Les Arcs is made up of four modern purpose built resorts, Arc 1600, 1800, 1950 and 2000, all mainly offering apartment accommodation as well as more authentic villages such as Villaroger and Peisey-Vallandry. The mountain scenery is varied, with the lower villages enjoying views along with valley, whilst higher up the magnificence of Mont Blanc looms large. The ski domain extents up to 3,225m, and the run down to Villaroger from here provides a 2,000m vertical thrill ride and is rightly considered one of the finest descents in the French Alps.

Les Arcs’ ski terrain is varied with a good mixture of high, open, snow-sure slopes and lower woodland pistes. Arc 1600 and Arc 1800 share a broad west-facing mountainside accessed by fast lifts out of each village. The mainly blue and red slopes here cross all over the mountain and down to each village. To the southern end of the ski domain Peisey-Vallandry has some of the most beautiful tree-lined slopes in the Alps, and a great destination when snow clouds hide the blue sky.

From the ridge above Arc 1600 and 1800, there are numerous points on which to head over and down into the huge bowl of slopes above Arc 2000. Here there are many gentle slopes on which to cruise as well as access to the high points of the ski area, the Aiguille Rouge and Grand Col. For experts who like their skiing steep, this is the place to head, with a variety of black runs, as well as challenging mogul fields.

For snowboarders, this is one of the best resorts in the Alps. It offers stunning freeriding as well as plenty of wide rolling pistes, ideal for those gaining confidence in linking turns. The terrain park, named after cult snowboard movie Apocalypse Snow, which was filmed in Les Arcs, is located between Arc 1600 and 1800 and is rated as one of the best in the French Alps.

With a high percentage of ski slopes above 2,000m, snow reliability is very good and the lift system is generally excellent. The 200 person double decker Vanoise Express cable car, which crosses large valley to link Les Arcs and La Plagne, forms the Paradiski ski domain. This joint ski area is vast and provides endless ski adventures that even an accomplished skier is hard put to travel from one end to the other and back in a single day.