Morzine

Morzine is just an hour from Geneva which makes it a prime choice for skiing and snowboarding in a huge area with limited hassle.

Avoriaz is a better option for exploring the swiss side of Portes du Soleil, and for getting up high to find better snow, but Morzine offers the most to keep families and non-skiers happy. It’s a large town and here you’ll find a wide choice of restaurants, an olympic sized swimming pool, ice rink, spas, cinema and tennis courts in the summer.

There is plenty of great chalet accommodation in Morzine, much of it within easy reach of the slopes, and the local busses will get you around the town and out to some of the further afield lifts pretty quickly.

From the centre of Morzine the Pleney gondola takes you up to the main Morzine slopes and over towards Les Gets and slightly confusingly it’s the Super Morzine gondola that takes you up towards Avoriaz. You’ll need to take another chair from the top of the Super Morzine to get any runs in as you can’t ski down from there to the town unfortunately. It makes for a good area to get some last minute laps in before getting the Super Morzine back down at the end of the day.

Getting between the Leg Gets side to Avoriaz isn’t particularly quick as you need to cross Morzine town centre, you can’t do it by staying up on the mountain. To get from the Pleney to the Super Morzine or vise-versa involves a 5 minute walk from one side of Morzine to the other, or jumping on the ‘train’ that does the same journey. If the train is there and about to go jump on it, if not take a walk as it’s not that far.

Apres is varied and lively in Morzine, with plenty of bars and nightspots to choose. At the bottom of the Pleney is Le Tremplin which is always busy and often has DJ pumping out the tunes, grab a deck chair if you can to soak up the last of the rays. From there head to the Tibetan Cafe for a giraffe of beer and some free garlic pizza bread. Just downstairs from the Tibetan Cafe is the Cavern which is a good spot for dancing away until late. The Dixie Bar on Route du Bourg is always a popular choice and has TVs showing sport and live music.

For traditional savoyard dishes try L’Etale where you can get all you can eat hot-stone cooked meals which are great for groups and the very hungry. We recommend the whisky-flamed barbeque dish. For top quality food and a great wine selection try La Chaudanne.

The only downside of Morzine is that it sits at 1000 metres which means it often gets rain. However Avoriaz sits 800 meters higher up so head there to get to the snow. Many seasonaires will stay in Morzine for the facilities but ski up in Avoriaz for the better conditions and more challenging terrain.

Skiing on the Morzine-Les Gets area allows for some lovely tree runs and gentle areas for beginners and intermediates. Snowboarders can find a couple of flat spots in just the wrong places so tend to prefer heading to the steeper slopes in Avoriaz and over in Switzerland, but that’s one of the main advantages of Morzine, you can stay in a proper town with loads of great chalet options and have the pick of the whole Portes du Soleil area to explore. On a clear day the views from the top of Chamoissiere are spectacular.