Skiing with Mark Warner
Picture the scene its Christmas Eve, we are all excited as we are off on holiday with Mark Warner.
Our holiday started as soon as we arrived at the BA check in desk, the staff were so friendly, full of festive spirit and before we knew it we were on the plane heading to the Alpes.
A smooth transfer from Grenoble and we were soon at our destination, Hotel Christina in La Plagne, staff busy waving to us on the steps as we arrived made the perfect greeting. What to do first, have afternoon tea that was there waiting for us, or pop up to see our hotel room?
An hour later, after afternoon tea had been consumed, we’d unpacked, ski and boot fittings were all sorted, and we were in the comfort of the Hotel Christina bar, (being well looked after by bar manager Adam). Looking out towards the snowy slopes, making friends with the other parents there, whilst the children had already found the games room and were having fun themselves.
Skiing
So I’m not going to pretend we are the best skiers because we are NOT! But we love it, the fresh air, the rush of skiing and being on top of the mountains taking in the views, it’s just amazing. Mark Warner had our lift passes waiting at reception so we didn’t have to worry about that, the ski school lessons for our youngest were booked through them too, everything was organised for us.
There is so much skiing in the region, including the Les Arcs area. There are fun slopes, slaloms, ‘disco tunnels’, a woodland enchanted trail plus many more fun features. The area really has something for beginners to extreme skiers. Of course it’s not just skiing theres snowboarding, teleskiing etc etc….
Childcare
This is where MW excels, the childcare team (whenever we have been on a MW holiday) has been exceptional, the staff are attentive, fun and friendly, and the children never want to come out. For us the childcare consisted of dropping our little one with them in the morning, where he was then taken to ski school, afterwards the childcare team would pick him up and he and the rest of the kids (by now all the children are firm friends), were taken back for lunch at the hotel.
The afternoon, consists of playing games, snow fun and throughout the week there’s a crepe and hot chocolate trip. There’s two choices of tea for them, high tea – a buffet style tea for children, or kids dinner which is a streamed down version of the adults dinner.
To top it off there’s film club too, this runs in the evening where in the kids area a film is put on and the children are supervised by members of the child care team, if they are tired they can just pop into one of the mini beds that are laid out for them to fall alseep comfortably in.
This service is perfect for you as a couple as you can have a relaxing meal together, or join the other adult guests to dine with, its your choice.
It sounds as though we were never with the little one but we were! It is obviously your choice when you pick your child up within the childcare hours but from experience the kids just want to play and have fun together, daily we went to pick him up to come skiing with us in the afternoon, but he was having so much fun he wanted to stay with the other children and the amazing childcare team, so embracing this we enjoyed the freedom and enjoyed some quality couple time, on the slopes.
Food
You will not go hungry on this holiday! And there are choices and choices of food! From full on cooked breakfast in the mornings, to afternoon tea, high tea or kids dinner for the children and then a three course dinner each evening for the adults (apart from one where you either dine out or get a take away in!) dietary requirements are catered for, tea and coffee served all day and if you have a celebration whilst you are away the staff create something a little special.
La Plagne – non skiers
La Plagne offers the usual ice-skating and swimming but is a very underrated resort – it doesn’t have the glamour or pizazz as Val d’Isere, or St Anton, BUT it does have lots of hidden secrets, there is so much to do if you are a non skier, husky dog rides, the Jaguar Land Rover Experience, Mountain Walking, Snowshoes walking and Nordic Walking, E Fat bike riding, Zipwire, the Snaklegliss, Airboarding and Igloo Village to name a few BUT the one to try is the infamous Olympic Bob experience!
La Plagne has some great restaurants on the slopes including La Bergerie which now hosts DJ’s later on in the day, a perfect way to end a days skiing with an easy ski down straight to the hotel. A huge plus factor is that the Hotel Christina is ski to door, just perfect!
We have been to Hotel Christina before choosing it again for its homely cosy feel, not a vast hotel it gives the feel of more of a large chalet rather than a hotel, another bonus of it being a smaller hotel, is that you get to know the brilliant staff, the hotel is in an ideal location right on the slope and a 2 minute walk into the town centre, with the main chair lift action in eye shot from the hotel veranda. Just perfect.
We were very pleasantly surprised on our return visit to have seen that MW have introduced their spa VIVA with limited space in the hotel the the treatments are minimal but even so there is nothing nicer than having a massage or two during the week to ease those aches and pains.
All in all as you can probably tell from reading this we had a fabulous time with MWHolidays, we loved the hotel as it is homely, cosy and comfy, the staff were incredible, friendly and fantastic with the children as usual. Please don’t think that MWHolidays are just for families with younger children as they so aren’t. Our teenagers have been with us before and have had a blast, there were plenty around on this visit too. For the elder teenagers they are well equipped with entertainment as Scottys bar is just below the hotel, on the piste!
We cannot recommend using MW for a winter holiday enough, they really have the whole package, we have been using them for years. However this was the first year we were with them for Christmas, something we will definitely do again. Being on the slopes surrounded by snow was just magical for all of us. The staff made the day very special for all the guests and the fact Father Christmas snowboarded down the mountain to come and see the children was just fabulous, the delight in their eyes is a memory I will never forget. The amazing snow we had just put the cherry on top of the cake!
Until next time thanks for having us MW
