The Portes du Soleil ski area, 600 km of pistes across France and Switzerland

Linking 12 resorts in France and Switzerland, the Portes du Soleil is one of the largest connected ski areas in the world. Its 600 km of pistes are spread over 400 km², at altitudes between 900 and 2,460 metres, in the Chablais of Haute-Savoie and the Swiss Valais. Created in the mid-1960s when French and Swiss villages joined forces, it now brings together Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets and Châtel, among others, on a single pass. From these resorts, you can cross into Champéry or Les Crosets without unclipping your skis. A single descent takes you from Haute-Savoie into the Valais.

This cross-border continuity is rare on such a scale. Several villages here stay lived-in all year, not just for the holidays. If you are thinking of settling here, the area is chosen resort by resort, from its beginner slopes to the fearsome Pas de Chavanette.

The Portes du Soleil, a ski area straddling two countries

The area links 8 French resorts and 4 Swiss ones within a single lift network. On the French side are Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets, Châtel, Montriond, Abondance, La Chapelle-d'Abondance and Saint-Jean-d'Aulps. On the Valais side, Champéry, Morgins, Torgon and the Val-d'Illiez sector complete the picture. More than 200 lifts serve the area, with links running unbroken from one country to the next.

A single pass gives access to the whole area, on both sides of the border. The Portes du Soleil was among the first areas to offer an international ski pass, back in the late 1960s, and later among the first with hands-free lift access.

On an area this size, the official area map is the clearest way to make sense of it. Check the links between the twelve resorts and the routes back to each valley before you head onto an unfamiliar sector.

Each resort has its own character

From one village to the next, the mood shifts as much as the terrain, from the lively café terraces of Morzine to the car-free lanes of Avoriaz. Four resorts set the tone, Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets and Châtel, and if you are weighing up where to settle, what usually decides is altitude, access and how much village life you want.

Morzine, village life all year

Morzine is the liveliest of the four resorts, at an altitude of just over 1,000 metres. If you plan to come often, and not only during the school holidays, you will find shops open, a market and real village life. From the centre, the cable car runs straight up to Avoriaz, 800 metres higher.

Avoriaz, the car-free resort

Avoriaz is the highest of the four resorts, at 1,800 metres, and the only fully pedestrian one in France. If you come mainly to ski, here you clip in at the foot of your building and get the latest snow in the massif. The car stops at the covered car parks at the entrance, from where horse-drawn sledges and tracked vehicles bring luggage and passengers to the residences.

Les Gets, the chalets and Mont Chéry

Les Gets sits on a pass at 1,172 metres, between the Morzine valley and the Haut-Chablais, and has kept the look of a village of chalets. If you ski as a family, you have Mont Chéry on hand, a mountain of its own facing the main area, which you reach by its own cable car from the village centre.

Châtel, alpine pastures and the Swiss border

Châtel is the most rural of the four resorts, a Savoyard village at 1,200 metres among alpine pastures and old farmhouses, where farming still counts as much as skiing. It is also the closest to the Swiss side, which you reach via Morgins to ski the Valais in a day.

If you widen your search, you will find smaller villages around these four. They include Montriond and its lake, Saint-Jean-d'Aulps and its abbey, Abondance and La Chapelle-d'Abondance in their unspoilt valley, plus Champéry, Torgon and Les Crosets on the Swiss side.

Pistes for every level, up to the Swiss Wall

The area has close to 300 pistes, at every level of difficulty. You will find 39 green runs for learning, roughly 130 blues, 105 reds and 33 blacks for confident skiers. Beginner zones are laid out at the foot of villages such as Morzine and Les Gets. Three resorts, Châtel, Les Gets and Morzine, carry the Famille Plus Montagne label, a sign of facilities designed for children.

If your level allows, you will head for the Pas de Chavanette, better known as the Swiss Wall. The run drops from the Avoriaz sector towards Les Crosets, covering nearly 900 m for a vertical drop of 333 metres. Its average gradient is close to 37%. The wall of moguls that builds up through the season gives even strong skiers pause before dropping in.

If you ride freestyle, you have some thirty dedicated zones to choose from, snowparks, boardercross and skicross courses. Avoriaz is home to the best known, from the Lil'Stash for children to the famous The Stash, a run cut through the trees and dotted with about a hundred wooden features.

The Portes du Soleil, summer and winter alike

Winter is only half the story here. Once the snow melts, the same lifts reopen for mountain biking and hiking, with 650 km of marked trails replacing the pistes. Then there are the mountain lakes, such as Montriond, where you swim among the pines once summer comes. Geneva, just over an hour away by road, makes weekend trips easy all year round.

Shops and lifts stay open well beyond the spring thaw, whether you are looking to settle or to stay a while. Our article on mountain biking in Les Gets and its bike park covers this summer side. The lakes around Les Gets round it out once the warmer months settle in.

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Skiing the Portes du Soleil with BARNES

Want to ski the Portes du Soleil ski area, and still weighing up which resort to stay in, for a few days or several weeks a year? Browse our holiday rentals in the Portes du Soleil and our properties for sale throughout the massif to make up your mind, or contact one of our two estate agencies in the Portes du Soleil in Les Gets and Morzine for more information and tailored advice.