Morzine
Morzine ski holidays offer a genuinely unrivalled variety of skiing and snowboarding, being part of the largest winter sports area in the World: the Portes du Soleil! The slopes around Avoriaz, high up on the escarpment overlooking Morzine, ensure that snow sure conditions are the best possible, suited to all levels of ability and particularly good for family ski groups. The area covers 12 towns or villages, the huge range of skiing across France and Switzerland is all covered by the same liftpass pass, making for incredible value. With so much skiing and snowboarding on offer this is certainly a resort that will can keep turning up untried areas the whole week long! Morzine is a very pretty village with excellent facilities, numerous bars and cafes with boutique shopping to keep the non-skiers entertained. A nice day trip away from the ski fields is to Saint Jean D'aulps. This charming, almost cute, little resort is part of the same ski area and connected by the area's shuttle bus.
The traditional nature of Morzine is very evident in its facilities, architecture and friendliness, resulting in a very pleasant village to stay in. Being quite a large summer destination as well as winter mountain resort there is lots to offer almost all year round and, it has the right amount of British presence. Socially it is one of the livelier resorts in France, offering late night venues for partying or relaxed drinking and dining venues for the more sedate and family orientated skiers, as well as pizza and other take-ways. Even though Morzine is at a relatively moderate altitude, it is the most northerly ski resort in all of France. This means that it will always get much better snow than many of the other French resorts found at the same altitude. Generally this means the snow often lasts well into May! Morzine is a very attractive resort with an abundance of tree runs and offers a nicely diverse range of skiing. All levels will be well entertained for weeks! The extremely scenic mountains have a multitude of natural features, providing not many miles of excellent skiing, all wrapped up in some truly wonderful scenery making ski touring all the more enjoyable. Families and beginners will feel particularly well served with extremely well maintained pistes, and a well linked network of lifts. The experts have such a wealth of skiing available to them that it is hard to imagine anyone becoming tired of the Portes du Soleil! Straddling the Franco-Swiss border, with the lift system are especially well planned, allowing quite long distances to be skied.
Morzine (and indeed it's neighbour Les Gets) are especially suitable for beginners, with a very good range of inexpensive children's facilities that help the resort Morzine stand out from the crowd. The range of kids’ clubs, activies and ski gardens, as well as circuits of gentle ski runs for easy cruising reinforce the kid friendly atmosphere. Having hardly any drag lifts, (really good for beginners), also makes Morzine a very popular choice for beginner skiers, snowboarders and families.
Morzine and Avoriaz were the first ever resort to adopt snowboarding in the early 1990s, and have remained at the vanguard of the sport ever since. Facilities have been constantly updated and improved, with up to seven terrain-parks open in the area alone! These parks range from the Swiss sector's very large “Super Park” to Les Gets' easier Junior parks, with jumps of all shapes and sizes making ensuring that even novices are less intimidated. The off piste in the Portes du Soleil's Freeride is extensive, with multi faceted runs offering a variety of snow conditions in the same day. The popularity of Morzine for many British and other Snowboard Pro’s simply highlights the excellent snowboarding together with the resort's friendliness and value for money.