FAQs
Check the Morzine/Portes du Soleil Lift Opening Dates here
Our experienced transfer provider specialises in moving people and their bikes to and from Morzine in safety and comfort. Our partner is fully French registered (English speaking) company complying with all laws and regulations with appropriate insurances.
Travel time to and from Geneva is 1 hour and 30 minutes – easy!
Flights are not included in the holiday prices.
Please check out SkyScanner for the latest flight availability and prices.
We are able to arrange transfers from Geneva airport for you, but the transfer itself is not included in our holiday package.
- Guests enjoy breakfast, afternoon cake and three-course evening meals.
- There is one chalet night off per week when no dinner is served – this is usually Wednesday.
- Breakfast is served from 8am – 9am daily, and dinner at 7pm
- Breakfast comprises a cooked option (eggs, bacon, porridge etc) as well as a selection of cereals, bread, croissants & muffins, fresh fruit, yoghurts, jams, juices, freshly brewed coffee or tea.
- Please note that lunches are not provided. We know the best local cafes/restaurants where hearty portions of Haute-Savoie’s finest food can be tucked into for as little as 10-15€ per day.
- Please let us know well in advance if you have any form of dietary requirement
You must vacate your room by 10am on the morning of departure. However, as per arrival, we are happy to store your bag whilst you await transfer pickup. You can get a brew and chill in the chalet or go for wander into town. Or, go for a ride and get changed after.
The area is well signposted so accessing back country single track, cross country/enduro/trail riding is not a problem. And with a number of large bike park areas including graded (green – black as per ski pistes) sign posted runs the riding area is massive and easily accessible. It’s worked really well over the last number of years and we are very confident you’ll love the riding. Even the most experienced Morzine repeat visitors can get that crucial top tip to really make the week.
We do not offer guided or accompanied rides as UK guiding qualifications are not legally recognised in France. We contract out all guiding to a legal French qualified guide (English speaking). A lot of our guests tend to use the skills training component offered by our partner guides/instructors. It works really well and will improve your riding no end, more so than those new carbon bars for sure!
We have off street parking at La Musardiere and there is free parking along Route de la Plagne.
Hopefully it’ll be hot and dry for your trip, it usually is, so it’s very much a T-shirt/shorts/flip flops kind of place. It does get cooler in the evening so a jumper is handy for then. If it is a wet day it will get cold, it can be down to 10 degrees in the summer so jeans/jumpers/water proof jacket could be handy.
Packing you bike for flying – Top tips:
Remove rear mech & Remove rotors.
Loosen stem on the steerer and bars so they can rotate if handled roughly by the baggage guys and not bend.
If you don’t own a bike bag you can get a bike box from your local shop, they stack better and with handles are easier for baggage guys to move.
Or, a bike box inside a bike bag. Ideally the bike can stand upright and therefore there is less chance of someone standing on it!
Triple check when you put your bike back together this end. Leaving your bars/stem loose and setting off down the Pleney downhill does not bear thinking about.
Bike Spares. A spare mech hanger is the single most important thing. They may have your brand in stock in town should you bend or snap yours but if not you are going to lose riding days.
Tyres, tubes, chains, rear mechs can all be bought in town for a reasonable price but it’s very much worth bringing and carrying two spare inner tubes and two pairs of brake pads. It would not be un-common to get through the latter in a week of Alpine mountain biking particularly if you get a wet day.
Consider putting on a pair of heavy duty dual ply tyres even for trail riding. It’ll be worth it and will conserve your stock of inner tubes. I run 2.5 Maxxis dual plies. Plenty of shops sell these in town.
Riding clothes – If it’s 30 degrees and it often is then a t-shirt and shorts is fine – supplement with gallons of sun cream.
Mountain weather can turn very quickly and when it rains it is cold, 10 degrees or less and occasionally snow on the mountain tops in mid July. Think of an early spring wet day in the UK.
In your pack you should always carry an extra layer and a good waterproof jacket.
If you are heading out on a wet day then a number of layers and a good waterproof jacket is essential. Knee warmers and an extra pair of gloves would not go amiss.
Body Armour – do what you feel comfortable with. We make no specific recommendations as it’s your own responsibility.
A great back pack is essential, ideally something with room for your spares as outlined above.
Morzine is a lovely little market town in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. Although rightly famous as the European centre of Mountain biking excellence there are other things to do if riding is not your thing or if you need a day of rest from two wheeled excitement.
The town is a lovely place to wander around with loads of great shops to check out. Maybe buy a pastry from any number of excellent patisseries and enjoy a coffee in the sun. Perhaps a leisurely walk down by the Dranse River? An afternoon lazing by the Olympic sized swimming pool or you could always churn up a few lengths if you can’t sit still?
Another great destination is Lac Montriond just a few kilometres outside town. A great place for a picnic or to laze around on the grassy surround reading a book, when things get too hot, dive in for a swim. The surroundings are stunning with sheer cliffs bordering on one side hundreds of metres high.
Other big activities in Morzine during the summer months are Hiking/Walking, rock climbing, via ferrata, road biking and many others.
Not really a road cyclist but quite fancy tackling a genuine Tour de France climb? Right on your doorstep is the Avoriaz climb last used in the 2010 Tour. It’s tough, 14km and with a 1000m of height gain. Rent a road bike in town for the morning/afternoon and go see what all the fuss is about, it destroyed Brad Wiggans’s Tour de France pretension that year! And if you don’t like the up, you’ll love the coming down, the descent is awesome with switchback after switchback to rail around. Road biking is massive in Morzine.
If you have transport the stunning high mountain town of Chamonix is only one hour and fifteen minutes drive away. Set in the valley under Mont Blanc and the stunning Aiguilles the views are world class. Take a cable car up the famous Aiguille du Midi to get the feel of the high mountain with a breathless walk to the viewing area. Alternatively head up the opposite side of the Valley on the Brevent lift and admire the view to Mont Blanc, it is stunning. Once you have had your fill of the views wander round town and soak in the atmosphere. It’s a contrast of mountain people wandering around with climbing equipment jangling about them and Parisian hipsters looking super cool in big sun glasses.
Other close by towns well worth a visit on a day off from the riding are Annecy and Evian.
Road cycling in Morzine is superb. The major benefit being the variety of roads and routes you can head out on – this is no one road Alpine town. Morzine has a lot more to offer than a long grind up a valley road, a major climb and then a return journey on the same route. We have the luxury of a number of loops starting off around one hour all the way up to marathon Alpine sorties.
The other main feature is the number of headline Tour de France climbs in the immediate vicinity; Col de Joux Plane, Col de la Ramaz, Col De Joux Verte (Avoriaz) are all within 2-3 hours riding distance. A little further afield the Col de la Colombière and Col de Romme are within 4 hours riding and only a little further, the Col des Saisies. However, all are within a days’ riding distance, there are no transfers to and from the start of the ride! Indeed the Col de Joux Plane starts/finishes within 500m of our chalet and the Col De Joux Verte only a fraction further away than that!
As with the mountain bike trails there are simply loads of routes to choose from over many a col and down many a stunning valley road.
Sportive rider? The main event of the road bike calendar in Morzine is the La Morzine Vallee D’Aulps cyclosportive. This is part of a France wide series of cyclosportives including the famous and very gruelling Marmotte. The event is usually held on the third weekend of June and sets off in the centre of Morzine and finishing at Lac Montriond just outside town (they seem to alternate the start and finish each year).
There are other events during the summer within easy travel distance from Morzine. Two favourites are the Time Megeve Mont Blanc cyclosportive (June) and the JPP cyclosportive (July).
Or if you fancy yourself as a hill climber or simply want to challenge yourself on a Tour De France climb and compare your time to the greats? The Morzine-Avoriaz grimpee (hill climb) takes place on either the first or second Sunday in August each year.