Morzine
The Portes du Soleil's charming valley base -- real French town, linked to 650km of skiing above it.
Our Take
Morzine is a proper French mountain town in the Haute-Savoie -- one of the few ski resort villages in the French Alps that predates the ski industry and maintained its character through it. The 650km Portes du Soleil circuit linking 12 French and Swiss resorts is accessible from Morzine's lifts, with Avoriaz (the high-altitude anchor) reached by gondola and the Swiss resorts of Champéry and Morgins accessible via cross-border skiing. The Morzine valley has two distinct ski areas: Super Morzine/Avoriaz accessible by gondola for the main Portes du Soleil terrain, and the smaller Les Gets/Pleney area with more family-oriented intermediate terrain. The town itself -- with its cathedral, old chalets, and actual residents who aren't in the tourism industry -- provides an authenticity that purpose-built French ski stations entirely lack. Mountain biking in summer has made Morzine a year-round destination, and the infrastructure investments for both seasons have kept the village quality high. For the Portes du Soleil circuit with a genuine French town as the base, Morzine is the correct choice.
Nerd Stats
Portes du Soleil Km
650km
No. of Linked Resorts
12
Morzine Own Terrain
100km
Village Character
Authentic
Fun Facts
- Morzine has a permanent population of about 3,000 -- an actual town with residents, a cathedral from the 1700s, and life beyond the tourism season.
- The Portes du Soleil 650km circuit connects France and Switzerland mid-mountain -- you literally ski across the national border on marked runs.
- Morzine's mountain bike trails have become as famous as its ski runs -- the Portes du Soleil biking circuit is one of Europe's best.
- The Swiss Wall above Champéry (accessible from the circuit) has a 40-degree pitch that generates an absurd ratio of skier to spectator traffic.