I recently had the pleasure of mountain biking at the bike park in Les Gets, France. However I found the information online wasn’t the most clear, so this is a quick summary to hopefully add some additional clarity.
Les Gets vs. Morzine vs. Portes du Soleil
- Portes du Soleil is a large mountainous area in the alps, it contains 13 ski resort towns
- Les Gets and Morzine are two of those towns
- There is a network of trails which allows you to traverse all 13… technically, though I believe you’d need to do some human powered climbing to get to some of the others (hence why you’ll find the bike rental places rent eBikes)
- However the Les Gets and Morzine bike parks are very directly connected to each other
High Quality Map
- I can’t even remember where I found this, but this is a nice high resolution version of the Les Gets – Morzine map in PDF form
- Download it, and store it on your phone
Difficulty Level
- Generally they’re all fast and flowy trails, I didn’t encounter anything particularly technical
- There’s 1 main green level – which is low risk for beginners, but also fun for advanced riders as you can take it fast
- The blue’s are also very low risk, there’s nothing high risk that you’re forced to do
- The reds (or what in North America would be blacks) are steeper versions of the blues
- All in all something for everyone
Parking
- The bike park starts in the town of Les Gets, it however is not a corporately owned self contained ecosystem (e.g. like a Northstar or Whistler)
- Les Gets is a very very small town. There are two parallel roads that run through the town, and you can walk the main stretch in about 30mins. There’s parking anywhere on the road side wherever you see a gap, but can fill up fast. There is however paid parking right underneath the main chairlift.
From near the bottom of a popular run – this is the town of Les Gets:
Bike Rentals
- All the bike rental places are a short walking distance to the main lift.
- I used Delavay Sports — they were easy to work with, have a great selection of modern bikes (Pivot and Commencal), and they’re literally right in front of the parking/passes/main lift.
- Other options:
Pass Portes du Soleil
- There’s a 3 day event in June called Pass’Portes (link) du Soleil which along with a pass, gives you access to food, support (bike repair), and an 80km enduro trail
- You can use the regular Les Gets/Morzine pass and ride like normal without participating in Pass’Portes
- However this event draws a lot of people and the lines will be huge — try to avoid overlapping with this event. On my last day after this event ended, the lines were minimal
Passes
- Under the main chairlift (which is also the entrance to the car park) is a machine where you can buy the chairlift pass (there’s a ticket booth beside it as well if you need to talk to someone)
- The option you want is the “Portes du Soleil MTB” which gives you access to all the chair lifts in the Portes du Soleil network.
Food / Water
- There is no access to free water / water fountain
- There is a ton of food places near the main chairlift, so if you wanted to stop for a break to grab a drink and/or food, there is plenty to choose from
- I would recommend bringing a hydration pack or carrying water
Weather
- It can rain and when it does it is a lot! Coming from California we tend to forget rain can happen – I did bring a light rain jacket, but it isn’t hardcore enough for the day that it rained
- The first day I was available to ride I took a pass, but surprisingly people were out there and going all in, however they were prepared
- Meaning have a set of fully waterproof riding gear otherwise you will be soaked
Enjoy!
Hope those tips help!
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