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Les Gets and Morzine sit at either end of the same ski area, fifteen minutes apart by road, on the same local lift pass. That makes this an unusual comparison: the skiing is not what separates them. Both villages ride the same 120 km of linked pistes inside the Portes du Soleil, and you can ski from one to the other and back in a morning. What differs is the village you come home to, and one practical thing that catches people out - how far each one sits from the rest of the circuit. Les Gets is a small Savoyard village on a col with a mountain on either side of it. Morzine is a working town a few hundred metres lower, with more going on and a shorter hop to Avoriaz. This guide compares them side by side so you can pick the base that fits how you want to ski.
Choose Les Gets for: a compact village with a chairlift at either end of it, the widest beginner terrain in the sector, Mont Chéry almost to yourself on a busy week, and short days that suit families with young children.
Choose Morzine for: a town with shops, a pool and a life of its own, the steepest local terrain off Nyon and Chamossière, the liveliest evenings in the valley, and the shortest route into Avoriaz and the wider circuit - which works well for groups with mixed plans.
| Feature | Les Gets | Morzine |
|---|---|---|
| Country | France | France |
| Shared ski area | Portes du Soleil - 600 km of pistes | Portes du Soleil - 600 km of pistes |
| Local sector | Morzine - Les Gets, around 120 km | Morzine - Les Gets, around 120 km |
| Village altitude | 1,172 m | 1,000 m |
| Home mountains | Chavannes bowl and Mont Chéry (1,827 m) | Pléney, Nyon and Chamossière |
| Highest lift in the sector | Around 2,000 m (Chamossière, shared) | Around 2,000 m (Chamossière, shared) |
| Season | Roughly mid-December to mid-April | Roughly mid-December to mid-April |
| Best for | Families, beginners, a quiet village | Town life, evenings, the wider circuit |
| Village character | Savoyard village on a mountain pass | Savoyard market town |
| Nearest airport | Geneva (~1 hr 15 min) | Geneva (~1 hr 30 min) |
Both villages ski the same sector on the same local pass, and the link runs both ways all day. From Les Gets, the Chavannes side climbs over Le Ranfoilly and drops into the Nyon and Chamossière bowls above Morzine; a long blue brings you back. What changes is where you stand in it. Les Gets sits on a col with the Chavannes bowl on one side and Mont Chéry on the other, and the bowl holds most of the gentle terrain in the sector - wide, sunny, ringed by mountain restaurants, and the reason the village fills with ski schools. Morzine sits lower with Pléney above the town and Nyon and Chamossière behind it, where the reds steepen and the tree runs start. Everything in the sector is within reach of either village in a morning.
Who it suits: for wide, gentle runs a chairlift from the door, Les Gets; for pitch and trees on the doorstep, Morzine.
Neither is a high resort, and this is the pairing's real weak spot rather than a way to separate them. Les Gets sits at 1,172 m and Morzine at 1,000 m, but that 172 m matters less than which way the slopes face. The Chavannes bowl and Ranfoilly face broadly north-east and hold cover well; the front of Mont Chéry faces south and is usually the first thing to soften. Its far side, dropping north towards the Col de l'Encrenaz, is the opposite - shaded, and the last place in the sector to lose good snow. Morzine's Pléney and Nyon slopes face largely north too, though the ski-back into town at 1,000 m is the first casualty at either end of the season. Both villages have snowmaking on the runs home, and Chamossière at around 2,000 m is the highest ground either can reach.
Who it suits: through January and February there is little between them; in a lean winter or a late-season week, Les Gets keeps village-level snow marginally longer, but the wider pass and the altitude at Avoriaz is the more useful insurance for either.
Les Gets is a village rather than a resort - wooden chalets, a working church, a mechanical music museum, and a main street you can walk end to end in ten minutes with a lift at either end of it. Most of what you can book there is chalet accommodation, and very little of it is far from snow. Morzine is a town that existed long before ski tourism and still behaves like one: a weekly market, a river through the middle, independent shops, a cinema, a sports centre and a long-standing British presence. Accommodation spreads along the valley in chalets, apartments and hotels, and most of it involves a short walk, the petit train or a free bus to reach a lift. Worth knowing before you book: Morzine's two sides, Pléney - Nyon and Super Morzine, are not linked to each other by piste, so where you stay in town shapes your mornings.
Who it suits: for a village you can cross on foot, Les Gets; for somewhere with a life beyond the lifts, Morzine.
Morzine runs one of the liveliest evening scenes in the French Alps. The bars cluster along the street between the Pléney lift and the tourist office, live music is a fixture rather than an occasional thing, and the restaurants run from Savoyard standards to more ambitious cooking. Les Gets does its eating and drinking earlier and higher up. The village has a handful of bars at the foot of Chavannes and a good run of Savoyard restaurants, but its strength is on the mountain - the sector has an unusual density of small chalet restaurants, and the ones on Mont Chéry are among the best regarded in the area. Evenings wind down sooner, which is part of why some groups book it.
Who it suits: if the evening is part of the holiday, Morzine; if lunch matters more than midnight, Les Gets.
Les Gets is one of the better-known family bases in the French Alps, and the layout is most of the reason. The free Espace Mappys zone for beginners sits at the top of the Chavannes gondola with magic carpets and rope tows, there is a snow garden for the youngest, and themed forest runs and toboggan pistes fill the afternoons. The village being compact matters more than it sounds: short walks in ski boots, and lessons that finish a few minutes from where you are staying. Morzine's learning terrain is good but less convenient, since the main beginner plateau is at the top of the Pléney gondola - a lift ride at each end of the day. What Morzine adds is the town itself, with a pool, an ice rink and a cinema for anyone not skiing.
Who it suits: for a first week with young children, Les Gets; for a family split between skiers and non-skiers, Morzine.
Neither village is a big-mountain base, and strong skiers in both tend to end up on the wider pass. Within the sector, Morzine holds the steepest lift-served terrain: the Nyon and Chamossière bowls have sustained reds, blacks and freeride ground between the two peaks, and the views from the top of Chamossière are the best in the area. Les Gets answers with Mont Chéry, which is the interesting case. It connects to nothing else, so comparatively few people bother with it - which means the Mouflon and Gazelle blacks and the north-facing off-piste on its far side stay untracked for days after a storm. The Yeti in the Chavannes bowl bumps up well too. On parks, Morzine's Nyon setup is the larger of the two and the Chavannes park at Les Gets sits at the gentler end; for anything more, Avoriaz is the answer, and the reason to buy the full pass.
Who it suits: for steep terrain straight off the lift, Morzine; for quiet blacks and snow that lasts, Mont Chéry from Les Gets.
This is the part worth settling before you book. The local Morzine - Les Gets pass covers everything both villages ski - Chavannes, Mont Chéry, Le Ranfoilly, Pléney, Nyon and Chamossière, around 120 km. It does not cover the Super Morzine gondola or the Prodains cable car, both of which belong to the Avoriaz ski area, and it does not cover Switzerland. To ski Avoriaz, Châtel or the Swiss side you need the full Portes du Soleil pass, from either village.
Where the two differ is how far that wider circuit is once you hold the pass. From Morzine it is one lift: Super Morzine from the centre of town, or a free bus to Les Prodains and the cable car up in a few minutes. From Les Gets it is the whole sector first - across Chavannes, over Le Ranfoilly, down into Morzine, then one of those two routes - which in practice means an hour or more each way on skis, or two buses and a gondola if you would rather not spend the morning travelling.
Who it suits: if the 120 km local area is enough, either village works and the local pass is the simpler buy; if the wider circuit is why you are coming, Morzine puts you a lift away from it rather than a morning.
WeSki insider tip: the free bus between the two villages runs every ten minutes or so and takes about a quarter of an hour, which makes the other village an easy evening out whichever you book. Staying in Les Gets does not mean missing Morzine's bars, and staying in Morzine does not mean missing lunch on Mont Chéry - take an early bus over and ski its far side before the Chavannes crowd arrives.
Both are among the quickest resorts in the Alps to reach from Geneva, and the difference between them is not worth weighing - around an hour and a quarter to Les Gets, around an hour and a half to Morzine, most of it motorway. Les Gets approaches from Taninges and Morzine up the Vallée d'Aulps, so if you can reach one you can reach the other. Once there, the two behave differently. Les Gets is small enough to walk, with a petit train looping between the Chavannes and Mont Chéry lifts. Morzine is spread along a valley, and free buses and its own petit train circle the town and reach the outlying lifts - you will use them more than you expect, given the two sides are not linked to each other. A car is needed in neither, though it makes crossing between the villages for an evening simpler than waiting for the last bus.
Who it suits: the transfer will not decide this; the walking will - Les Gets is the shorter door-to-lift, Morzine the more spread out.
Same sector, same pass, a bus between them - so the skiing itself rarely settles this. Three questions usually do.
Which pass are you buying? If the plan is the local 120 km, Les Gets is at least as good a base and arguably the better one, with Mont Chéry thrown in. If you intend to ski Avoriaz and the Swiss side most days, Morzine saves you the best part of two hours of travelling every time you do it.
Is anyone not skiing? Morzine is a town, with a pool, a cinema, shops and somewhere to spend a wet afternoon. Les Gets is a village, and a lovely one, but a week there with someone who is not on the snow runs short of things to do by about Wednesday.
How young is the group? Les Gets is built around short days - beginner terrain at the top of one gondola, lifts at either end of a ten-minute street, and very little walking in ski boots. Morzine's learning terrain is good but starts with a gondola ride, which makes for a longer morning with a five-year-old.
Whichever way those three land, the other village is fifteen minutes down the road.
Yes, in both directions and on the local pass. From Les Gets you ride the Chavannes side up and over Le Ranfoilly, then drop into the Nyon and Chamossière bowls above Morzine and ski down into the town. Coming back is the same route in reverse, finishing on a long blue into the centre of Les Gets. A comfortable intermediate will do it in under an hour each way with the lifts. If you run out of afternoon, the free bus between the two villages runs every ten minutes and takes about fifteen.
Not to ski between them. The local Morzine - Les Gets pass covers around 120 km across both villages - Chavannes, Mont Chéry, Le Ranfoilly, Pléney, Nyon and Chamossière - and that is enough for most beginner and intermediate weeks. You need the full Portes du Soleil pass for Avoriaz, Châtel and the Swiss resorts, and also for the Super Morzine gondola and the Prodains cable car, which belong to the Avoriaz ski area rather than the local one. It is worth deciding before you book, because it changes which village makes sense.
Les Gets, on logistics more than terrain. Both share the same slopes, but Les Gets puts the free Espace Mappys zone and a snow garden at the top of one gondola from a village you can walk across, so lessons mean a short walk rather than a journey. Morzine's main beginner plateau sits at the top of the Pléney gondola, which adds a lift ride at each end of the day and often a bus before that. Both have strong ski schools; Les Gets simply removes a couple of steps.
Les Gets has a slight edge, though less than the altitude suggests. It sits 172 m higher at 1,172 m, and village-level snow lasts a little longer there, but aspect does more work than height in this sector. The Chavannes bowl and Morzine's Pléney and Nyon slopes all face broadly north and hold up well; the sunny front of Mont Chéry goes first, and its shaded far side goes last. Both rely on snowmaking on the runs home, and neither reaches above about 2,000 m. For an early or late trip, the full pass and a day up at Avoriaz is the better safeguard.
It depends which part of the week you want to be easy. Les Gets wins on day-to-day logistics: a compact village, short walks in ski boots, a free beginner zone, a snow garden, themed forest runs and toboggan pistes. Morzine wins on everything around the skiing, with a pool, an ice rink, a cinema and a town where an afternoon passes easily without skis. Families skiing every day with young children tend to lean Les Gets; families with teenagers, or with someone who would rather not ski, tend to lean Morzine.
Morzine, by a long way, and it is the most useful practical difference between the two. From Morzine, Avoriaz is a single lift - the Super Morzine gondola from the centre of town, or a free bus to Les Prodains and the cable car up in about four minutes. From Les Gets you first have to cross the whole Morzine - Les Gets sector, which realistically means an hour or more on skis each way, or two buses and a gondola. If Avoriaz and the wider circuit are a big part of the plan, base in Morzine.
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