Skiing in Avoriaz, the resort with no cars and Switzerland next door

In Avoriaz the morning traffic is a horse-drawn sleigh. The streets are packed snow, the apartment blocks wear cedar shingles left to weather grey and brown, and skiers clip in outside the building they slept in. Above the rooftops the lifts climb to Chavanette, where the border with Switzerland runs past the top of the Swiss Wall.

Because in Avoriaz the snow is the street, so your skis do the commuting. Cars are forbidden, horse-drawn sleighs and snowcats take their place, and you step into your skis right outside your accommodation, at 1,800 m in the Chablais mountains above the Aulps Valley.

Jean Vuarnet, a Morzine skier who won world and Olympic downhill gold at Squaw Valley in 1960, planned a resort without cars on the plateau above his home town. When his money ran short, Gérard Brémond brought property know-how and funding, and the first building, the Hôtel des Dromonts, opened at Christmas 1966.

The architect Jacques Labro, with Jean-Jacques Orzoni and Jean-Marc Roques, set each block into the relief and threaded skiable paths between them. The organic architecture of Avoriaz still shows it. The red cedar shingles are left untreated, so south walls fade to mink grey, north walls to ash grey and the rest to chestnut brown. Roofs slope to the ground and hold the winter snow. Around 100 horses work the resort.

Sleep in the village itself and the ski-in ski-out promise holds, since the accommodation sits on the snow. theKlub has two curated stays in Avoriaz. The Hôtel des Dromonts is the building the resort grew from, and suits couples or friends who want a hotel with that story in its walls. Résidence Pierre & Vacances Premium L'Amara is an apartment building that earned the Clef Verte eco-label in 2016, and suits families or groups who would rather share an apartment than book rooms. Both sit on our page for ski in Avoriaz, where you can compare them side by side for your dates.

You drive or take a shuttle to the edge of the resort, leave the car, and finish on foot, by sleigh or by lift. By road Avoriaz is about 1 hour 25 minutes from Geneva, via Cluses on the D907 and D902 or via Thonon-les-Bains on the D902. At the entrance a welcome booth sends you to unloading bays, then to covered or outdoor parking: reserve the covered car park early, because the outdoor one cannot be booked. On busy days full car parks send day visitors from Prodains on to Ardent, and access can close for a while.

Without a car, take the Léman Express to Cluses or Thonon-les-Bains. Altibus and SAT Léman shuttles run from Geneva airport and those stations to the foot of the Prodains Express cable car, or straight up to the resort reception at 1,800 m. The cable car from the hamlet of Les Prodains skips the hairpin road up from Morzine. Pack compact bags and boots with grip: wheeled suitcases and slippery soles struggle on snowy streets.

Beginners start on the Plateau and Proclou, and families build their week around the Village des Enfants and the gentle forest runs of Lil'Stash. Green and blue runs start at the resort itself, so first turns begin a few steps from the door.

First turns happen on the Plateau, on the edge of the village, which you reach on foot from the centre or by the Dromonts drag lift, a lift that tows you uphill on your skis. The Écoles drag lift serves a fairly wide slope with a gentle gradient, the natural second step, and École du Ski Français (ESF) instructors teach beginners on these slopes. Once you can link your turns, Proclou and Super Morzine offer wide, sunny green and blue runs, and the blues lead on towards Lindarets. The mountain suits progression: of Avoriaz's 59 runs, 8 are green and 33 blue, with 12 red and 6 black waiting for later in the week.

Children get their own corner. The Village des Enfants is a shallow nursery slope where instructors watch over the smallest skiers. Lil'Stash, in the Proclou forest, is a forgiving patch of small bumps with tree huts and a self-service barbecue, reached by a green or a blue run straight from the resort. La Chapelle Snowpark is a beginner-level park for a first go at jumps. Book ski school well ahead for February, when French school holidays fill the slopes and the classes. On a rest day, the indoor water park has a flowing river, slides, a bubble pool and a heated outdoor jacuzzi. Sleigh rides and snowshoe walks through the forest give tired legs a gentler day.

Skiing from Avoriaz into Switzerland takes a Portes du Soleil pass and a short chain of lifts to Chavanette, on the border between the two countries. The Portes du Soleil links 12 resorts in France and Switzerland, with nearly 600 km of slopes and 209 lifts, and Avoriaz sits at its centre, with Châtel, Morzine and the Swiss side a few lifts away. From the resort, the blue Aller de Chavanette leads to the TSD Choucas chairlift or the TK Chavanette drag lift. The Swiss Wall, a steep bump run that drops 333 m to Les Crosets, starts at the top of the TK Chavanette. Skiers who want no part of it take the Chavanette chairlift down into Switzerland instead. Over the border, a single Swiss pass covers Champéry, Les Crosets, Champoussin and Morgins, with 33 lifts and 100 km of runs below the Dents du Midi. Champéry has its own direct link back to Avoriaz.

Ride the chair unless you are a strong skier at home in big moguls. The Swiss Wall starts beside the O'Padcha restaurant behind a small red net, with Avoriaz on one side and the Dents du Midi on the other. The first 100 m are the steepest, with bumps up to your waist and no room for improvised turns. After that the slope eases a little, but the mogul field runs on and the legs burn all the way to Les Crosets. Go on a clear day, with friends who ski at your level, and treat the chairlift as a fine way down: the Wall looks even bigger from below.

Strong skiers head for Chavanette and Fornet, and freestylers for the Arare Snowpark and The Stash. Jean Vuarnet's first plans covered the north side of the Hauts Forts and the Fornet bowl, and Avoriaz now has 12 red and 6 black runs. Its 4 snowcross areas are secured but not groomed, and the ski area keeps secured freeride zones too. For park riders, the 4 snowparks (Arare, La Chapelle, The Stash and Lil'Stash) sit alongside a boardercross. Before any off-piste day, practise in the DVA Park, a training area for avalanche searches with a transceiver, which the French call a DVA.

January to March is the most reliable stretch, and January is the sweet spot: settled snow, strong conditions and quieter pistes once the holiday crowds have gone. The 2026/27 season runs from 11 December 2026 to 18 April 2027. December can bring excellent snow but can also disappoint, and Christmas and New Year are festive but busy. February is the busiest month. March brings longer sunshine, with snow hard in the morning and slushy by the afternoon, and late April can reward you with fresh snow and quiet pistes, as the higher runs can stay open after lower, sunnier slopes close. Strong wind can stop the lifts at any point in the season.

The table shows each month's average daily high and low and the days with rain or snow, measured at one fixed point for Avoriaz rather than on the slopes. It describes the weather, not the depth of snow on the pistes.

Avoriaz suits the skier who wants the mountain at the door and a second country a few lifts away. Come in January if you can, buy the Portes du Soleil pass if Switzerland is on your list, and keep a rest day for the sleighs and the water park. Still weighing up the French Alps? Our guide to ski areas in France by level and snow compares the options, and ski holidays with theKlub gathers our places for the season. Once your dates are fixed, compare the two stays on our ski in Avoriaz page and book, then reserve your covered parking or shuttle seat.