Morzine & Avoriaz

An Alpine mountain town in the cross-border Portes du Soleil ski area, linked to Avoriaz and Les Gets in winter and a downhill mountain-biking hotspot in summer.

Morzine lies in the Chablais mountains of France's Haute-Savoie department, about 1.5 hours' drive from Geneva, and is the main town on the French side of the cross-border Portes du Soleil ski area. Above the town at 1,800 m sits Avoriaz, a car-free ski village, while family-friendly Les Gets lies to the southwest. All three share the ski area, which is connected by lifts to Swiss resorts such as Champéry.

Areas: Morzine town (Savoyard chalets, restaurants and bars, the Pléney gondola); Avoriaz (car-free village, water park, the Swiss Wall and cross-border pistes); to the north, Lac de Montriond, the Cascade d'Ardent and the goat village of Les Lindarets; to the southeast, the Lac des Mines d'Or valley; to the southwest, Les Gets and Mont Chéry; to the south, the Col de Joux Plane; and in the Dranse valley to the north, the Abbaye d'Aulps and the Gorges du Pont du Diable.

Seasons: skiing runs from mid-December to mid-April, with the French school holidays in February the busiest time. In July–August the lifts reopen for one of Europe's largest mountain-bike parks, and it's also great for hiking to alpine lakes. In spring and autumn many hotels and lifts close. Getting there: shuttle buses run from Geneva Airport, and in winter free buses link the lift stations around town. Stay a week in winter or 3–4 days in summer. Yvoire and other sights on the shores of Lake Geneva are covered under the Geneva destination.

Top sights

• Portes du Soleil – A vast ski area spanning the French-Swiss border. Twelve resorts are linked by lifts, so you can ski across two countries in a single day.
• Avoriaz – A car-free ski village at 1,800 m, with avant-garde timber-clad buildings that blend into the cliffs. You can ski right to your door.
• Les Gets – A family-friendly ski village southwest of Morzine. It shares the ski area with Morzine and hosts mountain bike World Cup events in summer.
• Lac de Montriond – An emerald-green alpine lake surrounded by forest and cliffs. The lakeside trail takes about an hour to walk around, making it one of the m…
• Morzine Village – A traditional Savoyard mountain town in the Dranse Valley, with wooden chalets, slate roofs, a church, and many restaurants and bars.
• Pléney Gondola – A gondola that climbs directly from the centre of Morzine up Mount Pléney, linking to the Les Gets ski area, with views of Mont Blanc from…
• Mont Chéry – A peak north of Les Gets, reached by cable car, with panoramic 360-degree views of Mont Blanc and the Alps from the summit.
• Musée de la Musique Mécanique – A distinctive museum in Les Gets with hundreds of music boxes, automatic instruments and organs, where the guides demonstrate the instrumen…
• Cascade d'Ardent – A waterfall beside the road upstream of Lake Montriond, where water pours down the rock wall. You can get a close look from a roadside park…
• Les Lindarets – A small high-mountain village above Avoriaz, where in summer a herd of goats wanders freely among the wooden chalets, giving it the name “G…
• Lac des Mines d'Or – A small high-mountain lake at the end of the valley about 9 km southeast of Morzine. It reflects the jagged limestone peaks and is a good s…
• Col de Joux Plane – A famous climb on the Tour de France, where a small lake at the pass and the Mont Blanc massif combine into stunning scenery.
• Swiss Wall (Le Mur Suisse) – An extremely steep black run above Avoriaz on the Swiss border, one of the world's most legendary hard runs, covered in moguls.
• Aquariaz – A tropical-themed indoor water park on the Avoriaz mountaintop, with water slides and warm pools, ideal for families to unwind after a day…
• Abbaye d'Aulps – Ruins of an 11th-century Cistercian abbey, its Gothic walls rising from the meadow, with a herb garden and exhibition centre nearby.
• Gorges du Pont du Diable – A deep, narrow limestone gorge carved by the Drance River, with a walkway leading into the canyon to see the boulder wedged overhead, the '…
• Champéry – A traditional mountain village on the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil, its main street of wooden chalets facing the striking Dents du Mi…
• Châtel & Lac de Vonnes – A border ski village at the eastern end of the Abondance valley, with Lac de Vonnes reflecting the surrounding peaks, where you can swim an…
• Mont Salève – A French ridge just south of Geneva, reached by cable car in minutes, with views over the city, Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc.
• Yvoire – A medieval flower village on the French south shore of Lake Geneva, with walls, a castle and flowers everywhere, rated among 'the most beau…
• Évian-les-Bains – The home of Evian mineral water, with Belle Époque lakeside buildings lining the town and the Cachat spring in the centre where you can fil…
• Cirque du Fer-à-Cheval – A semicircular limestone cirque at the head of the Giffre Valley, with cliffs 500 to 700 metres high, where more than 30 waterfalls cascade…

Where to eat

• La Chamade – Morzine's first restaurant, opened in 1969 and run by the same family for three generations, offering Savoy specialties…
• La Grange – A traditional Savoy restaurant in a wooden chalet in the old town, famous for its three-cheese fondue and raclette and…
• Kern – A Michelin one-star restaurant in the Vallée d'Aulps, where a Breton chef uses local ingredients to create restrained…
• L'Atelier (Hôtel Le Samoyède) – A refined restaurant inside the Hôtel Le Samoyède, serving a four-course market-inspired menu each winter evening, rate…
• Chez Flo Avoriaz – A large terrace restaurant at the foot of the Avoriaz slopes, where you can ski right up to the door, with affordable S…

Itineraries

• Geneva, Haute-Savoie Lakes & Mont Blanc Self-Drive Loop – Drive from the villages of Lake Geneva over the mountains to Mont Blanc, returning via the Col des Aravis to Annecy
• Route des Grandes Alpes: Lake Geneva to Nice – Cross high mountain passes like Iseran and Galibier from Lake Geneva, heading all the way south to the Mediterranean.