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| One of the largest ski areas in the
world, La 'Belle' Plagne is indeed
a beautiful concept; not just a single resort but TEN traditional
villages and purpose built high altitude centres stretching out
over 6 valleys, covering more than 300 square kilometres and serviced
by more than 100 swift and modern lifts. For the recreational
skier that means a great deal of variety and fun. |
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La Plagne's adventure
started in 1960. Over the next 20 years six new high altitude
centres were developed and four traditional farming villages
in the surrounding area were incorporated into an efficient
network of modern lifts that now link 210 kms of marked runs
from the Bellecotte Glacier at 3250m
to the wooded tracks of Montchavin at 1250m. If you want endless
skiing with new vistas and different routes each day of your
holiday, La Plagne is definitely
one of the finest choices available.
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During a single day's touring it
is just possible to visit all 10 resorts - but
you'll have to ski like the wind and avoid the temptation of relaxing
in one of the numerous bars and cafes that have been purposefully
designed to charm you. Better to take a week or two cruising around
the area in style. Many of the centres are even designed to allow
a gentle ski down the high street. Whilst those on skis window
shop, demonstrate their style and parade their fashions, others
relax in crowded music bars watching a late afternoon promenade
as colourful and interesting as in any Mediterranean city. |
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But what about Chez
Jay you'll be asking……..which
resort have we chosen for our chalet?
Montchavin
High altitude
purpose built resorts may be fun to visit and ski through but not
so charming to actually stay in. They can be very cold and impersonal
'apres ski'. So we have chosen the romantic village of Montchavin (1250m)
for our chalet which also allows really serious skiers the rare opportunity
of a fantastic 15km run with a vertical descent of 2000m as a climax
to their day on the slopes.
| Perched on a mountain ledge with
spectacular views of Mont Blanc, Montchavin is considered
by many as the most beautiful ski village in the domain if not
in France. Still possessing some traditional working farm houses,
this 14th. century hamlet has been sensitively enlarged with a
spectacular award winning development in the style of medieval
fortifications. The result is a truly charming resort with fashionable
shops, bars and restaurants in a fully pedestrianised environment
that is so different from the traffic noise and fumes that plague
other prestige resorts like Val D'Isere and Meribel today. |
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And Montchavin has other
significant advantages as a place to stay. Being the closest domain
resort to Bourg St Maurice and Les Arcs, it allows
visitors a quick and easy transfer between them. So those guests
wishing to visit a town or ski in another domain will have no
trouble getting there. |
| And there's more. Being so close
to Bourg, Montchavin has attracted a lively music
scene with a brand new purpose built venue, OXYGENE, offering the
very latest sounds and the most up to date atmosphere of any night
club in the ski world. It may be a village but in the winter season
you'd never believe it. |
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But please don't think we've forgotten
the true charm of staying in a mountain chalet...... Montchavin
does not press it's lively charms as heavily as say Val D'Isere
or Meribel. Well lit paths wind their way through forested slopes
above the village where a group of individually designed luxury
chalets peer out across the vast expanse of pine forests to the
snow clad mountains beyond. The majesty and sheer beauty of our
location cannot be surpassed in any other major ski resort in
the world; the view is truly awe inspiring……and for
us that was reason enough to base our lives here. |
 Les Arcs |
St
Anton |
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