Although I have placed this nicely in the Avoriaz section, my opinion refers mainly to the Portes du Soleil, of which Avoriaz is a part.
The Portes du Soleil is situated nicely atop the border between Switzerland and France, a short drive from Geneva and easily accessible from the French ... Read review
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Advantages: A huge number of runs to suit all levels of experience, so many runs you will never get bored. Disadvantages: Season is a little short
...placed this nicely in the Avoriaz section, my opinion refers mainly to the Portes du Soleil, of which Avoriaz is a part.
The Portes du Soleil is situated nicely atop the border between Switzerland and France, a short drive from Geneva and easily accessible from the French side too. The quantity and quality os skiing varies greatly dependin on the time of year (more on that later) but they advertise themselves as having over 600km ... ...the Portes du Soleil, and Avoriaz is the largest of these. The town itself is quite large, and almost everything there is skiing-related. The buildings look horrible, frankly, but are warm and cosy for the most part, though obviously there is a degree of variation between the individual hotels and apartments.
You can ski directly from the door, which is also a benefit - there are far too many resorts around France and Switzerland ... more
Although I have placed this nicely in the Avoriaz section, my opinion refers mainly to the Portes du Soleil, of which Avoriaz is a part.
The Portes du Soleil is situated nicely atop the border between Switzerland and France, a short drive from Geneva and easily accessible from the French side too. The quantity and quality os skiing varies greatly dependin on the time of year (more on that later) but they advertise themselves as having over 600km of runs, and so far I have no reason to doubt that.
I've been skiing since the age of 3 and snowboarding for about 4 years as well, so have been fairly well qualified to put this collection of resorts through its paces.
There are a huge number of resorts linked together in the Portes du Soleil, and Avoriaz is the largest of these. The town itself is quite large, and almost everything there is skiing-related. The buildings look horrible, frankly, but are warm and cosy for the most part, though obviously there is a degree of variation between the individual hotels and apartments.
You can ski directly from the door, which is also a benefit - there are far too many resorts around France and Switzerland that require a long bus ride before you can hit the slopes, whereas in Avoriaz you are actually right in the middle of a huge network of runs.
The skiing itself is suitable for all ages and levels of experience. There are plenty of flat and shallow runs for complete beginners, and a superb ski school for kids, and at the other end of the scale you have a collection of black runs including a World Cup downhill run and the mighty 'Wall of Death' (so called by the French because it is ridiculously steep - and a lot of fun).
There are plenty of restaurants and cafes in town, so whether you want a quick snack to refuel yourself for the afternoon's skiing or fancy a candlelit dinner, there is plenty of choice. There are actually a few cafes on the slopes themselves as well that do very nice food - and I have found that Italian style dishes are often a good choice - cheap and good if you plan to carry on skiing after you eat.
I mentioned the weather, and this is very important in the Portes du Soleil. A few of the resorts near Avoriaz are quite low (though Avoriaz itself has snow from December to March or April) and as a consequence it can be difficult to get to them if you go too late in the season. Late January and early February are the best times to head over - plenty of powder snow, and all resorts will be open. If you head over in late March, expect to be confined to the Avoriaz locale and find ice and slush in equal quantities.
Snowboarders will have just as much fun, if not more, than skiers. There is a huge board park in Avoriaz, complete with half pipes and jumps, and a trip over to the Swiss side of the resort will take you to the jump park at Les Crosets - complete with loud music and beer on demand!
Finally, the queues. Everyone moans about queueing, and you have to expect some queueing whichever resort you go to, and I have found that Avoriaz is particularly good for this. Though very popular, the most travelled routes have been upgraded over recent years to have faster and higher-capacity lifts which has meant that queues rarely become a problem.
Overall, the Portes du Soleil is one of the best resorts I have found. The range of runs is amazing, and the location itself is breathtaking. There are few better feelings that gliding on powder through a forest (Les Lingarets) then taking on some of the steepest runs on Earth (Avoriaz) in one afternoon.
If you like skiing or snowboarding, this is a great place to spend as much of the winter as you can spare! I'll leave you with this quote - made me laugh...
"I do not participate in any sport that has ambulances at the bottom of the hill." - Erma Bombeck
Advantages: friendly great snow uncrowded wide pistes off-piste Disadvantages: french
Just back from Avoriaz which is thoroughly recommended for learning to snowboard. The resort is high altitude itself being at 1800m on the edge of a cliff - pretty spectacular. Lifts don't go dead high being up to around 2200m. The ski school is excellent with the snowboarding teachers being very keen on taking new boarders off-piste, over jumps, up to the snowboard park. They are an entertaining bunch! The pistes are pretty good for novice boarders ...
pedro_delb 18.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Avoriaz
Advantages: location, food, quality of accomodation, friendliness of staff Disadvantages: none
! A beautiful polished slate floor in the hall with a fantastic wooden and slate stairway leading to the bedrooms is the first thing you get to see. We were then taken into the bar area where a roaring fire was on the go and a few guests were hanging around at the end of the day's skiing. All with glowing faces (not sure if this was the sun or the drinking).
After being shown to our fabulous room with a fantastic view over the old part of town and up to Avoriaz, we went back to the bar for pre dinner canapes and a chat with the other guests. We were then shown into the most fantastic dining room, a stone room which presumably used to be a barn or large stable with a huge dining table set with candles and perfect lighting. The owner of The Farmhouse, Dorrien, gets everyone to sit in a boy, girl order around the table so that you chat to people you ...
Advantages: Service standards, excellent staff, great chalet Disadvantages: none I can think of
, Gareth and Vincent from Simply Morzine for establishing a real customer friendly, service based company. It is to their credit that they have an all new team in Morzine this year, and yet Doog, Chris, Marien, Peggy and Mark are all superb and a credit to Simply Morzine. Top people, all of them.
Just remembered, we had two days with the complementary guiding service. Day 1, Doog took us down to Linga on an awesome day's skiing. Day 2 Chris took us into Switzerland towards Croset, and then back up into Avoriaz. Both were very knowledgeable, and professional, and gave us real confidence in stretching our skiing (first blacks) and our coverage of the fantastic Portes du Soleil.
In summary, a superb company, living a customer service ethic, staffed by a great team of people. The Chalet is lovely and perfect for a large group. The Hot-tub was ...
Advantages: plenty of different slopes Disadvantages: christmas sometimes doesn't have good snow
Champery is a small bu beautiful and steep village! The nightlife is not all that great but if you are a serious skier then this is the place for you. However if you still do want some apres-ski then you can always ski over to one of the many French destination in the Portes du Soleil such as Avoriaz. Les Portes du Soleil is vast and uncrowded leaving spuberb skiing. Compared to many other resorts there are thousands of slopes and mountains! However the mountains aren't that high so it is questionable to whether Christmas time will be white. Jan-Feb is an excellent time to go. For advanced skiers the place is brilliant with the notoruis 'wall' for all you black run people! ...
