Les Coches is one of those small villages that make up the massive La Plagne resort. Each village has their own feel and this one is no different. You come to Les Coches for relative peace and quiet away from the crowds, the queues, the crazy nightlife to find a secluded and peaceful place to relax. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that because it is so quiet and relaxed, that there isn’t a massive amount of skiing to be had. Read on to know more about the wonderful Les Coches and what it has to offer.

Les Coches is a secluded village away from the hustle and bustle of its bigger brothers like you’ll find in Plagne Centre or La Plagne itself. It is designed for those who want to be secluded and to be in their own little worlds whether it be with your family, friends or maybe just with your loved one. The joy of this village is that it has been designed for the majority of the accommodations which are chalets to offer ski in / out possibilities. Even these can vary as you can choose to come down blues or reds which are of course suitable for most people. Or, for the more adventurous and skilled, can choose to ski back to your chalet via off piste routes going through the incredible forests that surround Les Coches. Whichever option you choose, you can put your skis on from outside your chalet, ski down to the lift which is only a few minutes away, and ski directly back to your chalet, quite often into the ski room itself!

Privacy and Authenticity

One of the massive advantages of Les Coches is that even though it is relatively secluded and quiet, it is part of the massive La Plagne ski resort which is part of the humungous Paradiski domain. From this village you ski down a few minutes, take one lift up and then either go left to go across to Les Arcs or continue going upwards onto La Plagne. All of this without the long queues you’ll find in the bigger and busier resorts in and around La Plagne. What more could you ask for? From this amazing little village, you can have access to one of the biggest ski domains in France with so many choices of greens, blues, reds and blacks; the choices are endless. On top of the regular pistes, you can take your pick of the many off piste routes going from the top of La Plagne at 3300 metres all the way down to 1250 metres. Now that is a lot of choice.

Once you are finished with your skiing, you can come back to Les Coches and know that you can be peaceful and quiet, with practically no noise surrounding you except the people that you are staying with. And as most people come here for peace and quiet, in general they want the same thing, so you can be rest assured that the intimacy and tranquillity you came here for will be shared with everyone else within this village. So a quick summary would be peacefulness, ski in / out and access to massive skiing; sound good? Please don’t choose Les Coches if you are looking for crazy nightlife, restaurants everywhere and lots of après ski facilities. These are accessible if you want them, but you have to be fairly motivated to make the effort to get to them from this quaint and peaceful paradise.

Les Coches Piste Map

From this page, you’ll be able to download the Les Coches piste map and its location at the bottom left, above Montchavin and below the rest of La Plagne. You’ll be able to see on the piste map that the incredible Vanoise Express lift is just on the left. This was opened for the 2003 ski season and allows people to access Les Arcs in 7 – 10 minutes. This is a massive advantage for those staying in Les Coches as there are very few queues even in peak season, and practically nobody during the low season. So you can know that staying in this village which may look totally remote and cut off, offers arguably some of the easiest accessing to the Paradiski area in the entire domain. Again, getting back to the village is wonderfully easy as you’ll either ski directly to the village from higher up in La Plagne, or take the Venoise Express from Les Arcs back to Les Coches and then ski into your accommodation.

Les Coches Weather

There is another advantage to this amazing little gem of a village. Even if there is an unbearable wind higher up, or it drops down to minus 20 in La Plagne, or perhaps there is a white out which would normally stop you being able to ski safely. Because it is lower down, plus you are totally surrounded by majestic forests, this is not the case here. The Les Coches weather is quite unique in the region as you are protected by the surrounding forests. This makes for some of the most beautiful skiing possible, in our humble opinion, plus you can be sure you’ll be able to ski no matter what the weather is elsewhere in the area. Even those with a lower level will be able to appreciate the protection the forests offer and may even be tempted to ski in and out of them on the easier runs you can found in and around Les Coches. For us personally, skiing in and next to pristine alpine forests is the most magical skiing experience possible, coupled with the possibilities of off piste skiing if you fancy it. Thanks to the Les Coches weather, everybody of any level can appreciate skiing.

Restaurants – Where to Eat

Although as mentioned previously, that this village is very quiet, it is still possible to find some Les Coches restaurants which offer exceptional value for money. They are very quaint, rustic and offer some of the best value food in the region. Thanks to the fact that those who live and work in this village, have of course chosen it for the same reasons as you which have been described in this blog. Therefore, they have made massive efforts to create a peaceful atmosphere which is traditional and family friendly.  You’ll find all the classic mountain dishes such as Raclette, Tartiflette and fondue but at amazing prices and top notch locally sources products. Even if you are staying in a catered chalet, there is that 1 night off a week that you are not prepared food by your hosts, so get out there and try one of the many Les Coches restaurants on offer.

Les Coches Apres ski

Whilst this village isn’t known for a tremendous choice of activities outside of skiing, there are a number of activities in neighbouring Montchavin such as ice skating, the Espace Paradisio Wellbeing Centre with an indoor pool, sauna, whirlpools, steam rooms and massages. There are also lots of walking trails through the forests and on the pistes. If you fancy a lot more night life or even some extra apres ski before the pistes are closed, then La Plagne offers a massive choice of bars, restaurants and activities. You can then either choose to ski down to Les Coches later on in the afternoon, or take a taxi back down to the village if you want to stay particularly late. Of course, as we said before, for most people who have chosen this village, it is for the quietness and intimacy it offers as well as the ski in / out possibilities, so we doubt you’d be interested to check out the La Plagne activities, but you never know of course.

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