Les Gets Ski Resort
in the Portes du Soleil
The fabulous French ski resort of Les Gets is just one hour from Geneva airport and part of the Portes du Soleil ski area.
Les Gets and neighbouring Morzine are on a shared lift pass which gives you an extremely large local area to ski and snowboard.
Key Les Gets/Morzine facts:
- Les Gets altitude: 1172m – 2002m; Morzine altitude: 1000m – 2002m
- Lifts: 49
- Pistes: 64 covering 120km
- Piste grades: 5 greens, 23 blues, 27 reds, 9 blacks
The local Chavannes ski area offers wide and gentle tree-lined pistes and the dedicated beginner area is perfect for novice skiers and snowboarders. A selection of cafés and mountain restaurants makes it an ideal spot to base your day and meet up with family and friends.
The Les Gets ‘bowl’ has a wide selection of blue runs, easy or more challenging red runs and a couple of bumpy black runs including the well-known Yeti. From the top of the Rosta or Ranfolly chairlifts you can enjoy fabulous views of the Mont Blanc range.
Venture out of the bowl slightly to enjoy the beautiful and cruisy Meleze or Vorosse pistes in the forest at La Turche.
Slightly further afield towards Morzine, the steeper slopes of Chamossiere and Nyon are ideal for more advanced skiers.
Why not spend a day skiing the Mont Chery side of the village? This is a favourite area for locals and the (mainly red and black) slopes tend to be a little quieter. There’s some lovely off-piste to explore and more great views.
The village
Most Les Gets accommodation is either in the centre, within easy walking distance or on one of the free shuttle bus routes. There’s a wide and varied selection of hotels, chalets and apartments to choose from.
There’s restaurants and bars a plenty throughout the village - some cosy and intimate, others more lively. Many restaurants serve traditional savoyarde cuisine such as fondue, raclette and pierrade.
In the centre of the village is an open air, floodlit skating rink which is a great option if you still have some energy at the end of a day’s skiing.
Alternatively, why not browse the multitude of sports shops and boutiques along the main street, or visit the health spa for some pampering.
The population of Les Gets is around 1300 and the locals are very friendly and helpful. Whilst they appreciate any effort to speak French, most shopkeepers and restauranteurs are happy to speak in English.
For business listings in Les Gets checkout our Useful Links page.
Historical facts
Les Gets in the early 1900’s was a small farming village with a church, town hall, general store and a handful of chalet style buildings.
By 1937 Les Gets had the early beginnings of a tourist office and the very first ski lift, one of the earliest to be built in the Alps. This was the ‘Boule de Gomme’ draglift and the newer version with the same name is still in the same place today. In 1938 a basic single-seater chairlift, with wooden pylons, was running on Chavannes.
By 1960 a number of hotels were open in the village. Draglifts were installed at La Turche, Chavannes and on Mont Chéry.
In 1970’s the original ‘red eggs’ Chavannes telecabine was built plus a few other chairlifts including Ranfolly and La Croix.
By 1990, Mont Chery had a telecabine and chairlifts, Ranfolly chairlift had been replaced and many other lifts in the area had sprung up.
2000-2003 saw the re-construction of La Croix chairlift and the construction of Nauchets, Grains d‘Or, Chavannes and Perrieres Express 6-seater chairlifts.
The Chavannes telecabine (the old ‘red eggs’) lift was completely replaced in 2010.
A fast new 6-seater Ranfolly Express opened for business at the start of the 2017/18 winter season.