Portes du Soleil

Portes du Soleil is one of the largest ski areas on the planet, straddling the French-Swiss border between the Mont Blanc massif and Lake Geneva. The name covers a network of twelve linked resorts, including Morzine and Saint-Jean-d'Aulps on the French side and Champéry or Les Crosets on the Swiss side. Together they spread across roughly 1,000 km² and 14 valleys, putting Portes du Soleil among the two biggest ski regions in the world.

How big is the ski area, really?

Skiers get access to more than 650 km of marked pistes served by close to 200 lifts. The highest runs sit at 2,260 m, the lowest at 930 m — a spread that keeps skiing possible from early winter well into spring. Almost all the resorts are directly lift-linked, so a single lift pass lets you ski from France into Switzerland and back without ever taking your skis off. Only a handful of the more outlying villages are reached solely by the free local buses that circulate around the area.

How do you get there?

Morzine is the usual base on the French side, well connected to Geneva (the nearest major airport, roughly an hour's drive away) and to Chamonix and the Mont Blanc valley. Saint-Jean-d'Aulps sits a few kilometres further into the same valley, offering a quieter, less crowded base with direct access into the Portes du Soleil piste network. On the Swiss side, Champéry is a convenient entry point reachable by train from Aigle. Once inside the region, moving between resorts is done on skis, via the lift network, or on the local shuttle buses.

What will you actually see?

The scenery is classic Alpine valley terrain, ringed by mid-height peaks with the Mont Blanc massif visible in the distance and Lake Geneva glinting on the far side of the region. Lower runs cut through spruce forest, while higher pistes open onto exposed, rocky ridgelines — several of them sitting right on the France-Switzerland border, so a single run can mean crossing countries. Snow-making equipment covers the lower slopes, stretching the season beyond what natural snowfall alone would allow.

When should you visit?

The ski season typically runs from December through April, peaking in February and March when snow cover is most reliable across all elevations. For fewer crowds, January or early April tend to work well, with quieter slopes and still-decent conditions thanks to snow-making lower down. In summer the area shifts to hiking and mountain biking, including downhill trails, but winter remains the main draw.

Frequently asked questions

Does one lift pass cover both the French and Swiss resorts? Yes — the Portes du Soleil pass covers all twelve linked resorts on both sides of the border, and you cross between countries directly on skis.

Are Morzine and Saint-Jean-d'Aulps connected to each other? Both towns sit in the same valley and share access to the Portes du Soleil piste network, though it's worth checking locally which links require the regional shuttle bus.

What's the elevation range on the slopes? Runs span from 930 m up to 2,260 m, giving a wide range of snow conditions depending on the point in the season.

Do you need the bus to see the whole area? Mostly not — lifts and pistes connect nearly everything — but a few of the more remote villages are served only by the free regional buses.