Les Arcs is one of the French mega-resorts located above the town of Bourg Saint-Maurice in the Savoie region of France. The Les Arcs ski area (not including linked La Plagne) includes 106 runs, 54 lifts and 200 kilometres of descent. Les Arcs is made up of several villages; Arc 1600 (aka Arc Pierre Blanche), Arc 1800, Intrawest's new Arc 1950 and Arc 2000.

Recently linked with La Plagne via the Vanoise Express cable car, the Paradiski domain now boasts 425km of skiing and boarding.

Arc 1600

Arc 1600 is a pretty compact little 60's style village whose main attraction is probably that it is the top station for the funicular railway which runs up and down the mountain to the town of Bourg Saint-Maurice.

Arc 1800

Arc 1800 is the traditional hub of the domain with plentiful accommodation, bars and restaurants. The Transarc gondola base station is at 1800.

Arc 1950

Developed in the last few years, Arc 1950 is not in the 60's style found elsewhere but rather a faux alpine village somewhat akin to a theme park. It is owned by Intrawest.

Arc 2000

Arc 1950's older neighbour, Arc 2000 is a fairly functional little place...

The highest point in the domain is the 3226m Aiguille Rouge accessed from Arc 2000. There is a terrain park situated between 1600 and 1800 with green, red and black kickers, and a few rails.

There is a free bus service which links the mountain resorts. The funicular to and from BSM is included in the lift pass and can also be bought on its own for about €10 return.

Getting there...

By road the various Arcs villages are all around 25 / 30 minutes from Bourg St. Maurice which has the nearest train station. During the winter the Eurostar from London makes regular appearances, as does Thalys, in addition to normal french services.

From Bourg it is a further 2 1/2 hours to Geneva Airport, 1 1/2 to Chambery Airport and 2 1/2 to Lyon. These times assume you are not travelling on a Saturday in the height of the season, if you are then you can add an arbitrary amount of time on top for sitting in slow moving or stopped nose to tail traffic. You can rent cars from all of those airports or book in advance a transfer from airport to resort.