The Marine (husband, Steve) and I have two favorite physical activities in Europe; snowshoeing in winter, and hiking in summer. Morzine, France is a small part of a huge winter ski circus in the Portes du Soleil (Gateway to Sun) region near Lake Geneva with 12 interconnected resorts: Abondance, Avoriaz, Chatel, Champery, La Chapelle d’Abondance, Les Gets, Montriond, Morgins, Morzine, St. Jean d’aulps, Torgon, Val-d’Illiez and its resorts Les Crosets and Champoussin. If that isn’t enough hiking and biking area, I don’t know what is. Since we had already snowshoed in Morzine, a return trip was in order to hike some of the many trails, leading in all directions.
The large Tourist Information Office (“I”) in the center of town (open every day from 8:30a-7:30p) had unlimited amounts of free information. Stop in to use their free Wi-Fi; get printed tourist maps, itineraries and practical brochures; find out what’s going on; check accommodation availability and more. Visit the Morzine-Avoriaz website for more information.
a street along the river in Morzine, France
picnic under a lift in Morzine, France
wooden sculpture along a walking trail in Morzine, France
There is nothing more exciting than finding a summer destination in Europe with free lifts; or if not free, with a small charge. There’s no such thing as “free” in winter, but lift tickets in Europe are still less than what United States ski resorts charge. We discovered this perk several years ago in Davos, Switzerland and now scour the Internet to see which resorts are offering this, hoping to entice summer visitors. Steve and I also learned how nice and easy it was to hike up a mountain, over to another area, and take a lift down; easier on my old knees. Europeans tend to take a lift up, hike around the area and then walk down.
villages in the mountains of France
The Multi Pass was available only when staying in an accredited Multi Pass accommodation provider in one of the resorts listed above. For 1 Euro, per person, per day, visitors are given unlimited access to more than 50 activities throughout the Portes du Soleil from June 9 to September 9. Hotel L’Hermine Blanche gave us a Multi Pass voucher to redeem and pay for at any lift kiosk. Although we were staying for 10 days, we could have paid for less days if desired. A few of the many activities are listed below:
- All mountain lifts in 24 locations throughout the Portes du Soleil. Travel by bus or hike from one place to another and across different valleys, returning at day’s end. How easy is that!
- Access to swimming pools and lakes, ice rinks, tennis centers, mini-golf, and
- Inter-resort bus and shuttle transportation on: Balad’Aulps, Colombus and TPC.
Surf the Internet to decide on a hotel, pension or apartment. We happen to prefer hotels that serve half-pension for convenience sake. Half pension includes: large buffet breakfasts and multi-course dinners with entree choices. Don’t forget to tell your hotel about allergies and food preferences, e.g., no bony fish or venison or “bunny foo-foo” or sweetbreads for us.
summer sledding under the Pleney lift, Morzine
adults enjoy the summer luge as much as children in Morzine
The Pleney lift in Morzine is popular with hikers, walkers and mountain bikers. A short walk at the top will take you to a “Plan d’ Orientation” which shows the mountain names, and altitude in all four directions. A high altitude golf course also runs along what would be a wide ski trail in Winter. Steve and I usually kept a sharp eye out for errant golf ball slices, hoping to avoid death by golf ball, when walking near the golf course.
watch out for golf balls at the top of Pleney Lift, Morzine
view of Pleney lift from our hotel in Morzine, France
The bottom of Pleney was where two summer sledge or luge runs (different lengths) finished. A special lift takes riders to the top of the luge run with their sleds, and we watched children, shrieking their heads off, and many adults riding separately, all enjoying the fun.
restaurant in Morzine, France
fruit tartes in a Morzine patisserie
brightly decorated car in Morzine
The center of Morzine is filled with shops, supermarket, restaurants, cafes, and the all important patisseries. We developed a real fondness for walnut tartes (tartelette de noisettes) with caramel and chocolate that were incredibly delicious. These become our go to, and daily, treat. An area for bocce ball, carousel, and more restaurants also ran around a square facing the Tourist Office.
Morzine is a gorgeous area, with so much to do and see…
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