We skiied this area in March and the snow was still excellent. La Plagne itself is not the nicest place in the world and probably among the least pretty ones in the Alps, but the variety of slopes more than makes up for it.

We got the paradiski pass, which gives you full access to all the slopes in the La Plagne area plus you can get the Vanoise Cable car accross to Les Arcs very easily. It's one of the biggest cable cars in the world and only takes 4 minutes to get accross so we never had to wait long. In fact most of the lifts were really efficient - only a few down towards Champagny, where there is a bit of a bottle neck, got busy. Having said that, we didn't go in school holidays so it could be worse if you are travelling with children.

We actually stayed in Montchavin which is between La Plagne and Les Arcs (one lift up to the Vanoise). Montchavin and Les Coches are linked towns by a minibus but we never really went out of Montchaving in the evenings.

I guess the criticism of the area would be the lack of nightlife, but we were there for the skiing and so we weren't too bothered - I guess if you are more of a fan of the apres ski it may not be the best area for you. I couldn't even find somewhere to watch the football! The area around Montchavin is really charming though and the food in the restaurants is nice (don't order curry from the La Plagne curry take delivery service though - it was terrible, and we were really excited about it!).

We spent 5 days skiing, 1 day locally, 2 in the La Plagne area and 2 in Les Arcs. And that's the real beauty of the area - it's a giant snowpark. There are lots of nice tree lined blues (some that should really be reclassified as greens - and some that are flat!), some good quick reds - especially towards Champagny and the La Plagne olympic area. There aren't too many blacks, but there are some if you want some challenges, but generally the area is nice, fun skiing with lovely views and efficient lifts.

We did book a group lesson with ESF between the four of us, but I'm not sure we got as much out of it as we should. I'd say if you are going to do this, make sure you are clear on what EXACTLY you want to work on. We just said 'technique' and only got a few words of advice from the admittedly really nice and friendly instructor.

If you are a hardcore skiier who loves big mogully challenging black runs and are used to somewhere like Chamonix or Verbier then this may not be the area for you - but I think there is more than enough on offer to keep anybody else entertained. I would definitely reccomend.