The Portes du Soleil is one of the largest ski resorts in the world, with 600km of pistes spanning both Switzerland & France. It is located in the Northern Alps, rising up from Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) towards Mont Blanc and only 90 minutes from Geneva airport.
Today, the Portes du Soleil includes 12 ski villages in two countries of which 10 are connected by ski lifts
Chatel
La Chapelle d’Abondance
Abondance
Avoriaz
Morgins
Torgon
Champoussin / Les Crossets
Champery
Morzine
Les Gets
St Jean d’Aulps
Montriond
The skiing ranges from 900m to 2400m with snow sure areas in Chatel and Avoriaz. This may seem strangely lower than other ski resorts in France but the microclimate formed between Lake Geneva and the Chablais mountain range creates a higher volume of precipitation in the mountains which in winter means one thing, snow!
Chatel and Avoriaz generally open the first weekend of December before the full ski domain opens between the 15th and 20th December. The smaller ski villages close the first weekend of April with Chatel and Avoriaz closing about the 20th April. We often get asked why they don’t stay open longer as there is usually plenty of snow on the pistes and there are two reasons – the resorts need to remove the snow to get ready for the summer bike season and all the workers need a rest after their 5 months of working for the resort.
The Portes du Soleil ski pass includes all 12 villages, making it one of the best value ski passes in the world.
Quick facts about the Portes du Soleil
- 200 ski lifts
- 650km of on-piste skiing terrain
- 30 Snow parks
- 316 ski pistes
- 34 green
- 119 blue
- 101 red
- 32 black
Read more about skiing and snowboarding in the Portes du Soleil