All about Morzine

As we explained when talking about location, Morzine is a traditional market town that has tastefully evolved into the ski resort that it is today. When you go for a walk around the town you see a range of ‘low-rise’ chalet roofs coating the treelined valley and a pretty Church spire at the old town centre. Although Morzine has a clear and defined town centre it also has a couple of sister villages just out of town, Essert-Romand is further up the valley and Montriond in an adjoining valley with its stunning lake of the same name. The grand Morzine suspension bridge to Montriond is a pretty sight and suits the town well.

The ski lifts in Morzine are varied with many modern 2-speed chairlifts, fast Telecabine lifts like the Super Morzine or the Pleney and cable cars like the Nyon but there are also a few older chairlifts that can be a bit slow going up the mountain and tricky for beginners as the chair comes through into the back of the legs. There are nursery lifts around the learning slopes and plenty of ideal facilities for learners at all levels. A friend of our blog and budding digital media action man Jacob Whitmore took his first trip to the Alps and visited Morzine, he told us about how it was to learn to snowboard in Morzine, but in short he got on great and really liked the resort.The Morzine and Les Gets area has a vast and quite complex lift system that a takes you around a range of peaks and into different valleys around the area. There are varied pistes at mostly an intermediate level, you can find exposed technical reds and blacks (see Pointe de Lyon and La Rosta) and jolly tree-lined blues like those around the Pleney. You can spend at least a week exploring Morzine and Les Gets and not want for more piste but those who are wanting more will not be disappointed. Morzine and Les Gets is just one part of the vast ski network of the Portes du Soleil. From Mozine you can link up with Avoriaz via shuttle bus and take on a whole new area which itself links to several more all included on a Portes du Soleil area pass.

The ski area is known for its great powder. A popular theory as to why is again, down to the location of Morzine. Being amongst the first high mountains on the French Alps side of Lake Geneva gives Morzine and the Portes du Soleil an extra snow boost as moist air comes off the lake and up into the cooler mountains. When the conditions aren’t great lower down in Morzine you often find they are up on the mountain or take a trip to Avoriaz to access even higher altitudes.

Les Notes Gourmandes for lunch
Les Notes Gourmandes is a lovely bar restaurant in Les Gets, the staff are friendly and very accommodating and the food delicious. When it comes to customer service we’ve found many piste-side and resort restaurants to be lacking, staff often seem rushed or sometimes are just plain rude. Les Notes Gourmandes is completely different, we went twice and had a lovely experience both times. Plus it’s got style! It’s refreshingly modern, fun and full of colour with music and arts references and memorabilia on the walls. There’s attention to detail too, we noted the vinyl records pinned to the wall with coloured drawing pins each had perfectly matching coloured drawing pins! There is outdoor seating, with blankets provided for chilly days and an awning overhead so you can sit happily watching the snow fall as your drink your beer and eat a burger. We’d definitely recommend the omelette, burger American or the croque monsieur and advise you to prepare for large portions.

L’Etale for an evening meal
When looking for traditional French cuisine in Morzine you’ll be spoilt for choice but we would highly recommend visiting L’Etale, close to the Pleney lift. Make sure you book ahead and ask to be seated downstairs as the two levels of this fantastic restaurant are quite different. You enter a friendly looking cafe style restaurant serving pizza and burgers amongst other things but as you descend the stairs to the lower level you enter a beautiful candle lit restaurant with walls decorated with traditional farming tools. The service is first class with attentive and helpful waiters and the food is absolutely delicious. Their menu is varied with a wide choice of dishes to suit most tastes, for starters we would recommend the seared scallops or escargot in garlic butter sauce. For the main course their steak tartare is divine and the duck breast, which comes topped with a decorative flower, is also extremely tasty.

Would not recommend

Le Grand Pre, at the base of the Troncs and Charniaz chairlifts, is not one we’d would recommend. At least not when it’s a busy day. We found ourselves waiting at the service window for some time, while staff were busy bustling around inside, without being acknowledged, which left us wondering whether we could even order from the service window. In the end we found that we could, but then found that we had to pay extra for a napkin, so wished we’d chosen a different piste side bar to stop at.