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About the area
Les Portes du Soleil Superb Skiing
The Portes du Soleil is a skiers' paradise with over 670 km of prepared pistes up to a height of 2360 metres, served by over 200 ski lifts, lying between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc with 13 interconnected resorts, eight in France and five in Switzerland, covered on one lift pass. Certain guests are known to check the map over their après ski refreshment to ensure they have skied at least 50 km each day. The scenery is spectacular and ever changing as you ski from one valley to the next, with magnificent views of the Dents du Midi, Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva. The area can be skied as one large circuit or in smaller sections each day, exploring the character of the individual resorts and mountain restaurants.
Our ski companion service will help you to get the most out of this vast area. An orientation tour of the local pistes on the Sunday will help you find your ski-legs. Further tours during the week might include the circuit or visits to other resorts such as
Avoriaz, Les Crosets, Champoussin, Les Gets or Torgon.
Châtel The Friendly Face of French Skiing
Châtel, the most Swiss of the French resorts, and the friendly, picturesque village of Morgins are situated at the heart of the Portes du
Soleil. Only nine hours from Calais by the autoroutes, Châtel and Morgins are the closest Alpine ski resorts to Britain.
Châtel is a quiet, traditional, Savoyard farming village which during the winter season offers an excellent selection of reasonably priced restaurants, bars, hotels, sports and souvenir shops, banks, pharmacy, supermarkets and ski schools. The Tourist Office presents a lively weekly programme of events. There are two cinemas with daily programme changes, a bowling alley, night clubs and an excellent outdoor market every Wednesday. Thonon les
Bains, Evian, Lake Geneva, Montreux, the Château de Chillon, Martigny and the hot springs of Val D'Illiez are all a short distance away. The free navette bus service gives easy access to local ski areas.
Châtel is a large ski resort in its own right with 70 km of pistes with over 50 marked runs. Besides the beginners' slopes below the village there are two major ski areas. Super Châtel above the village, connecting with the resorts of Morgins in Switzerland and Chapelle
d'Abondance, offers gentle, varied, confidence-building slopes for beginners and intermediates while their more expert friends attack the two black runs. Those looking for more demanding skiing usually head for the Linga - Pré la Joux area with open red runs above the
treeline, an excellent mogul run, interesting off piste and easy connections to Avoriaz and Les
Crosets.
Morgins A Warm Swiss Welcome
Morgins, an attractive, unspoilt, traditional alpine village in the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area, has been welcoming visitors for over a century. There is a pleasant selection of reasonably priced restaurants, souvenir shops, lively bars, the best night club in the area, an excellent ski school, a snowboard school, a
sports centre with covered tennis courts, a ranch offering sleigh rides and horse riding and many kilometres of marked trails. A short distance away are the cinemas and bowling alley of Châtel and the hot springs of Val
D'Illiez.
On the north side of the village the Corbeau lift gives access to the pistes of Super Chatel and south-facing slopes back to
Morgins. To the south the Foilleuse offers tree-sheltered skiing back to the village and open confidence-building slopes leading to the resorts of
Champoussin, Les Crosets, Champery and Avoriaz with magnificent open views of the Dents du Midi and Mont Blanc. Considerable recent investment in the latest snowmaking equipment ensures that the pistes are maintained in excellent condition.
Alternative Activities
Châtel and Morgins are the ideal destination for those who simply want to relax and enjoy a winter break in the mountains. Explore the footpaths and cross-country trails. Take a sleigh ride in the snow. Join an excursion into the forest on snow shoes. Soak in the hot springs at Val
D'Illiez. Enjoy the local cuisine. Sit on the terrace and relax with a drink in the surprisingly warm winter sunshine. Meet skiing friends on the hill. Admire the frescoes in the Abbey of
Abondance. Visit Lake Geneva and the Château de Chillon. Go shopping and sightseeing in
Thonon, Evian, Montreux or Geneva.
Visit us in Summer
Why not return to enjoy this wonderful area in summer for a multi-activity holiday or simply to relax and enjoy the scenery? Châtel and Morgins are excellent centres for excursions in France and Switzerland. Mountain walks, climbing, rafting, canoeing,
hydrospeed, mountain biking, parascending, summer skiing on the Saas Fee glacier, an evening barbecue in an alpine pasture, spend the night in a mountain refuge or learn to scuba dive in Lake Geneva. Many of the chair-lifts are open to carry you and your mountain bike to the tops of the hills.
Both villages offer a full programme of evening entertainments. Special highlights of the summer in Châtel are the Fête de Saint Laurent and the Belle
Dimanche, festivals for the residents of the valley not just tourist attractions. Go to Morgins for fireworks and a bonfire for the Swiss National Festival on 1st August and for the yearly open-air jazz festival at the top of the mountain.
Click here to make an enquiry about our summer programme.
Apartments in Châtel or bed and breakfast in our own
chalet in Morgins.
More information about the area can be found at Alpine-Internet.co.uk, a magazine site aimed at
advertising services, events and activities in the French Alps
For news, weather and other information you can also visit www.morgins.ch
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