Avoriaz

Our Take

Avoriaz was built in the 1960s as a deliberately car-free high-altitude resort above Morzine, with architecture designed to blend into the mountain rock face -- the result is angular brutalist buildings with timber cladding that are either ugly or stunning depending on your perspective and clearly one of the most distinctive resort aesthetics in the Alps. Horses pull sleds instead of taxis. The village sits at 1,800 meters with snow-sure conditions well into April, and it sits at the nexus of the Portes du Soleil ski area -- 650km of linked runs connecting 12 resorts in France and Switzerland. The terrain from Avoriaz itself is intermediate-focused, with the Arare and Lindarets sectors giving accessible skiing above the villages below. The expert terrain requires venturing toward Châtel and the Swiss side, where the Swiss Wall above Champéry is the Portes du Soleil's most famous obstacle: a 40-degree face that separates the confident from the overconfident on the cross-border route. Avoriaz is the Portes du Soleil's highest resort and the one with the most reliable snowcover -- it's the smart base for circuit exploration.

Nerd Stats

Fun Facts

• Avoriaz is entirely car-free -- horse-drawn sleds transport luggage from parking areas to hotels. The architects in 1966 apparently had opinions about automobiles.
• The Portes du Soleil circuit connects 12 resorts across France and Switzerland with 650km of marked pistes -- you can ski it in 3-4 days or spend a week finding the sides nobody goes to.
• The Swiss Wall above Champéry has a 40-degree pitch and is the most infamous obstacle on the Portes du Soleil circuit. There's a chairlift alternative for anyone sensible.
• Avoriaz's brutalist architecture was listed as a protected historic site in France -- the 1960s ski-resort vision is now officially worth preserving.