Ski holidays in the Portes du Soleil

Les Portes du Soleil in the French Alps is a big favourite for ski holidays with 12 linked resorts either side of the French-Swiss border and with easy access in around an hour’s drive from Geneva.The ski resorts include Morzine, Les Gets, Abondance, Avoriaz, Châtel, La Chapelle d’Abondance,  Montriond, Morzine-Avoriaz, St Jean d’Aulps, Champéry, Morgins, Torgon, Val-d’Illiez – Les Crosets – Champoussin. This gives you a wonderful choice of ski runs, from wide open mountains to the more peaceful forest runs on the lower slopes.

Almost all of the pistes in the Portes du Soleil are connected by lifts with a few of the smaller villages and villages offering a free bus services to the main slopes.

The highest point of skiing is 2.400 meters and the lowest is 900 meters. There are more than 650 km of marked pistes and about 200 lifts in total.   As with many other Alpine ski resorts, the lower slopes of the Portes du Soleil have snow-making should snow become a little sparse at the beginning or end of the season.

The Portes du Soleil offers:

– 296 slopes: 28 black, 106 red, 127 blue, 35 green
– 194 mountain lifts
– 400 km²
– 11 snowparks
– 4 boardercross
– 90 slopeside restaurants

France for Families recommends:

A particular favourite of ours in the Portes du Soleil is Morzine which offers great access to all the main pistes, snowparks  and boardercross.  One of our team also worked in Chatel for a season which is a  picturesque village,  the highest in the Abondance valley at 1200m.  This traditional alpine village has old charm atmosphere and has been awarded the Station Verte, Station Class and Famille Plus for its unspoilt environment, high standard of tourist facilities and family friendly attitude.

Read more abut popular ski resorts in France: