Morzine is situated near the Franco-Swiss border in the fabulous Portes du Soleil region – a ski area spanning 650km of piste across 13 resorts. It is one of the closest ski resorts to Calais and being in the Northern Alps makes it easily accessible by road, air and rail.
Geneva is little over an hour away from Morzine. Mont Blanc is an hour by road, and being in the shadow of Europe’s highest peak gives morzine a better than average snowfall.
Flying
Morzine is easily accessible by air, with three airports within a couple of hours’ drive. Geneva (Switzerland) airport is the closest at just one hour away, and is great for ski weekends.
You will find transfers to resort easier from Geneva than any other airport due to the high number of transfer firms and shared transfer operations on this route. Your accommodation owner will usually be able to arrange a transfer for you, either via a mailing list of those chalets who choose to run their own minibuses or through one of the many local transfer companies. Expect to pay about €35 per seat.
- Geneva to Morzine 76km, transfer time around 1.5hrs
- Lyon St Exupery to Morzine 215km, transfer time around 3hrs
Rail
Cluses and Thonon are the closest main stations to Morzine. You will easily find a transfer to resort from either station which will take approximately 30 minutes by road. There are plenty of taxis and the public bus also serves these stations in winter.
We’ve used the train to get to Morzine from London many times and, door-to-door, have found it to take almost as long as flying. The benefits are obviously no baggage fees, and walking on to a train at London St Pancras; the drag is having to get a taxi across Paris for your connecting train if you haven’t booked the direct snow train.
Driving
Morzine is one of the easiest ski resorts to reach by car; it’s less than 600 miles from Calais and on a good run it can be done in around eight hours. Whilst the national roads are pretty they can take forever so it is best to stump up the cash for the motorways. Expect to pay around 70 Euro in tolls. As a general rule the short sea crossings are the most effective with cheap prices between Dover and Calais. The motorways through Champagne country are rarely a problem. If you do opt for other ferry routes such as the overnight boat to Le Havre be sure to avoid routes taking you via Paris. Once in resort it is best to park at your accommodation as most road-side parking is chargeable from December to April.
Getting around resort
Morzine has a good network of navette services but the biggest problem is that they don’t run in to the evening. Six routes serve most parts of the town until around 5pm with the popular link between Morzine and the Prodain cable car running until around 8pm. The town is strung out down the valley and access to the slopes and bars is not always easy on foot. Many accommodation providers offer a minibus shuttle service for this reason. If you are self-catering and your apartment is not near a bus stop you should seriously consider a hire car in order to enjoy the best of the skiing.
