Les Gets or Morzine

Hoping to get to the French Alps this summer for a holiday. Will be to either Les Gets or Morzine. We’re planning on doing some biking, walking in the mountains and other fun outdoors activities.

Anyone who’s been to either of these locations recommend where would be best to base ourselves? We would be flying to Geneva and then getting a transfer to our resort, i.e. no car, and staying in a chalet.

We plan to do 4 or 5 days riding, mainly nice XC single track stuff, nothing too technical but would like to take advantage of the lifts if possible. Should we take our own bikes or hire out there? How do we find out about trails? is there a guide book, buys route cards from shopes etc?

Any other advice?

Thanks!

Staying in either is fine, morzine is bigger and has more shops/cafes/bars etc.

Lifts run from both and its fairly easy to cycle from Morzine to Les Gets and vice versa.

I think hire bikes are fairly expensive so I would take your own.

There’s no Bar Robinson in Les Gets. Apart form that, it’s nice.

Rachel

We stay in Les Gets which is slightly quieter than Morzine. Take your own bikes as hiring is expensive and sometimes the bikes aren’t that well maintained.

My only time was late August last year. Morzine was far better in the evening – more bars, places to eat. Any way, using the lifts you can get from Morzine to Les Gets in circa 20 mins, which is also a good warm up.

Map wise, half decent one available from tourist office which shows main VVT routes and singletack. Other wise, a freebee simple trail map which illustrates the main marked xc and dh routes, similar to a ski piste map – available on line I think. Most blue xc routes on this are fire track or road, and the only black one is really only black due to the length – really nice xc route though with stunning views of mount blanc. The reds are ok too, one worth adding on the DH natural green at the end. You have to venture onto the VVT routes or singletrack for more technical stuff.

As above really I don’t think there is much in it, although there is probably more NON MTB stuff to do in Morzine, especially if you are going with kids (which isn’t clear in original post). In Morzine you have the pony trekking place and you have the outdoor 50m pool, I would also suggest it is probably slightly more centrally based as then you can head over to Les Gets direction or up to Avoriaz and into Goat village (Les Lindarets) plus slightly easily to get to Lac d’Montriond if you fancy a day chilling by a lake, kayaking etc.
As for XC routes, you can get LOADS of maps with stuff from the tourist office and a list of the whole of the PdS region with the DH’s on from the lift office at 3 euros or something similar.
I would take your own bike as better fit etc. A lot of the hire bikes are monster DH bikes although not all.
If you have any more specific questions feel free to e-mail (in profile) as I have been about 7 times and stayed in both Les Gets and Avoiraz. You’ll have a great time though, when are you heading out there.
Also how many of you are going? that’s makes a difference to trasnfer costs versus hiring a car.

allthegear – Member

There’s no Bar Robinson in Les Gets. Apart form that, it’s nice.

Rachel

+1 😉

I hired a bike out there a few years ago, and wouldn’t do it again. The bike was a base spec orange patriot, with base spec suspension (ie not very good) and did detract a little from the riding for me, although a lot of that may have been down to unfamiliarity with the bike.

We stayed in Morzine although we rode in Les Gets more than Morzine itself, but from Morzine it was very easy to get out to Avoriaz and on to Switzerland (we covered a lot of the trails which form the Passportes Du Soleil route). Morzine also has great nightlife if that’s what you’re after.

Matt

Depend on who you are with and what type of nightlife you want! Les Gets if you are with Wife/family and like it quite or Morzine if you prefer it a little livelier.

There are 2 good XC Trails which start & finish in Les Gets; a Red & a Black but nothing technical on them just distances to account for the colours. But they are very easily got to from Morzine on the lifts.

What ever you like it is a fantastic place, and one I will definately be going back too 😀

Thanks for the replies everyone, extremely helpful! I’m going with my girlfriend (no kids) so Morzine might be better from a night life point of view. The mention of pony trekking is good as it will give us something to do on a rest day. Hoping to also do some high level walking but we’ll get maps\guide books when we’re over there.

Think i’ll be taking my own bike now based on everyone’s comments. Bit surprised though, I thought the bike hire would be cheap and good due to volume etc.

Hoping to go in late June or sometime in July and for 2 weeks.

Anyone else got any more info for me to get exited about! 🙂

Thanks again, Paul.

Remember most of the lifts don’t open until the last weekend of June as the Passporte de Soleil event kind of signifies their opening, I would avoid this weekend as it will be SUPER busy. If it’s just the 2 of you I would consider hiring a car, although it depends but it will give you a bit more flexibility on RD’s. You can do the paragliding and stuff like that too, whie water rafting,although I’m a bit dubious as to where they do that. There are LOADS of chalets on line so it’s just a case of finding something like looks, nice and is available.

If there’s just the 2 of you, there are quite a few appartments available for rent too, should be significantly cheaper than a full chalet.

morzine, purely because its a couple of hundred feet lower than les gets, with a road linking the two. if you stay out past lift closing date, its an easy roll home, compared to a fairly long ride up a hill.

Morzine – wherever you are its always downhill back to Morzine:)

The white water rafting is on (I think) the Dranse, quite some way from Morzine in the direction of Evian I believe. You need a car to get there.

Did it in ’98. It was alright.

morzine is more central for the rest of the PDS area and more going on in the evening, best choice IMHO

Great guys, thanks very much. Morzine it is! Munge Chick, I didn’t know about the lifts being mostly shut in June. we’ll try to go either the first or second week in July then.

Cheers

Morzine also has great nightlife if that’s what you’re after.

I’m sorry, what?!

You can do this if you head over towards Chatel:

That’s my Mrs, and of course I would have done it except, err, someone had to look after everyone’s bags, and some such other feeble excuse….

I would never do fantasticable…it looks like a death trap and they don’t tell you how to brake!!!

oh go-on, i bet hardly anyone has died on it…

Both are OK, Chatel is nice though and not as crowded.

Don’t care but there is a first time for everything and it looks flimsy we watched bloke nearly forget safety harness as he was yacking too much!!

Chatel is more PITA to get to lifts in morning, Morzine is the best for central location.

Fantasticable is, er, fantastic!

Just make sure you’re not sticking your tongue out when you come in to ‘land’. It’s quite a dramatic deceleration!

here is something to get you going (this is what you get if you ask when you buy your lift pass/from the Tourist Info

Resteraunts – what are the local ones like and how much for an average meal for 2. Nothing fancy, just decent grub.

Trying to decide on a fully catered chalet or a self catering appartment.

Airport transfers – seem to be £60 per person. Some package deals include it but if we’re self catering, is there a cheaper but still sensible option? don’t fancy riding my bike from Geneva! 🙂

Catered chalet is silly expensive and personally I don’t enjoy it as much as you do in winter when it is cold. I would do apartment then you can always cook the odd simple meal instead of going out. Remember French restaurants are cheese-tactic!! It is hard to put an average price on. Have you considered hiring a car? Gives you flexibility for your rest days too.

Cheese-tastic as in Gruyere\brie or as plastic knife and fork?
😆

Think i’ll be taking my own bike now based on everyone’s comments. Bit surprised though, I thought the bike hire would be cheap and good due to volume etc.

there is no volume when the vast majority take their own kit 🙂 plus the bikes take a fair old pasting over the season!

Is there a particular reason for not driving out? Gives way more freedom out there (very handy if self-catering too) and has been my preferred option for years, especially when you’re taking your own kit out

Great guys, thanks very much. Morzine it is! Munge Chick, I didn’t know about the lifts being mostly shut in June. we’ll try to go either the first or second week in July then.

Re lift openings, note that Morzine and Les Gets lifts will be open from the 11th June to the 11th September. The full Portes du Soleil area will be open for mountain biking from the 24th June to the 4th September.

Cheese-tastic as in you’ll get the “chevre de fevre” (Goat cheese sweats .. … have you ever had these!??? eurgh they are awful) there are some good restaurants there though, go to the Cow one down opposite the patisserie.. sorry that doesn’t help much but not hard to find it! The patisserie is awesome too.
I would recommend being there when PdS lifts open rather than Morzine/Les Gets as it gives you FAR more flexibility and stops you getting bored, plus Pre la Joux, over Chatel way is a great day out, stopping at Goat village (Les Lindarets) to be gobsmacked at how rank the goats are whilst you eat your goats cheese pizza.
We have always flown and never driven mainly because I couldn’t face the distance of driving. However this year we are driving to Chamonix which is closeish so I’ll let you know which I prefer (although too late for you to decide this year).

wasn’t planning on car hire as it would add about £30-£40 per day for a 14 day holiday, this on top of flights to Geneva would make it quite a pricey trip. Could drive from Edinburgh but driving time and ferry prices would again eat into the holiday.

Costs for the 2 of us so far look like:
flights from Edinburgh to Geneva with kit and bikes £450-500
Airport transfers £120
2 weeks self catering appartment £700
lift passes £200
then food, insurance and spending money etc.

Can’t see how it would be cheaper by taking the car or hiring but if i’m missing something let me know!

Re lift opening – I thought only some were open on the 11th but all of them opened on the 24th or something?

Our rest days might include pony treking, visiting the lakes, bit of walking up high and general sight seeing. Was hoping that we could do all of these by bus or on foot\bike.

Thanks again folks.

Yup the localised ones in Morzine/Les Gets may open on 11th but the wider PdS area doesn’t.

£30-40 extra per day?? not sure how you’ve got to that one.

This year (from Glasgow) I’m expecting to spend around:

£300 fuel
£80 ferry
£50 breakdown
£140 tolls
= £570 between two of us.

Excess baggage is no longer an issue, as is damage to kit. Not much cheaper than flying but, as mentioned, this gives us the freedom we want to move around and take all the spares we might need (parts can be very expensive in resort).

Of course if you drive a petrol you’re fairly screwed, as the french (rightly imo) charge a fair chunk more for it (M-way service stations especially).

I used to always fly over, but have driven for the last 4 years now

Legend, £30-£40 was for car hire from Geneva. Obviously driving from up here is different.

Where are you getting the ferry from?

I’ve got a petrol and i’m lucky if I get 30 mpg! It’s not particularly practical either.

fair play, just actually got shot of my petrol for a diesel to make sure we’re always covered for silly long trips like this (gf just sold her old diesel)!

We’ll be driving down to the southcoast. Makes for a looonnnngggg drive so an overnight stop is always welcome! Looked into going Rosyth – Zebrugge in the past but it never worked out with the days we needed to be in resort

not sure on comparative prices now but last we went as just a couple (admittedly for a week or so, youre going for a fortnight) the cost of hiring a car from geneva was about the same as transfers for 2. For transfers theres basically a minimum bus price so the more of you there are the cheaper it is.

the lift map that you buy for a couple of euros is closer to an OS map than the standard piste type map and covers the whole PDS, well worth it.

Pay the extra couple of euros for a chip lift pass, its so much easier having it in your camelback/pocket than messing about with a flimsy bit of card. Also keep it, you get the euros back next time you use it (its basically a deposit) and you acquire free bonus points (which will be printed on and stored on your card). 2 weeks may get you enough for an extra free day or half day riding (took us years to figure out what the “bonus” was, it wasnt until one of our group went to buy an extra one day pass and the lift attendant said they didnt need to 😳

Thank god i found this thread on tinternet, I started riding in earnest about a year ago after i had to give up footy through injury(Knees). On impulse i booked a week getaway for me and my bike in Les Gets on 12th June Through Alpine elements (Cheep all in for £420 inc food,bike carrage and transfers) i mainly ride light XC on a upgraded Cube HT as i just cant Hoon it of drops as my pre mentioned knees wont have it and at 32 i aint got the bottle anymore. I did further research and could only find bags of info on the DH stuff so im glad there are plenty of good xc routes. so the bike looks like it wont fall apart and neither will I .. Any other recomendations .. think i will take a set of Ralphs, ST High Rolers , spare cassete Pads Chain and multi tool out with me and hope for the best .. hear’s to my first alps experiance

Makkag, just bear in mind that when you go most of the lifts will still be shut so you will be limited to just the les gets/Morzine area (third map i posted up)

Take minions/high rollers, double ply for the rear, spare pads as they are a lot more than superstar ones and thats all you really need.

You are more likely to do a wheel, shock or mech than chain or casette.

And if it does go tits up then either get your CC out or stop riding depending upon the days left to cost ratio

We went to Les Gets a couple of years back on a FS Stumpy and an Anthem and rode loads including a random black and some DH trails. Admittedly not as fast as others but still lots of fun. Highly recommend the blue map from the Tourist office. It covers loads more routes into Switzerland and so on. We had a great time and can’t wait for baby Kip to want to go!