Portes du Soleil - advice

[bananafrosting]

I've just booked a chalet for New Year near Chatel. (Normally we we would choose to be closer to the slopes but this chalet was offering 27/12 - 3/1, which very few places were...)

This will be our first time skiing in the Portes du Soleil area, advice please!

How do Morzine / Les Gets / Avoriaz compare with each other? We are driving so will have the car with us. Do all the resorts really all join up?

Possibly stupid question - can you ski into Switzerland and back? (Someone mentioned skiing with passports but I couldn't work out if it was a joke...)

What's the best mountain restaurant for a lovely lunch on New Year's day?

Family-friendly options to celebrate new year in Chatel or nearby, if we feel like going out after chalet dinner?

All advice most welcome, thank you

bump in the hope that someone can help

please

We've never stayed in Chatel, but have stayed in Morzine and Ardent several times.

The Portes du Soleil area is huge and the areas do link up well but Chatel is just about as far away from Les Gets as you can get. I don't know how long it would take you to drive there from Chatel if you wanted to explore that side one day.

From Chatel you'll be able to get to Avoriaz very easily and then down to Morzine, but Les Gets is another trek over from there.

You can easily ski from France into Switerland and back again as the area crosses the border, in fact there are some well marked trails that take you on complete loops of the whole Portes du Soleil (we did the longest one with a guide and it was a tough and very long day). We've been advised to carry our passports with us but never have (we always have a photocopy of it along with our travel insurance in our pockets anyway). One thing to be aware of is the last lift times as there are a couple of key lifts that you need to get back to most destinations.

I can't suggest a particularly good restaurant near Chatel I'm afraid as I'm not all that famililar with that are, though there are some lovely ones in the Goat village which is just below Les Lindarets and above Ardent.

Thanks Iwish. I presume you like Morzine then if you've stayed in the area several times? I'm hoping there will be enough snow somewhere in the area at New Year that we can get some good skiing in. That's a good tip about carrying copy passports and insurance, we haven't done that before but now you mention it, it's a very good idea.

Anyone else?

bump for Saturday evening crowd

I can't recommend any restaurants in Chatel either I'm afraid, as I've only ever stayed in Morzine.

As Iwish said, Les Gets is a long old trek from Chatel on skis/board. It would take you about an hour to drive round to Les Gets if you wanted to go over that way.

To get to Avoriaz from Chatel, I'd get a bus to Chatel Linga and then take the lift to the top and over into the Lindaret area of Avoriaz. However, there is some great skiing/riding around Chatel and the Linga and plenty enough to explore if you're there for just a week.

Hi Banana, I used to live near Morzine, you'll get loads of good skiing from Chatel to Avoriaz and through the Swiss resorts but Les Gets would be tricky. However it's great, especially for kids so well worth driving to, would take about 20/30 mins from Chatel depending on the weather - don't even contemplate that road in bad weather. I never carried my passport the whole time I skiied around there but worth making sure your phones are free roaming! Walkie Talkies work well on the higher slopes too. There's a great rosti restaurant on the swiss side just off one of the peaks (Pointe de l'Au I think), it's not in the village, spectacular views and great food. The swiss side also loves T-bar lifts so be warned! As for travelling around, there is also a little gem called St Jean D'Aulps, you will pass it on the road from Chatel to Les Gets, worth a half day or if the snow is good, the Bellavaux circuit will be open which is fab, great mountain restaurants there and still part of your PDS pass. The main centres all have snow making and often open the first week of Dec, if you have a bad week snow wise the links may be iffy between them so a car will be a bonus. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks Snowmummy and TTQ!

TTQ that's absolutely brilliant, very informative and will be useful. Hearing details makes it seem very real, can't wait!