The Portes du Soleil is a huge linked ski area, made up of 13 resorts over 2 countries, France and Switzerland.

You could ski a different resort every day of your holiday or tour as many of the different areas as you can fit into one day. There are 650 km of pistes from easy green runs to very hard black runs and off piste areas.

The views of Mont Blanc, the Dents du Midi and even Lake Geneva in the distance are stunning.

La Grande Terche is one of the resorts that make up the Portes du Soleil. It links easily into the Portes du Soleil by road (not by ski lift) and is included in the Portes du Soleil lift pass.

World class ski resorts Morzine and Les Gets are just a 15 minute drive away and Avoriaz, Chatel and Morgins can be quickly accessed from Ardent, also 15 minutes by car.

The Portes du Soleil ski pass covers both France and Switzerland, but cheaper passes can be bought for individual resorts and many have weekend deals.


1. Grande Terche

La Grande Terche is a friendly small resort with a couple of bars, 2 restaurants, a small supermarket and a good selection of ski shops (you can pre book equipment from Muffat Sports).

It is a perfect family resort, being safe enough to let children wander to the play area or go to fetch the bread and croissants in the morning. There is an ESF ski school at the resort and a nursery and places can be booked with both in advance.

La Grande Terche has its own ski area which is ideal for beginners and families, with safe nursery slopes and longer runs to progress to after the first day. Intermediates will also be satisfied by the runs back to the village (snow permitting), the French National Championship Giant Slalom run and the 7km trail through Bellevaux back to Grande Terche.


2. Morzine

Morzine is the nearest large town to La Grande Terche. You get there by driving back to the main road at St Jean D'Aulps and turning right. Stay on that road into the centre of Morzine, which is only about 6 kms.

Morzine has two telecabine stations in the centre of the town (one on each side of the valley). These are called Super Morzine (which takes you up towards Avoriaz and has some gentle blue runs and access to Avoriaz and Switzerland) and Pleney (which gives access to a variety of blue and red runs and to Les Gets and Nyon)

If you continue on through Morzine and out the other side you will see signs to Nyon where there is another telecabine which goes up to runs from La Pointe de Nyon and also access to Les Gets.


3. Les Gets

You can get to the large and varied Les Gets area either through Morzine (see above) or by driving there. By car you go towards Morzine from La Grande Terche, but do not go into the town of Morzine. There are signs to Les Gets at a roundabout just before you go into Morzine and the road takes you round to the right. Les Gets is about 8 kms from Morzine.

On reaching Les Gets, there is a telecabine on your right which gives access to Mont Chery. There are some good red and black runs here.

On the other side of Les Gets is a large ski area with great runs for all abilities - wide open blue runs, long red runs and black runs with moguls. You can get to this area by telecabine, chair lift or (if the road is open) by car. Parking for the telecabine/chairlift is in a multi-story car park - follow the Parking signs.

If you want to drive up, follow the signs to the golf club but keep on the road until it comes to an end at Les Chavannes. There is some parking there -otherwise people park on the road.


4. Avoriaz

Avoriaz is a very popular area. Again, it has varied skiing for all abilities and allows you to ski into Switzerland and follow the valley down as far as Morgins. You can access Chatel or ski back towards Morzine.

Although you can get to Avoriaz from Morzine, the easiest way to get there is to drive to Ardent and take the telecabine.

From La Grande Terche - go down to the main road through St Jean D'Aulps and turn right towards Morzine. After about 3 kms turn left at the small roundabout towards Montriond. Follow that road for about 1km and as you come into Montriond (you will see shops on your right), turn left (signposted Le Lac and/or Ardent and or Les Lindarets). At the next roundabout turn right and stay on that road (which passes Lake Montriond) until it ends at a large, terraced open-air free car park where you will see the telecabine. This takes you up to Les Lindarets (a village famous for its goats in the summer). You will see the chair lifts which take you in all directions from Les Lindarets (take a ski map).

You can ski all the way back down to the car park at the end of the day.