Christmas Ski 2019

Sally-Jo Asser on 22 December 2019
Christmas Skiing, La Plagne - France

Our party comprised me, my sons 15 & 9, my cousin, his wife and 2 daughters 4 & 6 and two grandmas, a multi-generational party. Four skiers, one snowboarder, two novice young children and two non-skiers (grandmas).

La Plagne Centre & Ski Circuit is about 2hrs30mins from Grenoble airport. It’s multiple villages at different altitudes are part of the Paradiski Ski Circuit. We only booked the La Plagne lift pass which was more than sufficient for our needs. There are plenty of wide cruising blue runs great for intermediates as well as a good selection of green, reds and blacks.

There’s a complimentary inter village shuttle bus during day and into the evening, taxis are also available.

La Plagne Centre has plenty of piste-side watering holes, I can thoroughly recommend the Choco Baileys Chantilly at La Vega, a hot chocolate laced with Baileys and plenty of cream (one for the Mummy’s!) It was so wonderful to lay in a deck chair a warm Vin Chaud in hand, crystal clear blue skies, and a face full of sunshine. Prices for a vin chaud, iced tea and a Fanta was 15Euro. Dinner at La Vega restaurant and for my family of 4 for a main and one drink each was 85Euro, great food, great service and a traditional Savoyard style cosy restaurant.

Chalet Boulevard is a very cute three bedroom chalet, 2 bathrooms, 2 separate toilets, right on the edge of a blue run. The location was perfect for the skiers and turned out to be a good option for the grandma’s too as they had entertainment of watching the skiers all day from the warmth of our cosy chalet.

Our hosts Tommy & Lorna gave us a very warm welcome. During our stay they proved to be wonderful people and a great credit to themselves and the company. A perfect social/professional balance of integrating into our family group, joining us socially for, engaging with the children and occasionally disappearing into the background at the appropriate time. They both catered for our every need.

Our meals included breakfast, afternoon tea, and a 3 course dinner with unlimited wine. Typically breakfast was cereals, baguette, jams, Nutella, fresh porridge and eggs. Afternoon tea was a fresh cake each day, baguette, jams, Nutella. We fed the children dinner earlier which worked well and then allowed the adults to enjoy a leisurely dinner. Tommy cooked good hearty meals, Tartiflette, chicken and mushroom Stroganoff, lasagne, and of course a traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas Day…. my belly was groaning after day 1!

Ski Equipment Top Tips

- Pre-book your equipment to help speed up the process - Collect your equipment as soon as possible after arrival, the process can be quite time consuming, tricky when you have young children at the end of a very long day. - If travelling with young children, remember you need to carry ALL of the equipment yours and theirs back to your chalet. Anything/one you can enlist to assist with this is beneficial, we took a couple of sledges down with us to load up with all the boots and helmets, leaving hands free to carry the multitude of ski’s and poles as well as hands of tired little people. - Take a good dose of humour with you - I was close to sense of humour failure, and my children were old enough to help!

Ski School Top Tips

I was on a chair lift one day, next to a young 7/8year old who’s instructor had put him on the chairlift on his own. He was crying his eyes out because he was so cold. We chatted and managed to get a little smile out of him. So first top tip……

- Book private ski school, it cost us £100 more for 2 beginners than group lessons but well worth it. Although this meant 1 hour less than a group lesson it was a solid 2 hours of instruction, no wasted time, no standing around waiting your turn, getting cold. It also allowed the flexibility to adapt with their development more appropriately. They also benefit from having an afternoon lesson, thus avoiding the stress of trying to get everyone kitted up first thing in the morning. - A Grandparent is very handy to babysit the little people so you can still pop out with your skiing pals.

Non-Ski Activities

- The location of our chalet, right on the edge of a blue run meant that we had the most enormous sledge run once the piste had closed to skiers. You’ll have to head to my Facebook page Sally-Jo Asser – Travel Counsellors to see the video footage. It was so exhilarating to be bombing down the slopes on sledge and bumboard racing with my sons, a really fun, post dinner activity. - When the pistes were closed we went out to do MotoNeige, a convoy of 8 skidoos. It was dark, crystal clear skies, stars as far as the eyes could see, a soft backdrop of the mountains enveloping us and the twinkling lights of the villages below. We bombed up piste, down piste, across piste, off piste, another exhilarating experience to add to my portfolio. - There are also plenty of other non-ski activities, spa leisure centres, Bobsleigh, Toboggan Luge, childrens creche, dog-sledding, certainly more than enough to occupy a family for a week.

So in summary if there’s one thing to put on your bucket list for this year then add a family Christmas in the snow. Lots of fresh air, good food, great company...an amazing magical experience full of good wholesome family fun.