importantly, a cot had been provided as per our request.
In the morning our pre-booked lift passes were ready to collect from reception, which saved us the hassle of finding the ticket office. After breakfast we dropped our son off at the Pepi Penguin Club crèche for his first day in childcare. My wife had been a bit concerned about leaving him with strangers, but worries were quickly dispelled by the friendly staff that registered us. Overall, we were very pleased with the crèche; the staff were all lovely and having almost as much fun as the kids.
With our son having the time of his life we were free to hit the slopes. On the first morning we got out not long after the lifts opened. We spend the first day exploring the area – initially, La Plagne is quite hard to get your bearings as runs rarely come back down below lifts.
This means that you have to plan your route and keep consulting the piste maps to avoid ending up the wrong site of the mountain at the end of the day. However, this quirky nature of La Plagne is one of its biggest strengths as you are forced to explore new areas and get to see a lot of the mountain.
La Plagne is linked with Les Arcs to make the Paradiski area, which is one of the largest in Europe. We were kept busy on the La Plagne side where there were more than enough runs and different areas to explore. It is a very open resort so there are excellent off-piste opportunities after fresh snow.
After a full on day on the slopes, you want some decent food to recharge the batteries. We were fully-catered, which meant buffet breakfast and dinners plus a packed lunch. At all meals the range of food options was excellent, and everything I tried was good. You would probably get better food in restaurants, but considering they were catering for large numbers, the quality level was high and much better than food I have had on other catered holidays.
Review of a Family Ski holiday in La Plagne: Conclusion
Overall, I was very impressed with the hotel, the childcare, the resort and the service provided by Crystal Ski. I had not been on a package ski holiday for a few years, but when it is done well, it makes for a very good holiday.
