Meribel or La Plagne?

I have a couple of options for late deals, both in resorts I dont know at all. One is Meribel, the other is La Plagne.

Can anyone let me know their views on each or both, including which would be best for week commencing March 29th in terms of ski areas and also weather probabilities?

Cheers

Haven't been to Meribel, but La Plagne is great - plenty of varied skiing. Went there end of March last year with a group of disabled skiers, staying up at 1800 in an aparthotel, which was great as we could walk out from the 3rd level straight onto the snow. Turn left and you could ski down to Plagne central with a choice of 4 or 5 chairlifts heading in various directions.

Being typically French they were still smoking in the bars though! But it has a good reputation for late skiing. The huge gondola linking it with Les Arc was not working at the beginning of the season though and not sure if it's back in service yet.

La Plagne is a great resort with some great off piste and plenty to keep you going. Stayed in LP Centre in Jan, the "typical French" had stopped the smoking in the bars and resturants.

There did seem to be a bit too many blues, but dont let that put you off as some were more like reds.

Nice to see you checking the French resorts rather than Mayerhofen! )

powder puppy, the smoking ban was not in force last March so i think it would be a bit much to have expected them to have stopped smoking in bars at that time!

La Plagne is a big resort. Choose one of the higher villages like Bellecote or Belle Plagne and you will be pretty snowsure. Meribel OTOH is likely to be slushy or muddy brown at resort level on those dates. Not definitely....but a lot more likely!
Huge range of skiing in La Plagne. You won't ski it all in a week. Then there's the off piste to go at :D

julietP wrote:
Nice to see you checking the French resorts rather than Mayerhofen! )

Its only because of the deals available, to be honest. And there is one in Mayrhofen, but I want to be high up and the end of this month.

I assume from Meribel I can link into Val Thorens quickly to get up high?

What about the other resorts in 3 Valleys - are the links good and quick?

You might want to avoid Mayrhofen at that time anyway if you want to avoid this crowd...

http://www.snowbombing.com/en/music/24.html

I will be there of course :D

I have just returned from Val Thorens, and have been to both Les Arcs and La Plagne previously (before the gondola linking the two was open). I would always choose Meribel (and therefore the Trois Vallees) as the ski area is just fantastic. Links to Les Menuires and Courchevel are excellent, and to Val Thorens quite easy (back from Val Thorens the links are very good - take two shortish lifts up from the village and ski all the way to Meribel in one go). The only problem might be that some parts of Meribel are quite low lying (1600m) leading to less reliable snow in the village itself. La Plagne also has lower areas though, so it depends on where you are staying.
Slopes around Meribel are mostly red and black, with the blues located more in Courchevel, Les Menuires and Val Thorens.