Ski Pass Guide – Morzine / Les Gets, Avoriaz and Portes du Soleil

Your complete guide to lift passes for the Morzine-Les Gets, Avoriaz and Portes du Soleil areas

If you’re thinking of coming on holiday to the Portes du Soleil, you’ve made a great choice. The area encompasses an impressive 12 different resorts with 306 slopes, 195 lifts and 600 km of skiing in all. But that can mean figuring out exactly which lift pass you need can be a bit baffling.  That’s why we’ve put together this guide that will hopefully answer all your questions on the subject, including:

• What’s the difference between a local resort lift pass and Portes du Soleil lift pass?
• Should I get a local pass or a Portes du Soleil ski pass?
• Is there a beginner’s lift pass?
• How can I get a discount on a lift pass?
• How much do lift passes cost?

What’s the difference between a local resort lift pass and Portes du Soleil lift pass?

A full Portes du Soleil ski pass will give you access to all of the 12 resorts and every one of those 195 lifts. But you can also buy local lift passes that cover a smaller area. So if you’re staying in Morzine or Les Gets, you could buy a Morzine-Les Gets lift pass (these two resorts come as a package, you can’t buy a Morzine-only or Les Gets-only pass) which will give you access to all of the 48 lifts in Morzine and Les Gets, but not the rest of the Portes du Soleil.

This can be a bit confusing as there are lifts that start in Morzine and take you up to Avoriaz, such as the Super Morzine lift, the Prodains Express cable car, and the Ardent cable car, but these aren’t included in a Morzine-Les Gets pass.

Similarly, if you’re staying in Avoriaz, you can get a local Avoriaz lift pass that will let you use the 37 lifts in the immediate area, but won’t include the lifts in neighbouring resorts, such as Chatel.

Should I get a local pass or a Portes du Soleil ski pass?

This depends on where you’re staying, what your ability level is, and where you are taking your lessons with MINT Snowboarding.

Let’s start with what you’ll need for your lessons with us. If you have snowboarding lessons in Morzine or Les Gets, you will just need a Morzine-Les Gets pass.

If you’ve booked improver or beginner snowboarding lessons in Avoriaz with us, an Avoriaz-only ski pass will be fine.

But if you’re an intermediate or advanced snowboarder and you’ve booked lessons in Avoriaz, you’ll need a full Portes du Soleil pass.

If you’ve booked freestyle snowboard lessons in Avoriaz with us and you’re on a bit of a budget, you can get away with the special Avoriaz Park & Stash Lift Pass (€30 for one day) which gives you access to the 4 snowparks of Avoriaz 1800 – Chapelle, Arare, Stash and Lil’Stash – via Prodains Express (cable car), TS Stade (chairlift), TSK Surf (ski tow), TS Tour (chairlift), TSK Arare 1 et 2 (ski tows), TSK Chapelle (ski tow), TSK Ecoles 1 et 2 (ski tows), TSK Trashers (ski tow), TC Ardent (gondola), and TS Prolays (chairlift).

Finally, if you’re taking snowboard lessons in Chatel with us, a Chatel ski pass will be fine — unless it is a freestyle lesson and you want to play in the Avoriaz snowparks, then you would need a Portes du Soleil pass.

Lessons aside, unless you’re a complete beginner (see beginner’s lift passes below), if you’re staying for a week in any of the resorts, you’ll probably want to buy a full Portes du Soleil pass and give yourself the opportunity to explore the whole area. It is also worth noting that you can’t buy a week long pass just for Avoriaz (the maximum is 2 days), you have to buy a Portes du Soleil ski pass.

Is there a beginner’s lift pass?

Yes! The Morzine Beginners Lift Pass (€19.50) is sold on a day by day basis from the lift pass office and gives you one round trip in the Pleney cable car (so you can get from Morzine town centre to the beginners area of the Pleney and down again at the end of the day) and then unlimited use of the three lifts in the beginners area — the Belevédère chairlift, Nabor chairlift, and the Magic Carpet. If you’re a total beginner, learning to snowboard in Morzine, this pass will be fine for the first couple of days, but you’ll need a full Morzine-Les Gets pass as you progress.

Les Gets also offer a lift pass for beginners called the “P’tite Glisse ski pass” sold on a day by day basis (€26). This gives you access to the Chavannes express chairlift and Cable cabin, La Croix chairlift, Vieux-Chêne, Boule de gomme, Stade, Mouille au Roy, Grand-Cry drag lifts, plus Mappys Area (including the Chavannes and Platets magic carpets and drag lifts).

If you’re learning to snowboard in Avoriaz, there’s a beginners pass available in 5-hour (€27), 1-day (€32) and 2-day (€57) versions. It gives you access to the Super Morzine and Ardent bubbles, the Prodains cable car as well as the Plateau, Tour, Dromonts 1 et 2, Zore, Serraussaiz, Proclou, and Léchère chairlifts, and the Trashers, Ecoles 1 et 2, Chapelle, Baron and Barmettes drag lifts. This is a good option for complete beginners but after a few days you may need to upgrade to a full Avoriaz pass.

How can I get a discount on a lift pass?

There are, you’ll be pleased to hear, quite a few ways to get a discounts and special offers, although some are easier than others…

* Buy online! You’ll save between 5 and 10% if you buy on the internet rather than at the lift pass office. For example a 6-day adult pass for Morzine-Les Gets in March will cost you €252 if you buy it online, but €276 if you buy it at the lift pass office.

* Be young or old! While anyone aged 20 to 64 is charged the standard adult rate, you get a slightly cheaper pass if you’re a youth (16-19 years old) or a senior (65-74), while children aged 5-15 can get a child’s pass, over 75s (senior plus) get a serious discount, and under 5s ski for free. This applies to Morzine-Les Gets, Avoriaz and Portes du Soleil passes.

* Book early! If you’re booking a 5-12 day pass for Morzine-Les Gets, or a 5-15 day pass for the Portes du Soleil, book it before 15^th November 2023, and you’ll get a 15% discount. This discount excludes the French school holidays (23^rd December 2023 – 8^th January 2023 and 10^th February 2024 to 11^th March 2024).

* Come later in the season! Passes for trips from the beginning of April (from March 30^th 2024 for Morzine-Les Gets and the Portes du Soleil, and April 2^nd 2024 for Avoriaz) are roughly 15% cheaper than earlier in the season.

* Pick your days! For local resort passes in Morzine-Les Gets and Avoriaz, you can buy a Saturday pass that’s cheaper than a normal one-day pass, and a weekend pass cheaper than a regular two-day pass. There are also flash sales for 1-day Portes du Soleil passes with 30% off for Tuesdays and Thursdays outside of school holidays (so available Jan 3^rd 2022 to 11 February 2022, 12^th March 2022 to 21^st Match 2022, and 23^rd March 2022 until the end of the season). The passes go online from the preceding Friday and there’s a maximum of 100 lift passes available per resort.

* Ski en famille! (Or with friends) You’ll get a 10% discount when 4 or more people buy ski passes for the same duration (4 days minimum) in a single transaction. And even if there’s only 2 or 3 of you, if you buy adult Portes du Soleil passes online that are valid for a minimum of 6 days, you’ll get €15 off each if there’s two of you and €24 off each if there’s 3 of you. But this can’t be combined with the early booking discounts, and isn’t valid during the Rock The Pistes Festival week from 17th-24th March 2024.

How much do lift passes cost in Morzine?

Lift passes are available for as little as 5-hours (the clock starts ticking the first time you use it), and you can see the full list of prices for Morzine-Les Gets, Avoriaz and the Portes du Soleil via the online links.

But to make it a bit easier for you, we’ve put together our own tables for the most popular passes — all prices are online prices and are the full, peak season individual prices, without any of the discounts we’ve mentioned above. Bear in mind that if you don’t already have a reusable pass, you’ll have to pay an extra non-refundable €3. But if you already have one, you can charge it online and it should be good to go.

You’re best off buying your ski passes in the resort that you’re staying in so that if there are any problems, it’s easier to sort them out. Here are the links for Morzine, Les Gets, and Avoriaz.

*Please be advised that the prices and dates listed have been gathered from the Morzine, Les Gets, and Avoriaz websites, using the currently available information. Please note that these may be subject to change in accordance with updates on these websites.