Planibel
Comfortable accommodation with good choice of apartment types whatever your party size
- Residence
- Self Catering
- Ski-in location, with the small nursery area & ski school right outside
- Adjacent to Les Suches gondola & Bosco Express chairlift
- Indoor pool & wellness facilities
- Great value with an extensive range of cafés, bars & restaurants all within the complex
Overview
Perfectly placed for the slopes of La Thuile, the Planibel complex sits just a stone’s throw from the gondola, chairlift and ski school. The apartments are modest and simply furnished, with a wide choice of room layouts available for couples, groups and families. Add in bars and a restaurant onsite, and you’ve got all the perks of a big hotel, for a no-frills price.
Description
Location
- ski-in, ski-out
- adjacent to the gondola
- less than 1 minute's walk to the ski school meeting point
- small nursery area and ski school outside
- less than a minute to the Hotel Planibel
Rooms
All apartments have a kitchenette with two hot plates, kettle, microwave, fridge and a basic range of crockery and kitchen utensils; bathroom with private bath or shower and WC; satellite TV, telephone, hairdryer and safe. Towels, linen and mid-week towel change are included. Cot hire available for €10 per night - please request at time of booking.
Type A studio - sleeps 2: living area with twin beds.
Type C apartment - sleeps 2-4: double bedroom with en suite shower and WC, and living area with two single sofa beds.
Type C1 apartment - sleeps 2-4: as type C but located in the Monte Bianco block, closest to the slopes, adjacent to the main Les Suches gondola and Bosco Express charlift.
Type E apartment - sleeps 2-6: double bedroom with en suite shower and WC, bedroom with bunk beds, and living area with two single sofa beds.
Facilities
- restaurant
- bars
- lounge
- cafés
- snack bar
- mini-market
- shops
- ski shop
- ski room for apartment guests
- extra charge for leisure facilities, including indoor pool (swimming caps must be worn and can be purchased from Ornella Sports, towels can be hired for a small charge or customers can use their own), sauna, steam room and fitness centre (€30 per week, children under 11 years are free when with full paying adult)
- 237 studios/apartments
Meals
Offered on a self catered basis, guests will be able to collect provisions from the nearby supermarkets or enjoy sampling the regional and internationally inspired cuisine in one of the many local restaurants
Accommodation Facilities
About La Thuile
La Thuile is found on the Italian/French border, with summer road links to La Rosière in France. This is the home of the St Bernard dogs, named after the pass over the border. It's at the top of the Aosta Valley, where weather conditions can be variable, with high winds particularly problematic. There are 150km of lift-linked pistes, offering skiing for every ability level, although the Italian slopes are slightly better than the French. For beginners and intermediates, there's plenty of good terrain, but they will have to take a lift up, as most of the resort runs are tree-lined blacks. These tougher runs are lower down, so can have poorer snow. For experts there is enjoyable off-piste potential, as well as superb heli-skiing at reasonable prices. Snow is better in La Thuile, because of its north-facing slopes, but intermediates will find more challenges in La Rosière. This is also a great place to learn to board and is helped by an up-to-date lift system.
La Thuile is a relatively unknown resort outside of Italy and remains largely Italian in character. This means that, apart from over the weekend, it is refreshingly uncrowded. The locals are very friendly, which easily makes up for the general lack of spoken foreign languages. La Thuile mainly caters to the family market, so après-ski/nightlife is pretty limited. As with the majority of Italian resorts, organised childcare is not exactly the greatest strength. The town itself is attractively set in woodland and offers some decent eateries. Mountain restaurants and non-ski activities are not particularly brilliant.
Overall, La Thuile is a reasonably sized ski area that has largely dodged the wider European market. Well worth visiting, but not for those hell-bent on a week-long party session…