Faces north
Espace Liberté
107.1 km (OSM) 994–2,094 m
50% beginner 40% inter. 5% expert
- Vertical
- 1100 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 88
- Lifts
- 53
← Ski Ski area · France
Portes du Soleil
Franco-Swiss Cross-Border Circuit · Twelve Resorts, One Pass · Tree-Lined and Low
A genuinely lift-linked circuit that loops back and forth across the French–Swiss border, marketed at around 600 km of piste under a single pass, with a ridge-top crossing between countries you can ski in a day.
- 600 km Piste marketed
- 142 Lifts
- 984 m Base
- 2,250 m Summit
- 1,266 m Vertical
- 277 Pistes mapped
Terrain & aspect
65% beginner 28% inter. 5% expert
- Novice
- Easy
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Freeride
- Flat / ungraded
Slopes mostly face NW.
Aspect derived from run bearings · OpenSkiStats / © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
The area
The Portes du Soleil strings a dozen French and Swiss resorts around the mountains of the Franco-Swiss border, and — unlike many multi-resort passes — the core of it genuinely connects on snow. The French side holds Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets and Châtel; the Swiss side runs through Champéry, Les Crosets, Champoussin, Morgins and Torgon, with smaller villages like Montriond, La Chapelle-d'Abondance and Saint-Jean-d'Aulps hung off the edges. Avoriaz, the car-free purpose-built resort perched on its balcony above Morzine, sits at the hinge of the whole thing: from its lifts you can drop over the Chavanette pass into Switzerland or swing west toward Châtel and complete a full cross-border loop. Around 600 km of marketed piste makes it one of the largest linked areas in the Alps, but the honest headline is the low, wooded, cross-border character rather than raw altitude.
The border loop. Few areas let you circle between two countries on skis, cross ridgelines with a real change of scenery on each side, and still get home for dinner — and fewer do it through this much tree-lined terrain, which pays off when the weather turns. It is a circuit built for ranging riders who like the day to keep moving.
A mid-altitude, tree-lined domain rather than a high glacial one. Most of the skiing sits below around 2,300 m, with the highest lift-served points at Les Hauts Forts above Avoriaz (~2,466 m) and the Pointe des Mossettes crossing (~2,277 m) on the border ridge; the base villages sit low, from the valley floors of Morzine and Champéry up to Avoriaz on its balcony. That means a lot of the terrain runs through and just above the treeline — sheltered, atmospheric runs that stay skiable in flat light and bad weather when higher, more open areas white out. The flip side of all that woodland charm is height: this is not a resort you come to for guaranteed spring depth.
Best known for
Explore the villages
The pass is the same everywhere — the village you base in shapes the holiday more than the valley you ski. 7 base villages, one lift pass.
Morzine
1,000 mAll-round town base with the liveliest nightlife
A traditional, tree-lined Savoyard town that works as a real place to live as much as a ski base, sitting at the hub of the French side of the Portes du Soleil with the easiest travel and the liveliest bars. Low enough to feel like a town, close enough to the lifts to reach the whole cross-border circuit.
Explore the village →Avoriaz
1,800 mSki-in/ski-out convenience and surer high snow
A car-free, purpose-built resort perched on a balcony high above Morzine, sitting at the hinge of the cross-border circuit with ski-in/ski-out access and the surest snow on the French side. High, open and geared entirely around getting you onto the pistes with the least fuss — atmosphere traded for altitude and convenience.
Explore the village →Les Gets
1,170 mFamily-paced, tree-lined charm
A chocolate-box, tree-lined village with a gentle, family pace, wooded runs on its doorstep and an easy link into the wider circuit. It sits lower and toward the western edge of the area, which makes it charming and relaxed rather than the highest or snowest base.
Explore the village →Châtel
1,200 mTraditional character and better value
A traditional Savoyard farm village that has kept its working character and more affordable lodging, with a good local sector and the Swiss side just over the hill. A value-minded, characterful base for skiers who care more about the village than the après.
Explore the village →Champéry
1,050 mSwiss village character and dramatic scenery
A scenic, traditional Swiss village under the sawtooth ramparts of the Dents du Midi, long on atmosphere and mountain drama. You reach the snow by cable car up to the Planachaux sector each morning, the trade-off for basing in a genuine village rather than up at the lifts.
Explore the village →Les Crosets
1,660 mQuiet, high, ski-to-door days
A small, high, ski-to-door hamlet on the Swiss side, sitting right on the pistes below the Chavanette and Mossettes crossings with the surest Swiss-side snow. Quiet after dark and short on nightlife — which is exactly why some people choose it.
Explore the village →Morgins
1,330 mQuiet, traditional family Swiss base
A calm, low-key Swiss village with a traditional feel and an unhurried pace, linked into the circuit toward Châtel and Champoussin. Best suited to those wanting a quiet, family base away from the busier French towns.
Explore the village →- Morzine A traditional, tree-lined working town with the best transport links and liveliest bars; best all-rounder for those who want a real place to stay as much as the skiing.
- Avoriaz Car-free and purpose-built up on its balcony at altitude; best for ski-in/ski-out convenience, the surest snow on the French side and a freestyle-leaning crowd.
- Les Gets Chocolate-box, tree-lined and gentle; best for a family-paced base with charm, though it sits lower and toward the edge of the circuit.
- Châtel A traditional Savoyard farm village with more affordable lodging; best for character and value, with a good local sector and the Swiss side over the hill.
- Champéry A scenic, traditional Swiss village under the Dents du Midi; best for looks and atmosphere, accepting a cable-car ride up to the snow each morning.
- Les Crosets Small, high and right on the pistes; best for quiet ski-to-door days on the surest Swiss-side snow, with little going on after dark.
- Morgins A calm, low-key Swiss village; best for families wanting a quiet, traditional base away from the busier French towns.
Pick the village for the trip, since the pass is the same everywhere. For town life, the widest choice and the easiest travel, base in Morzine. For ski-in/ski-out convenience, altitude and the surest snow on the French side, choose car-free Avoriaz up on its balcony. For a tree-lined, family-paced base with chocolate-box looks, Les Gets. For traditional farm-village character and better value, Châtel. On the Swiss side, Champéry gives you dramatic scenery under the Dents du Midi and a genuine village (though a cable-car ride up to the snow), Les Crosets puts you highest and right on the pistes for quiet ski-to-door days, and Morgins is the calm, family Swiss option.
Skiing, by level
Beginners
Strong for learning, especially on the higher, gentler ground. Les Gets and Morzine have friendly wooded nursery and green terrain, and Avoriaz has a genuine beginner area up at altitude on more reliable snow — a good place to progress without committing to the long cross-border links, which are red-graded in places and cover real distance.
Intermediates
The heart of the area and its sweet spot. Confident blue and red skiers can chase the full Portes du Soleil circuit across the border, pile up mileage on rolling tree-lined cruisers, and change country and scenery through the day — Avoriaz, Châtel's Linga sector and the Swiss runs down to Les Crosets and Champéry all reward exactly this kind of ranging.
Advanced
Enough to keep a good skier busy: the steeper pitches and long descents off Les Hauts Forts above Avoriaz, the tree runs when it snows, and terrain parks — Avoriaz is a long-standing freestyle hub. It rewards a skier who moves around the circuit rather than one hunting a single big-mountain face.
Experts & off-piste
The signature is the Chavanette 'Swiss Wall' between Avoriaz and Les Crosets — a genuinely steep, mogulled, orange-rated pitch that is a real test in firm or icy conditions (and there's a chairlift down for the sensible). Beyond that, this is not a high lift-served extreme-terrain area on the scale of Chamonix or the Tarentaise; the best hard skiing is off-piste in the trees and side-country, and worth a guide when it's on.
Ski the full Portes du Soleil circuit
The area's defining outing: link the lifts right around the border loop, crossing between France and Switzerland — over the Chavanette pass or the Pointe des Mossettes ridge — with the scenery and the country changing under you as you go. A confident intermediate can complete the circuit in a day; watch the last-lift times over each border crossing so you don't end the day a mountain and a nationality from your bed.
Face the Swiss Wall (Chavanette)
The Pas de Chavanette — the 'Swiss Wall' or 'Mur Suisse' — drops off the border ridge between Avoriaz and Les Crosets: a short, steep, heavily mogulled pitch rated beyond the normal black scale, where the bumps can grow enormous after a big fall. Ski it as a badge of honour if your legs and nerve are up to it, or ride the chairlift down alongside and still claim the view.
Top out at Les Hauts Forts above Avoriaz
The highest lift-served ground on the French side climbs above Avoriaz to Les Hauts Forts (~2,466 m), the area's big-view and best-snow set piece, with long descents back toward Avoriaz and down to Les Prodains above Morzine. It's where the domain feels most like a proper high mountain rather than a wooded circuit.
Snow & how the mountain faces
Honest answer: moderate, and weather-dependent. With most of the domain below ~2,300 m and several bases sitting near or under 1,200 m, a warm spell or a lean early season hits the lower runs — the valley approaches to Morzine, Les Gets and Champéry — before it touches the higher ground around Avoriaz and the border ridges. The area does catch substantial snowfall through its microclimate, and it leans hard on one of the larger snowmaking arrays in the Alps to hold the lower links open, but the tree-lined, lower-altitude nature is the real trade-off against a high, snow-sure address like the Tarentaise. Base at or ski up toward Avoriaz and the Chavanette side for the surest cover; treat the valley bottoms as the first to suffer in a thaw.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
On the map
The area and its base villages on the live map — pan and zoom to explore. The official piste maps are one tap away beneath it.
Legend
Run difficulty
- Novice
- Easy
- Intermediate
- Advanced / Expert
- Freeride / Extreme
- Unknown
Run types
- Downhill — groomed
- Downhill — ungroomed
- Downhill — gladed
- Nordic (groomed)
- Ski tour
- ☾Lit (night)
- △Not patrolled
- →One-way
- ❄Snowmaking
Lifts
- Operating
- Operating (private)
- Non-operating
- Lift station
Slope-gradient grading
Downhill / ski tour
- Flat<3°
- Easy3–14°
- Intermediate14–22°
- Advanced / Expert22–45°
- Freeride / Extreme>45°
Nordic
- Easy<6°
- Intermediate6–9°
- Advanced>9°
Aspect (sun exposure)
- N — least sun
- E — morning
- S — most sun
- W — afternoon
Legend after OpenSkiMap
How to get there
By air
Nearest major airport is Geneva (GVA), roughly ~approx 1.5 hours by road to Morzine and the French bases and a similar run round to the Swiss villages; it's a year-round gateway and the standard arrival point for the whole area.
By rail
The nearest useful rail gateways are Thonon-les-Bains and Cluses on the French side, and Aigle (with its mountain line toward Champéry) on the Swiss side, each a ~approx 45–60 minute transfer up to the villages by bus, taxi or transfer service.
Transfer up
The villages sit on separate valley roads either side of the border, so the road approach differs depending on which base you choose. Once you're up and skiing, the lifts are the transport between resorts during the day — and car-free Avoriaz is reached by cable car or road up from Morzine.
Best time to go
Mid-December to April is the reliable window, with February the busiest and priciest around the school holidays. Because the domain runs low and wooded, the sweet spot is deep winter — January and February — when the lower links and tree runs are at their best; late season can be a gamble on the valley-bottom snow even as the higher Avoriaz and border runs hold on. Aim for January or the quieter weeks either side of the February half-terms for the best mix of snow and space.
- Season opensMid-December (snow-dependent; higher Avoriaz sectors can open earlier)
- Season closesMid-to-late April, earliest on the lowest valley runs
- Season openingmid-December (snow-dependent)
- Peak weeksChristmas / New Year and February half-terms
- Late seasonApril, best held on the higher Avoriaz and border runs
Good to know
Is it really one connected ski area, or separate resorts on one pass?
The core of the Portes du Soleil genuinely connects on snow — you can ski a full loop across the French–Swiss border via Avoriaz and the Chavanette and Mossettes crossings without a bus. A few outlying villages on the edges of the pass need a short free bus link, but the main circuit is a real lift-connected network.
How reliable is the snow?
Moderate and weather-dependent. Most of the skiing sits below around 2,300 m and several bases are low, so a warm spell hits the valley runs first; the area catches good snowfall and runs extensive snowmaking to hold the links open, but it's less snow-sure than the high Tarentaise. Base toward Avoriaz and the higher border ground for the surest cover.
Which village should a first-timer or family pick?
For altitude and ski-in/ski-out convenience, Avoriaz; for tree-lined charm and a gentle pace, Les Gets; for town life and transport, Morzine; for a quiet, traditional Swiss base, Morgins. All sit on the same pass, so the choice is about character, not access.
How hard is the Swiss Wall?
Very. The Pas de Chavanette is a steep, mogulled pitch rated beyond the standard black grade, and it's a genuine test in firm or icy conditions. There's a chairlift running down alongside it, so you can enjoy the setting and skip the descent if it's not your day.
Nearby resorts & areas
Other resorts within reach if you're combining trips or comparing.
~approx 4 km away
~approx 5 km away
Faces north
Roc d'Enfer (La Grande Terche)
411.7 km (OSM) 920–2,250 m
59% beginner 33% inter. 5% expert
- Vertical
- 1330 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 353
- Lifts
- 198
~approx 23 km away 
Faces north-west
Faces north-west Le Grand Massif
171.4 km (OSM) 687–2,484 m
57% beginner 34% inter. 9% expert
- Vertical
- 1797 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 149
- Lifts
- 72
~approx 41 km away 
Faces north
Faces north 4 Vallées – Verbier/La Tzoumaz/Nendaz/Veysonnaz/Thyon
170.3 km (OSM) 905–3,301 m
36% beginner 47% inter. 9% expert
- Vertical
- 2396 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 97
- Lifts
- 77
~approx 43 km away 
Faces north
Faces north Megève
150.8 km (OSM) 820–2,371 m
48% beginner 36% inter. 11% expert
- Vertical
- 1551 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 103
- Lifts
- 61
~approx 52 km away
Faces north
Espace Diamant
191.3 km (OSM) 949–2,048 m
67% beginner 24% inter. 6% expert
- Vertical
- 1100 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 162
- Lifts
- 85
~approx 61 km away 
Faces north-east
Faces north-east La Thuile ski
79 km (OSM) 1,468–2,608 m
31% beginner 54% inter. 15% expert
- Vertical
- 1140 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 61
- Lifts
- 20
~approx 62 km away
Faces north
Adelboden - Lenk
83.3 km (OSM) 1,263–2,193 m
53% beginner 39% inter. 8% expert
- Vertical
- 930 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 62
- Lifts
- 19
Getting to Portes du Soleil
Book an airport transfer up to the resort, or pick up a car at Geneva (GVA) — search and compare without leaving the page.
Ski data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via OpenSkiMap & Skimap.org. Basemap © OpenFreeMap / OpenMapTiles. · Weather data © Open-Meteo.com (CC-BY 4.0), ERA5 reanalysis. Village grouping & editorial: mynext.holiday. Transfers via Kiwitaxi; car hire via Travelpayouts.