Skiing: A Quick Guide to Morzine in The French Alps

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If you are planning on taking the family skiing this winter, your first task will be finding a ski resort that ticks all your boxes. Family-friendly skiing, first class ski tuition, fun activities and a wide range of dining and accommodation options; there are a lot of factors to weigh up when choosing a ski resort.

Morzine has long been a favourite amongst families and has everything needed to keep mum, dad, kids and teens happy.  So lets take a look at what keeps families returning to this pretty French resort year after year. 

Getting to Morzine

No parent wants to start a holiday with a weary day of travel, and this brings us to our first compelling point about Morzine. Although the resort sits in the heart of the Portes du Soleil domain, which boasts a massive 650 km of interconnected piste; it is super easy to get to from the UK. Unlike the well-known resorts of Val d’Isere and Les 3 Valleys, which require a three hour or more transfer to reach, Morzine requires just a 90 minute transfer to get to. Flights are usually easy to find, with airlines including EasyJet, British Airways and Swiss Air flying to Geneva from many of the major UK airports.

Travelling by train is also possible, and thanks to the resorts focus on sustainability, special discounts and rewards are offered to those who choose the slower, but more eco-friendly way to travel. 

Excellent choices for ski schools

Morzine offers a wide selection of ski schools and independent instructors for skiing and snowboarding tuition. For tots as young as three years of age the ESF run ‘Piou Piou’ offers a fun, encouraging environment aimed at enjoying the snow and learning to slide. For older kids, you can take advantage of convenient morning or afternoon group lessons offered by ski schools such as ESF, New Generation and Billski; or for snowboarding try Real Snowboarding or Mint Snowboarding. 

What is the skiing like?

Morzine is one of 12 interconnected ski resorts that span across the French and Swiss Alps to make up the Portes du Soleil ski domain. You therefore have the advantage of having the local Morzine Avoriaz slopes to learn and ski on, as well as an endless amount of piste to explore with terrain suitable for all levels.  Kids are taken care of with gentle nursery slopes and fun ski areas designed specifically to engage and support little ones as they progress and build confidence. Magic carpets, easy drag lifts, themed areas and fun characters, from penguins to Indians and unicorns, make skiing super fun. 

If you have a mixed group of skiers and snowboarders, or kids who are keen to try snowboarding, it’s worth knowing that Morzine is geared up for all types of snow riders. With many intermediate runs, including plenty of easy-going blues, its possible to simply cruise all-day long with the family. And teens will love the ‘Stash’, a large freestyle park area through the forest with a number of adventurous routes and kid-friendly features, including a picnic table to slide over. 

Serious skiers will also find more hardcore terrain for testing their skills when the kids are in ski school, with steep blacks, moguls, and plenty of accessible off-piste areas just waiting to be explored. 

What non-skiing activities can you find in Morzine?

Families love exploring Morzine’s charming town centre, with its vintage merry-go-round, ice rink, boutiques and pastry shops. The Parc des Dérêches also has a larger indoor ice rink and a swimming complex with a spa area, 25m swimming pool and children’s paddling pool. The town is beautifully lit in the evenings and is often a hub of activity, with the tourist board hosting family orientated entertainment during the Christmas, New Year and February holidays.

Morzine boasts a great choice of restaurants serving the traditional French and mountain fare you’d expect, as well as gourmet burgers, pizza and modern Asian cuisine. 

For wildlife fans, Les Aigles du Leman at the Point de Nyon restaurant is an amazing, unique experience, which gives visitors the opportunity to watch falconry shows on the mountain side. Owls, buzzards and condors fly above restaurant diners and skiers.   

Where to stay

Morzine has a great range of accommodation to suit all budgets and styles, from self catered apartments to catered chalets and 5-star hotels. For a central spot in Morzine’s pretty old town, The Farmhouse Hotel is a charismatic boutique hotel offering luxury ski holidays. Guests are welcomed into a cosy lounge area with a crackling open fireplace, and enjoy meals in an atmospheric flame lit dining room, whilst bedrooms include a former cobbler’s shop, carpenters workshop, seamstresses and the town’s only prison cell.