The mountain summer in Portes du Soleil | Active enjoyment
Of course we know the region well from the winter with the vast slopes around Morzine and Avoriaz and the family friendly Châtel and Les Gets. The cross-border ski resort of Portes du Soleil is a favourite with Dutch winter sportsmen and women on both the Swiss and French sides. But what about the summer period? Well then, frankly, the region offers a lot more variety.
Walk through the mountain country
Most summer guests come to stroll in the beautiful mountain world around the villages of the Portes du Soleil. From short city walks to multi-day hut hikes. The region offers it all. In the valleys there are plenty of activities for young and old that can be combined with hiking. A visit to the cheese and dairy farm may not be missed during your adventures. A favourite stop for the children.
If you're looking for a bit more active adventures, you can go higher up the mountain. To cross the first altimeters you can always take the ski lift first. This will save you a lot of time and you'll be right where the view is most beautiful. What's more, the temperature in high summer is often much nicer if you go up a little. The newest trend and extremely popular in the French Alps is trail running. This means jogging up and down the mountain. There are plenty of trails over different lengths from 5 to 20 kilometers.
Tip: in Les Gets you can participate in yoga walking with a view of Mont Blanc.
Kick it off
Cycling is, in addition to hiking, the sport or activity that the summer visitor participate in the most. If you like cycling, you can enjoy it to your heart's content. The bike park in Châtel is one of the best in the world and is the place to be for hardcore mountain bikers and downhillers. If you prefer to take it a little slower, there are plenty of beautiful routes throughout the area, where you can regularly use the ski lifts. This saves a lot of uphill stumbling and gives you the opportunity to tour around at a panoramic height.
Moreover, the e-bike is also gaining a lot of popularity. There are plenty of mapped out routes from short to long and from sporty to routes for the whole family. The level of difficulty is indicated by the colours green, blue, red and black. The sports shops that rent out skis in winter now also offer e-bikes and mountain bikes for hire. They will be happy to help you with the routes, explanation of the material and have to contacts with local bike guides. And it's not just bikes fitted with thick tyres to explore the region of the Portes du Soleil. Racing cyclists like to ride up the various cols here and go from kilometer marker to kilometre marker to reach the top.
"We can safely say that cycling is the summer counterpart to skiing in the winter."
No lack of variation
Okay, hiking and biking, but there's more. Much more. Climbing, for example. Of course mountaineering is part of the summer activities, but it is often reserved for the experts who know what they are doing. To experience the feeling of climbing there are plenty of climbing parks such as Adventure Park Les Gets and Cascade Adventure in Morzine near the Nyon waterfall. There's also a beautiful via ferrata here, where you can climb safely with a climbing harness using all sorts of 'iron' aids.
Pure adrenaline
Les Portes du Soleil has a number of exciting options for you, if you really want to feel alive. You can glide over the region with a paraglider. Together with an instructor you will make a duo jump and enjoy the peace and quiet from the air. A unique experience. Another adrenalin rush is the newly opened climbing bridge in Morzine, where you climb across the valley at the bottom of the bridge. You will return with a special zip line. And if you like ziplines, do the Fantasticable in Châtel. Lying on your belly you whizz with 100 km/hour from one mountain to the other. You go back and forth, so two rides cost € 35,-.