FOR THE BEST CROISSANTS AND BAGUETTES
Chez Céline, Rue du Bourg
At the lower end of the Rue du Bourg, just before the local Tabac, is a boulangerie pâtisserie, Chez Céline, that starts baking every morning around 3am. If you are lucky enough to find their back door (around the back of the high street close to Carrefour) you can buy croissants straight from the oven from about 4am. If you can wait until 7am they are available from Céline herself as is a delicious fresh bread baguette that looks like it has rabbit ears on one end and tastes as good as rabbits look like they should.
FOR WARM FRESH GINGER CAKE
Au Délice Chocolaté, Rue du Bourg
Walk up the hill of the Rue du Bourg and halfway, as a reward for your efforts, you will pass Au Délice Chocolaté. The family-run business makes hand made chocolates and other such delights, all of which are incredibly hard not to gobble up. But it’s the smell of their ginger cake baking that will have you running in from the street. Buy it fresh. Eat it warm. There won’t be any left by the time you get back to your chalet.
FOR MOUNTAIN SECRETS ON CHAIRLIFTS
Downloading the Swiss Wall
Use a chairlift in a different way. Take the ski lift down the Swiss Wall from the French side into Switzerland. There are moguls the size of small cars and brave warriors trying to ski them. It’s much more civilised and relaxing from above and you can spend the day skiing in Switzerland.
FOR HIGH ALTITUDE COFFEE WITH A VIEW
The Cookie Café
The Cookie Café is one of the highest altitude restaurants in the Portes du Soleil. Located at the top of the Mossettes chairlift, at over 2000 metres above sea level, you can enjoy truly panoramic views from both inside and on the terrace. Get here for first lifts and enjoy a coffee before your ski day watching the sun come up over the mountains. If you are really lucky you might find that the Cookie staff adorn really early morning coffees with fresh fruit smoothie shots and a delicious small cake. But this is an occasional treat for early risers or ski instructors who assemble here before they start work.
FOR A HIDDEN MOUNTAIN LUNCH SPOT
Le Relais Panoramique
Just off Les Crosets bowl in Switzerland is a partially hidden restaurant with grumpy staff and a llama who likes to spit. The service is begrudging. They normally make you wait. But Le Relais Panoramique make the best Swiss rostis and on a sunny day has a breathtaking view of the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil. Ignore the service. Enjoy the food.
To get there ski towards Les Crosets from Avoriaz/Lindarets by taking the Mossettes chairlift. At the top grab a quick coffee from the Cookie Café (see above) then take the piste that passes down and around the Cookie Café. Stay on this track, ignoring the two pistes on your right that take you down into Les Crosets. Stay on this straight, narrow pass that runs along the side of the mountain and takes you towards Morgins. You’ll end up at a button lift (take it) after which you must ski for about 300 metres. Look out for a small sign on your right for Le Relais Panoramique. Ski down the small pass to the grumpy staff and delicious rostis.
FOR COFFEE FIX WITH DELICIOUS VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE TREATS
Satellite Coffee, Rue du Bourg
Satellite Coffee spend their summers scouring the globe sourcing the best coffee to make you (and me) before feeding us delicious vegan and gluten-free foods. They also run bi-monthly supper clubs, often in conjunction with a local artist or photographer who curates a selection of their own work. Located on the Rue du Bourg, take a window seat in the minimalist interior, and enjoy the WiFi-free ambience and cakes that seem too good to be true. This is a favourite among locals and is bursting at its seams on rainy days and during peak times.
FOR SUNSETS AT SUPER M
Super Morzine enjoys some of the most incredible views in the Portes du Soleil. Always sunny, the wide cruisy blue pistes and the tucked away forest-run off-piste offer something for everyone. It is our favourite place. Take the first cable car up for morning coffee or wait until the last cable car of the day and enjoy the sunsets. L’Passage is great if you want some music with your après (they also do incredible fruit tarts (try the Tarte aux Myrtilles). Alternatively stay high on the terrace of [name of resto] and enjoy the last run of the day after the chairlifts stop. Or ski down and sit on the terrace of La Grenouille du Marais where there is also a log fire inside if you start to feel a chill. If the cable car is cramping your style you can always drive up and park in the free car park. You’ll often find us there after pistes close enjoying an end of day randonnée through the trees.
FOR CULTURAL TRADITIONS—THE CHEESEMAKING TOUR
The Fromagerie, Route de la Plagne
Nicolas Baud has been running the Morzine fromagerie for over 20 years and his parents for twenty years before him. The shop itself is filled with incredible local produce, from dried meats, jams, preserves and digestifs, to locally made cheeses and wines. But we love it for the weekly cheese making tour that takes place in the working fromagerie underneath the shop. Completely free and starting at 9am (normally on Wednesdays and Thursdays) you can watch the entire traditional cheese making process, from milk churning, to placing the finished cheeses in the underground vaults ready for ageing. You can also see a variety of different cheeses all tucked away, ageing, until ripe for consumption. Can’t wait to enjoy the cheese? Either buy some from the shop above or book a table at their restaurant next door and enjoy a fondue to remember. The tour can sometimes be in French only, so check ahead to make sure an English speaker will be available (if needed).
THE SECRET PASSAGE FROM MORZINE TO LES GETS
Le Chardon Bleu Piste
Ski to Les Gets in super-fast time. This is especially important on powder days and in peak weeks when we take the 9am cable car up the Pleney and use the secret passage to get straight to Les Gets. To get there all you need to do is slide right out of the Pleney cable car, as if you are heading towards the Narbor and Belvedere chairlift, but keep left, with the small ESF hut on your left. You will see the Narbor ski lift down on your right but you want to ski straight, towards to the small chalet restaurant directly in front of you. Just to the right of it is a path that will take you all the way to the bottom of the Chavannette chairlift in Les Gets. At the end of this passage (Le Chardon Bleu) that winds through the forest you will need to cross over another piste. So when the path ends, and you arrive at the side of a piste, with Les Folliets chairlift down to your right, just keep skiing straight, straight across this piste, straight through the tunnel on the other side. Before you know it you will have arrived in Les Gets while your friends are still queuing for the first lift in Morzine.
