 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, Just got back from an excellent ski trip to Les Arcs. We stayed at the village at 1950.
We wanted somewhere high to "guarantee snow" and we wanted somewhere with a spa to help relax the muscles after a day on the slopes.
We also wanted to avoid half term across Europe (thanks to advice on here) so booked for the week beginning 12 March so the pistes were less full and prices would be lower.
We booked through Inghams and flew directly to Geneva from the Isle of Man, which is fantastic.
Travel Out
Flew direct to Geneva, then had a bus transfer to the resort (which should have taken three hours).
Our flight was on time and at around 10am was a reasonable start... then had a short wait at Geneva airport waiting for other flights before we set off by bus to Moutiers for the change up to Les Arcs.
Loads of room on the bus, but there was an accident further up the route that stopped inbound coaches from passing so this caused a two hour delay, then when we got on the minibus at Moutiers but the driver got lost and drove past 1950 in the dark, and we had to wait for an inghams rep to lead us back. We had a similar issue with the final driver getting lost on the way tot he hotel last year - it must be a tradition from Moutiers?
So we arrived at the hotel around 9pm instead of 5pm, so it meant we had to sort out our ski hire in the morning instead of the night before, which was a slight annoyance but not too bad.
Hotel
We stayed at Hameau du Glacier, which is run by Pierre Vacances Premium in Les Arc 1950 village. The hotel is looking a little old now (its only 10 years old or so), and it could do with a refurbishment.
The facilities were excellent. We had a one bedroom apartment, which was massive, with a separate bedroom and a lounge with a fold out sofa bed and an open kitchen, a small balcony. One downside was this it had energy saving lights which gave off little or no light, which was cosy, but made searching the cupboards for clothing a bit of a lottery. Good internet access throughout all the hotels - although it did have a problem one day which stopped access to any websites for some reason.
The hotel gave you slippers and a dressing gown for walking to the spa facilities which were great. It had its own outdoor hot tub and small pool, but the path to it was very icy and not cleared properly, so walking to it in the slippers was not advisable. The steam room and the sauna were well worth visiting though. There was also a fitness centre, which had gym equipment in it (but after skiing all day it was unused).
There was a "bridge" linking our hotel with Princes De Cimes, which has a much better spa facilities with an indoor pool which was half outdoor too. It had lockers and changing rooms, which the our hotel lacked, but due to the bridge you could walk there in your robe and slippers and wonder back.
The Village
The village itself is great, although its purpose built, its very picturesque, walking only with an underground carpark. Lots of restaurants and bars to choose from, as well as a supermarket for self catering.
No pharmacy, although there is a small "cabriolet" lift connecting the village to Les Arcs 2000 village, which had a small pharmacy. This lift ran every 10 minutes through the day and night (up to 11pm) .
Several nice restaurants but we decided to go half board (cost £250 each for the week) which was expensive, and it didn't include drinks (but we didn't drink that much anyway). The half board options allows you to have breakfast everyday at la Brassiere which is a small walk away from the Hameau du Glacier, and an evening meal at the Hemingway steak house at the Hameau du Glacier. The breakfast was ok, nice hot and cold options and lots of it. The evening meals were superb but you had to book in advance for the next evening so you needed to plan a day ahead.
We had raclette, fondue, duck, beef filet, etc. Great range of main courses. The starters and deserts were a bit more limited. Next time I don't think we'd bother with half board option as there were so many other options there.
Loads of ski shops and we finally bought the missus a ski helmet after 50 years of skiing without one - she spent a long time trying each one on and sending pictures of her favourites to her friends back home for their opinion, then she chose the most expensive (although we got a good discount)! She went for an HMR H2 with built in visor as it gave her good all round vision.
Location 1950
Great location, truly ski in / ski out, the ski lockers were on the mezzanine floor and from there you skied out into the centre of the village and then through either the Marmot lift which gives you quick access to the main lifts in the Les Arcs bowl or to the Bois de L'ours which takes you up to the Arpette ridge where you can either ski back into the bowl or down through the trees to the lower resorts.
Service
Service was good throughout the resort, and everyone was friendly and approachable.
Skiing and weather
It was my first time at Les Arcs and I mostly enjoyed it.
The weather really helped, there had been a good dump of snow in the previous weeks and the sun shone almost the whole week. So all the lifts and pistes were open, except on Wednesday when the wind and clouds came in, which closed most lifts but we still had a good day on the lower slopes.
The pistes linked up really well, and there were multiple routes to various runs.
There were a lot of red runs which were all great, and lots of blues which were mostly great, the only downside for me were the long flattish blues that transversed the bowl, they were long and wide but many flat spots which you could carry, just not very inspiring in my view.
Most of the blacks were allowed to be natural and weren't pisted so they were full of moguls which I didn't like, but I found at least one pisted black that was great.
The timing of our trip meant that there were no queues at any of the lifts, except for the cable car to the summit of aguille rouge, which was great for sight seeing, and several times we have the whole piste to ourselves.
Travel Home
Trip home was the usual I guess, 7am pick up from the village bus stop and down to Moutiers where we switched to a larger coach, so we were at the airport at around 11am, and had an hour wait for our flight to open at 12 noon. Flight was at 2pm, arrived on the Isle of Man at 3pm (local time) home and unpacked by 4pm.
Overall
A great holiday - great skiing and great weather, met some wonderful people and a great resort
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nice to read such a positive report. You almost certainly picked the absolute best week of the season!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| pam w wrote: |
| Nice to read such a positive report. You almost certainly picked the absolute best week of the season! |
it was a fantastic trip, we thoroughly enjoyed it
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for such an excellent report, we're staying next year in the same place during the same week so it was great to read your view on the runs and queues.
Thanks very much
d
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We, my wife and I plus our two children 8 & 5, went to Arc 1950 on the 26th of March for a week. We flew into Chambery and were in 1950 by 4 o'clock. We were in Manoir Savoie in a 2 bedroom apartment. I too thought it was a bit dated but the ski in/out of the village more than made up for any minor downsides. Everything was so close and with two kids in tow it made our stay very pleasurable. The skiing was excellent and we had a decent snowfall on the Tuesday night which freshened things up nicely. Only problem was it warmed up a bit towards the end of the week causing a bit of melting. We liked it so much we have booked again for next year this time in Hameau du Glacier. Can't wait.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@CH1975, I am interested to know your reasoning for choosing Hameau du Glacier over Manoir Savoie for your return trip to Arc 1950?
We stayed in Manoir Savoie a few years ago but have not tried any of the other buildings yet.
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@snowymum, No reason in particular just fancied being in a different part of the village and hoping that the outdoor pool at Hameau will be warmer than the one at Manoir. Also won't have to tow the kids up hill from the Manoir ski locker room to the ski school pick up point.
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@CH1975, Ah - I had completely forgotten there were a few steps up to ski school. The indoor pool at Prince des Cimes may be more to your liking if you haven't tried it yet. You could also try the Deep Nature spa but that is adult only.
Sack the Juggler - I enjoyed reading your trip report 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@snowymum, They were only a few but negotiating them with 2 young children, 4 pairs of skis, poles, kids dropping gloves and not wanting to wear their helmets they became quite an obstacle 
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I go to Arc1950 quite a bit, agree the earlier buildings need some TLC if they're to preserve their 4* status
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Welcome to snowHeads @Frank Spencer
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