Car parking in La Plagne
Discover and book La Plagne car-parks
In summer you'll probably find it easier to find a space to park your car in La Plagne. In winter, a covered or underground parking spot is the ideal place to leave your vehicle as it will save you all the hassle of digging it out after a snowfall, scraping your windows and trying to start a frozen car. However, parking in ski resorts can be tight and so you’ll more than likely end up leaving your car outside.
Things to remember:
Traffic wardens or “Police Municipal” are regularly seen patrolling the streets on the look out for illegally parked vehicles. Parking in ski resorts can be very problematic especially during high season, so it is always worth reserving a parking space in advance wherever possible to ensure you have a suitable spot to leave your car. Foreign plates do not give you diplomatic immunity from parking fines so if you do leave your car in an inappropriate spot then you should expect to be ticketed or even towed away and impounded.
Parking fines vary from €11 to €135, with €45 being then norm. If you receive a fine through the post you have three options: throw it away (although the French authorities are cracking down on non-payment of penalties by foreign drivers), pay it, or contest it. If you decide to pay it then the sooner the better as the fine is lowered if paid within 15 days. You can do so either by buying a “timbre amende” from a tabac or tax office, attach it to the ticket and send it off; or by credit card on this website. Should you choose to contest it, then you need to complete the form attached to the fine and send it off to the Police Municipal.
Always pay attention to signs placed around parking areas in resort that may indicate a market or snow clearing taking place the following day. When there is snow to clear, ploughs show very little respect for things in their way and on more than one occasion have been known to scrape up the sides of errant vehicles causing significant damage. If you don’t move your car it will be towed and left elsewhere in resort, generally on the outskirts of town.
A few tips for parking your vehicle:
- Park facing downhill and turn your wheels towards the kerb to act as a brake.
- Leave your car in gear with the handbrake off as it can freeze and you can snap the cabling.
- Lift the windscreen wipers away from the window so that they don’t stick to the glass and get damaged. If there has been heavy snowfall, clear the snow from your windscreen by hand rather that with your wipers – the weight of the snow can be deceptive and you’ll probably just end up burning out your wiper motor. You certainly don’t want to be without functioning windscreen wipers in winter with all the salt from the roads that sprays over your car.
- Remember where you parked. This sounds stupid, but it can be very hard to identify your car under a metre of snow.
Car parks
For those of your driving an electric car you'll find charging stations at the following locations:
- Le Boulevard car park, Plagne Centre
- La Plagne Tarentaise
Enquire with your accommodation provider at the time of booking as some hotels and chalets have charging points installed for guests to use.
Free parking
There are a few places where you can get free parking in La Plagne and they tend to be uncovered, tarmac lots. Don't be tempted to leave your car on the road sides as it may well get snowed in, or worse still towed away.
- Plagne Centre at the Funiplagne Grande Rochette - as you'd expect in any resort centre the parking is pretty limited and it's hard to find available spaces, but occasionally you might be lucky, and it might take a few laps to find a space.
- Plagne Montalbert at the Montalbert chairlift - there is a medium sized tarmac parking area, which is normally easy enough to find a space in.
- Les Coches at the Coches gondola - this one isn't normally too bad to find a space.
- Belle Plagne and Bellecôte - be warned there's a keen parking ticket attendant here so you're only really going to get away with parking for free at the weekends in Belle Plagne, otherwise you're OK for up to three hours before the ticket attendant starts stalking.
- Plange Soleil - It's free to park your motorhomes here.
You'll find the most spaces available on Saturday and Sundays as people come and go from the resort. Please check times, dates and fees at the time of parking as these might change.
Indoor / Covered parking
There are a number of different indoor parking areas in La Plagne's many villages.
| La Plagne Car Parks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Resort | Notes | Places | Height Limit |
| Belle Plagne | The first two hours are free, then raises for three hours plus. Open 24/7. |
706 - lower level / 386 - upper level |
1.9m |
| Plagne Soleil (Le Cervin) |
Indoor car park with priority given to clients staying at the Oldays Le Cervin residence. It's free and spaces are popular. | 140 | 2.0m |
| Aime 2000 | Pre-booking is possible. | 130 | 1.87m |
| Plagne Bellecôte | Book on line | 600 | 1.90m |
| Plagne Centre (Le Boulevard car park) |
Open continuously in the winter season, Sunday to Friday (13:00-17:00) and Saturday (08:00-20:00). Check out prices and book online. |
210 | 1.95m |
| Plagne 1800 | Parking is available at the Pierre & Vacances residence and reserving a space is possible, although preference is given to people staying in the residence first. | 160 | 1.95m |
Parking is free in summer.
Please check times, dates and fees at the time of parking as these might change.
Outdoor parking
You can park on a number of roads in La Plagne but you'll have to buy a ticket in the 'Payage' machine, or buy online if you're looking for longer stays. There are in the region of 450 spaces available in winter and the price is normally free for the first hour.
You can buy tickets at the tourist information office in the village where you're staying.
There is also parking outdoors available at the Odalys residence Le Cervin in Plagne Soleil. The outside parking spaces are free, but can get pretty busy. An additional 280 places can be found in Bellecôte. Check out more prices and book online here.
Please check times, dates and fees at the time of parking as these might change.
Disabled parking
There are lots of disabled access parking spaces in and around the villages of La Plagne. They are predominantly found close to the ski lifts, the main public car parks and tourist information centres.
Motorhome parking
It's free to park your camper van or motor home in La Plagne, so you just have to pay for tokens to hook up to the electric and water supply. There is a fee per every 20 minutes. You'll find the parking area in between Plagne Soleil and Plagne Villages and there are 25 spaces available.
Please check times, dates and fees at the time of parking as these might change.
