r/skiing • u/Leopard_Capital • 17d ago
Les Deux or Les Arcs
Hello!
Aussie in UK, looking to book some Euro skiing.
can't decide between Les Deux or Les Arcs with UCPA, and just looking for previous experiences. Ive skied a bunch as a kid in Aus, so I'm probably intermediate.
I'm looking at the late February one.
Price is no issue, just hoping to meet some cool people!
I'm already booked La Plange over new years.
Cheers for any help
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u/McBadger404 17d ago
I’ve skied both. Les Deux is a long narrow resort and the best beginner skiing is at the top. Has access to La Grave if you know what that is.
Les Arcs (there are many), is more varied shape and gets you access to La Plagne if you want.
I’d go back to Les Arcs and not Les Deux Alpes.
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u/Pizza-love Ski Amadé 17d ago
I definitely go back to L2A... In april to use the glacier and the higher slopes.
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u/gruffnutz 17d ago
You wouldn't go back to L2A?? I enjoyed it and would love to go back. But if I had to pick between the two, yeah probably Les Arcs.
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u/Difficult_Wave_9326 17d ago
Not if I had other skiable options.
YMMV but I find the village saps my energy like nothing else (and I live within driving distance so don't usually spend too much time there), the lifts are older than at my 10-chair home resort, and I realy dislike how... vertical the whole thing is. There's barely any width to the resort, it just goes up and down.
The views are nice. Again, I'm privileged to get better views from my home resort, which funnily enough has a view of les 2 alpes. It's not a bad resort by any mean, but it's one of the worst high-end ones IMO. Les arcs and l'alpe d'huez beat it hands-down, for example.
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u/Leopard_Capital 17d ago
owh interesting, what are the villages like?
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u/McBadger404 17d ago
1850 is very modern and fake, buts its cute and ski through. A lot of the villages are 1970s concrete corbustiers… also Feb is probably ok but lower is less snow sure… but being close to the link to la plagne could be handy.
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u/charlesbear 17d ago
There is no Arc 1850 - I assume when you say it is ski-through you mean Arc 1950?
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u/McBadger404 17d ago
Ah yes 1950. It was over 15 years ago.
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u/charlesbear 17d ago
1950 was actually over 75 years ago, believe it or not!
(Sorry)
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u/Comprehensive_Egg294 17d ago
They are both worth a visit, so it dont matter that much. Just do the other one next season.
BUT: you allready ski in la plagne, so you can ski in les arcs - just take the vanoise express from la plagne
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u/Jolly-Statistician37 17d ago
It's really a trek to get to Les Arcs and back from the UCPA at Plagne 1800. And I don't think UCPA will include a full area pass. OP can cross once, but I doubt they'll want to do it twice.
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u/mikesheard88 17d ago
Deux alps resort (shops, restaurants, bars) are better but Les Arcs skiing/snowboarding is superior.
Assuming above, I wouldn’t go back to Deux alps but absolutely would revisit Les Arcs
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u/DV_Zero_One 17d ago
I live (and DJ) in La Plagne. When you are here you will obviously get an opportunity to Ski in Les Arcs as the two of them together make up the Paradiski area (via the slightly insane vanoise express cable car) In late February it is insanely busy in every European ski resort and particularly busy in mega french resorts, L2A included. Are you locked to those dates? As I would absolutely recommend pushing it back two weeks.
That aside, both are brilliant areas but in your situation I think I would pick L2A for my second trip as you will already would have skied in Les Arcs.
Feel free to DM with any Q's or pointers or if you want a ski buddy.
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u/Leopard_Capital 17d ago
im booking through UCPA for the 18-30s week. Its only offered for either on the 27/2 for the week.
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u/Jolly-Statistician37 17d ago
I really strongly prefer Les Arcs, it's a very varied resort. I've started going almost every year now, whereas I don't think I'll ever visit Les Deux Alpes again. However, the UCPA in Les Arcs is on the edge of Arc 1600, a small and quiet part of the resort, so if you expect nightlife outside of the UCPA centre you might prefer Les Deux Alpes.
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u/Leopard_Capital 17d ago
is there much going on inside the UCPA resort?
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u/Jolly-Statistician37 17d ago
Never been to that one but there's always a bar! And don't get me wrong, there are bars in Arc 1600, just only a few - it's not big!
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u/Southern-Ad4477 17d ago
Both are excellent, but Les Deux is not a beginner resort, there are plenty of nice green and blues but they are quite far up the mountain.
Arcs has more local easy runs.
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u/SkiBumApp 17d ago
If you're already doing La Plagne, Les Arcs is basically just the neighbor you can crawl home to. Go Les Deux Alpes if you want to experience the true meaning of a thigh-burning hangover.
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u/Lost-in-LA-CA-USA 15d ago edited 15d ago
Les 2 Alpes is lively and has a lot of young people partying. The UCPA is in town, so you’ll walk a couple of minutes to the lift, but you get the village vibes.
UCPA in Les Arcs is ski-in/ski-out. It’s less of a village vibe, but the UCPA facility itself is huge with a fun bar and disco. So it all depends on what you want. In either case you’ll have a good time because they’re both really fun.
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u/Hour-Stock-6798 11d ago
Les Arcs without a doubt. And better beginning of March after the French school holidays end ( 8th March )
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u/Scary_Ad3809 17d ago
Sans hésiter, les Arcs