Châtel
Off season1,407 mVillage altitude
2,277 mTop of the ski area
120 kmAlpine pistes · 600 km across Portes du Soleil
56Ski lifts
Not published by any source: adult day pass.
Les Portes du Soleil is a Franco-Swiss ski area comprising 12 ski resorts on the slopes of the massif du Chablais. According to the area's website, it is considered one of the largest ski areas in the world with more than 650 km of claimed alpine ski and cross-country ski slopes, but without being fully connected to each other, and has 195 ski lifts. The ski area is spread over the val d'Abondance, the vallée d'Aulps, the val d'Illiez and the val de Morgins.
Live webcams
All webcams (15) →RochassonsWebcam-HD
RochassonsWebcam-HD
Echo AlpinWebcam-HD
Each player is the camera operator’s own, loaded only when you ask for it — it may set its own trackers.
Official players of the resort, live image. 11 more cameras on the webcam page. Checked on 24 September 2026.
Webcams provided by windy.com — add a webcam.
Snow, opening and weather
Snow report →Open pistes and lifts will appear here during the season, as published by the resort. Out of season we show nothing rather than a misleading zero.
Avalanche danger
Good snow from December to March: a long, reliable season. Snow cover month by month →
3-day forecast
Village 1,407 m · top 2,277 m
Forecast corrected for altitude; fresh snow = forecast total at the top; UV = peak of the day. Beyond 3 days, check the resort’s own report. Source:Open-Meteo.
Seven criteria rated from 1 to 5 stars, in half-stars, from this page's sourced data. A rating is a rank among the 315 French resorts we cover — 5 stars means “among the best in France on this point”, not “perfect”. Nobody types these in.
- SnowCan you count on the snow?3 / 5
Top of the ski area: 2,277 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,348 m · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 95%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?5 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 120 km · Km skiable from the resort, linked area included: 600 km · Lifts: 56
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?n/a
Not rated: no official price list could be found.
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?2 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 66% · Magic carpets: 0 · Sledging runs: 0 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 1
- AccessIs it easy to get to?2.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 5 hr 16 · Nearest railway station: 1 hr 00 · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 1 · Nearest airport: 2 hr 02
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?4 / 5
Bars and pubs: 5 · Nightclubs: 1 · Restaurants: 24 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 2,232 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?1.5 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 7% · Spas and saunas: 0 · Jewellers, watchmakers, fashion boutiques: 0 — index: what the map and the listings publish
“Atmosphere” and “Luxury” are indexes: they count what OpenStreetMap and the event listings publish within 2.5 km (bars, nightclubs, rated hotels, spas, upcoming events), not what you experience there. A zero means “nothing mapped”, not “nothing there”. Sources per criterion: snow (altitudes declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), STRMTG register, OpenStreetMap; snow depth observed at the Météo-France station, ERA5-Land model) ; ski area (figures declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), national lift register (STRMTG), OpenStreetMap) ; value (the resort’s official price list) ; families and beginners (OpenStreetMap pistes, price list, ESF ski school, Famille Plus label, OpenStreetMap leisure) ; access (OSRM drive times from 20 cities, SNCF stations, GTFS shuttles, airports) ; atmosphere and après-ski (bars, nightclubs and restaurants within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap), upcoming events (OpenAgenda), collective tourist beds (INSEE)) ; luxury and comfort (rated hotels within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap) and by category across the commune (INSEE), spas and boutiques (OpenStreetMap), day pass price).
- Skiable vertical
- 929 m
- Cross-country skiing
- 1 km of nordic trails
Ski-area figures — bottom, top: OpenStreetMap (24 Sept); km of pistes, km of the linked area, lifts: Resort’s official website (read by SkiRadar) (23 Sept) .
The ski area in figures
Measured on 24 September 20267 kmLongest piste — Tovassière (blue), 630 m of vertical
630 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 1,947 → 1,318 m, 7 km
2,247 mHighest lift top — Mossettes (chairlift)
65 kmTotal length of lifts — 76 lifts mapped
13,450 haSki area boundary (OSM)
1,174Inhabitants — Châtel (INSEE 74063)
Measured on OpenStreetMap (altitudes: IGN RGE ALTI), not taken from the brochure. The vertical above is that of one piste, not of the whole ski area. Population: INSEE municipal population via geo.api.gouv.fr.
Staying and hiring gear in Châtel
The partners covering this resort, shown side by side, and the shop to kit out before you leave. Some links earn us a commission — never at the expense of the price or of the data.
Collective accommodation
2,232 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels
- 22 hotels · 416 rooms (1 × 4★, 10 × 3★, 7 × 2★)
- 1 holiday village or family centre · 69 bed spaces
- 5 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 2,077 bed spaces
- 2 youth hostels and sports centres · 86 bed spaces
- 1 campsite · 90 pitches
Commune: Châtel · INSEE tourist accommodation survey, 2026, read on 12 September 2026. Collective accommodation only — privately let flats and second homes are not counted. INSEE dataset ↗
Stay & accommodation
Holidu
Holiday-rental comparison site.
Ski Planet
Self-catering flats and all-inclusive ski holidays at the foot of the slopes, since 1999.
Montagne Vacances
Flats and chalets in the resort, at direct prices.
Ski hire
Skiset UK
Skiset’s UK site: ski hire in the resort shops, booked in English, paid in pounds.
Gear & equipment
Absolute Snow
UK ski and snowboard shop — delivers to UK addresses only.
Hardloop
Mountain gear shop: ski touring, avalanche safety, winter clothing.
Beyond skiing at Châtel
Without skis on — 3 km of snowshoe and walking trails
Toboggan runs
- Bobluge de Pré la Joux · Châtel · 6.6 km away
Ice rink
- Patinoire · Châtel · 1.5 km away
Swimming pool
- Le centre aquatique Forme d'O · Châtel · 2 km away
Museum
- Musée du ski ancien · La Chapelle-d'Abondance · 2.1 km away
Cinema
- Cinéma Le Chamois · Châtel · 1.7 km away
Source: DATAtourisme (open data), within 10 km of the resort; places in a large town of the valley are left out. Checked on 12 September 2026. Opening times and prices are the operator’s — check before you go.
Ski schools and practical information
Ski school
ESF Chatel
121 instructors
🇬🇧 71 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available
🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗
Source: esf.net
Tourist office
Châtel tourisme
📍 101 Route de Thonon, 74390 Châtel
In case of accident
112 — the European emergency number, free of charge, triggers mountain rescue. On the pistes, the ski patrol number is printed on the piste map and at lift ticket offices. Piste rescue is charged: check your insurance or take the option sold with the lift pass.
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing → 2 Marked off-piste itineraries · 2 km
— Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Barbossine · Itinénaire Tronchey
Itineraries surveyed on OpenStreetMap within a 4 km radius (7 September 2026): “marked” means an itinerary exists on the map, not that it is open or safe on the day.
Ski touring routes described
12 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of Châtel — up to 1,270 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Morclan · descente sur Barbossine | 2.3 · E1 · PD | 1,070 m | 1,200 → 1,970 m | NW | 1.6 km |
| Le Morclan · Versant Châtel | n/a · PD- | 850 m | 1,191 → 1,970 m | W | 1.6 km |
| Le Morclan · Face SW | 3.1 · E1 · AD- | 779 m | 1,191 → 1,970 m | SW | 1.6 km |
| Le Morclan · Couloir NW | 3.3 · E2 · AD+ | 724 m | 1,246 → 1,970 m | NW | 1.6 km |
The other 8 routes, with grades and vertical →
Not a piste. Neither marked, nor patrolled, nor secured: transceiver, shovel, probe, the day’s avalanche bulletin and, better still, a guide. Ski grade (1.1–5.6) = steepness and commitment; exposure (E1–E4) = consequence of a fall.
Source: Camptocamp.org topo guide (CC BY-SA), routes starting within 10 km, read on 13 September 2026. Descriptions and photos are on Camptocamp; an empty cell is a field nobody has filled in. Camptocamp ski touring routes ↗
Piste map
Open on OpenSnowMap ↗Official piste map
Pistes coloured by level, lifts as lines. The resort’s official map is the reference in season.
Base map © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · pistes © OpenSnowMap (CC-BY-SA) · data ©OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Getting to Châtel
From Paris: 7 hr 13 (588 km) by road.
By road
- From Genève: 1 hr 37 · 74 km
- From Annecy: 2 hr 06 · 123 km
- From Chambéry: 2 hr 33 · 164 km
- From Besançon: 3 hr 06 · 194 km
- From Grenoble: 3 hr 07 · 220 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Lyon: 3 hr 22 · 226 km
- From Dijon: 3 hr 59 · 270 km
- From Valence: 4 hr 05 · 322 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 4 hr 06 · 300 km
- From Strasbourg: 4 hr 32 · 368 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 5 hr 04 · 397 km
- From Nancy: 5 hr 42 · 441 km
- From Montpellier: 6 hr 12 · 527 km
- From Marseille: 6 hr 18 · 536 km
- From Nice: 6 hr 53 · 524 km
- From Paris: 7 hr 13 · 588 km
- From Perpignan: 7 hr 34 · 674 km
- From Toulouse: 8 hr 30 · 761 km
- From Bordeaux: 9 hr 03 · 783 km
- From Pau: 10 hr 25 · 951 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Thonon-les-Bains station
regional station · then 1 hr 00 drive (41 km)
Nearest main station: Annecy, 2 hr 04 by road.
- From Thonon-les-Bains station (stop “LES ARTS”): line 12 — Thonon Les Arts ↔ Châtel Linga (EVIAN - ÉVA'D), 1 hr 14 to the “LA CALE” stop — 1 departure a day on weekdays · first 12:40, last 17:40 · timetable from 15 December 2026 to 15 April 2027 · official timetable ↗
Direct journeys read from the official timetable files published on transport.data.gouv.fr — no connections.
By plane
- Genève (GVA): 2 hr 02 by road · 83 km
- Chambéry-Savoie (CMF): 2 hr 37 by road · 163 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Châtel as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
3 charging stations within 2 km
7 charging points · up to 60 kW
- CHÂTEL - Route de Meurba · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.5 km
- CHÂTEL - Route de Meurba · EASYCHARGE · 3 points · 60 kW · 1.5 km
- CHÂTEL - Route de Meurba · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.5 km
Freely accessible charge points read from the French national EV charging database (data.gouv.fr ↗, operators’ own declarations), checked on 9 September 2026. Check availability before you leave: the database says what is installed, not what is free tonight.
Road conditions
From 1 November to 31 March, snow chains or winter tyres are compulsory in most mountain areas (French “Loi Montagne II”).
Driving times computed on the OpenStreetMap road network (OSRM), SNCF stations (open data), airports (Wikidata). Indicative, not a timetable: allow extra time in snow.
Translated from the French Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA), machine translation.
Frequently asked questions
How high is Châtel?
Châtel sits at 1,407 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,277 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Châtel have?
Châtel has 120 km of slopes (600 km across Portes du Soleil), 56 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Châtel?
The longest piste is Tovassière: 7 km (blue run), for 630 m of vertical. Measured on the OpenStreetMap map, segments of the same name and level joined end to end, altitudes from the IGN RGE ALTI terrain model — a resort sometimes advertises a longer run by chaining several pistes.
How high do the lifts go in Châtel?
The highest lift, Mossettes, tops out at 2,247 m (IGN RGE ALTI terrain model). The 76 lifts mapped on OpenStreetMap total 65 km.
How do I get to Châtel?
By road, Châtel is 1 hr 37 from Genève (74 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Thonon-les-Bains, 1 hr 00 by road from the resort. From Thonon-les-Bains station, line 12 — Thonon Les Arts ↔ Châtel Linga (EVIAN - ÉVA'D) reaches the “LA CALE” stop in 1 hr 14, 1 departure a day on weekdays. The nearest airport is Genève, 2 hr 02 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Châtel?
7 hr 13 for 588 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
Is the snow reliable in Châtel?
Good snow from December to March: a long, reliable season. This verdict rests on 9 winters of Météo-France measurements (2016-2025); in season the daily report prevails.
Nearby resorts
Full page in French. The French page carries the editorial guides and a few extra readings; every figure, webcam and price on this page is the same one. Châtel in French →
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