Morzine

A market town in a river gorge

Morzine, sometimes written Morzine-Avoriaz, is an alpine commune on the Swiss border in the Haute-Savoie department of south-eastern France. It lies in the French-Swiss Chablais, south-south-east of Évian-les-Bains and just west of Champéry in the Valais, in the Vallée d’Aulps, which runs from Morzine north-west to La Vernaz. Wikipedia’s description is precise: a traditional market town at the heart of the Portes du Soleil, dominated by chalets spread across a river gorge. It sits at about 1,000 m, which makes it one of the most northerly of the French Alpine resorts. The purpose-built resort of Avoriaz is on the commune’s territory, which is why the double-barrelled name appears.

600 km and a full set of numbers

The Portes du Soleil totals 600 km of pistes and 196 lifts in our data (some sources quote 650 km, depending on how runs are counted), and the split is 321 km easy, 217 km intermediate and 62 km expert, which works out at roughly 53, 36 and 10 per cent. The proportions are conventional, but the scale is not. A beginner has more than 300 km to learn on, and even the 62 km of black-graded piste is more than many resorts hold in total. There are four terrain parks, and the lifts are tagged as modern, which Wikipedia echoes in noting the town’s modern ski facilities.

The elevations run from 1,000 m to 2,466 m, a vertical of just under 1,500 m. The base is moderate rather than high, and the site does not tag Morzine as snow-sure, but the town has two things in its favour that the raw numbers miss. Its slopes are partially wooded, and Wikipedia notes they provide skiing even in poor weather, when open high-altitude terrain becomes unpleasant. The town also benefits from the Mont Blanc microclimate. The top station clears 2,200 m, which helps the higher parts of the area hold their snow through the December to April season.

Town life

Morzine’s appeal is that it is a working market town with hotels and restaurants of its own, and the après-ski and traditional-character tags on this site are two sides of that. Chalets rather than apartment blocks set the tone, the river gorge shapes the layout, and the panoramic mountain views that Wikipedia mentions are the basis for its scenery. For groups who want a real town at night and one of the largest lift systems in the world by day, few places combine the two as well.

Practical

Geneva airport is roughly 47 km away as the crow flies, one of the shortest transfers to any major ski area. The season runs from December to April. The resort’s official website is the reference for passes and conditions.