Description

One of the most fashionable of the French purpose-built resort complexes that were originated in the late '60s. Les Arcs has its own unique design of curving apartment block complexes which seem to hug the mountainside and, timber clad, seem more in keeping with their natural environment than most. The Arcs are car free, with covered walkways between buildings and doorstep skiing throughout. The resort has a reputation for being at the cutting edge of snow sports and is famous for pioneered the Ski Evolutif tuition method of tuition for beginners who learn parallel skiing. It was also a mecca for mono-ski in the early '80s and of course 'boarding as well as other 'sports nouveau'. There is a famous flying kilometre speed skiing course where world records have been set. There are four 'Arcs', at 1600, 1800, 1950 and 2000 metres each with its own reputation. At different times the Arcs have had various names but at present 1600, 1800 and 2000 are known simply by their numbers. 1600 is known as the 'family' resort with 1800 the main centre with most of the facilities and night life. Arc 2000 was originally the sporting mecca with little there besides first rate sports facilities for those who needed a fully equipped gym to work out in after a full day on the slopes. All have grown to become more multi-function however. Arc 1950 - Le Village is the newest development, and a pioneering model for europe brought over by North American developer Intrawest. The concept is for a high quality, purpose designed resort with all facilities available on your doorstep., Very like the traditional French purpose built resort the other Arcs are examples of but with greater attention to architecture, 21st century comforts and quality of service and product. The resort has one of the world's largest ski areas, linked to the villages of Villaroger, Vallandry and Plan Peisey, there is also a funicular railway down to Bourg Saint Maurice from where you can easily reach La Rosière on the other side of the valley with its lift link over to La Thuile in Italy. In 2003 the resort was lift linked by the spectacular Vanoise Express double decker cable car to another neighbour, La Plagne, to create the Paradiski area of 425km of trails.

Travelling to Les Arcs

Les Arcs is 180km (110 miles) from both Lyon and Geneva international airports. One of the few French resorts, and the only purpose-built French resort easilly accessible by train, Bourg St Maurice is linked to the high speed rail network and a funicular runs from the rail station in the town up to Arc 1600 in 7 minutes (a free inter-resort shuttle links 1600 to 1800 and 2000). Bourg St Maurice is served by direct TGV from Paris to in 4 h 40, departing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and by Eurostar Train via the Channel Tunnel from London (8 hours on Saturdays). During the Christmas and winter French school holidays (February) there is a direct, daily service TGV from Paris to Bourg-St-Maurice. A sleeper service operates direct from Brussels, Dortmund, La Haye et Calais. The "Bi-Pass" system in France means that you can buy your onward coach ticket or book a taxi at the station from where you embark. There is a coach connecting Bourg-St-Maurice (railway station) and Les Arcs (Pierre-Blanche (1600) - 1800 - 2000). The roads which were built for the Olympic Games make access to Bourg Saint Maurice very easy. There is a motorway to Albertville, then dual carriageway to Moutiers, then the RN90 to Bourg Saint Maurice. Les Arcs is reached by a wide mountain road. Avoid driving to and from the resort on Saturdays, especially in the high season. Only pedestrians are allowed in the resorts. There are free outdoor car-parks and paying indoor ones in Arcs 1600 and 1800. At Arc 2000 there's a free car-park at Pré-St-Esprit (5 km from the resort) with free shuttles running every hour till 7:00 p.m. Paying outdoor and indoor car-parks in the resort.

Weather

Conditions for Les Arcs, FR at 9:00 am CEST

Current Conditions:
Partly Cloudy, 21 C

Forecast:
Mon - Partly Cloudy. High: 26 Low: 18
Tue - PM Light Rain. High: 23 Low: 17

Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather

(provided by The Weather Channel)

Snow Report

Latest snow report from onthesnow.com

Base depth

133cm

Snowfall last 48 hours

0cm

Surface conditions

Spring

Updated, about 23 hours ago

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Database and compilation (c) Snow24 plc 2009-11, Database Right: Snow24 plc 2009-11.