Menthières
Off season · opens 19 December 20261,093 mVillage altitude
1,161 mTop of the ski area
2 kmAlpine pistes
4Ski lifts
€38Adult day pass
Menthières is a hamlet of the commune of Chézery-Forens, in the département of Ain, which hosts a ski resort of the Jura massif attached to the ski area of the Monts Jura resort.
Menthières webcams
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Webcams de la stationimages en direct sur la page officielle de la station
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Lélex-Crozet Sommetpanoramic
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Lélex- TélécabineWebcam-HD
Menthières broadcasts its images on its own page: the link takes you there. 5 more cameras on the webcam page. Checked on 16 October 2026.
Snow, opening and weather
Snow report →The domain is due to open on 19 December 2026 and close on 29 March 2027. Open pistes and lifts will appear here as soon as the resort publishes its daily report.
Natural snow is low on average: skiing depends on snowmaking and good years. 32 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 199 cm of fresh snow, measured over 46 winters at the Météo-France “GIRON” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 46 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,093 m · top 1,161 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?1.5 / 5
Top of the ski area: 1,161 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,093 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 32 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 5%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?1 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 2 km · Lifts: 4 · Balance between piste levels: 41%
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?3 / 5
Adult day pass: €38 · Day pass price per km of pistes: €19/km · Adult 6-day pass: €179
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?2 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 75% · Magic carpets: 1 · Sledging runs: 0 · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 0
- AccessIs it easy to get to?4 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 4 hr 06 · Nearest railway station: 18 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 1 hr 01
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?1 / 5
Bars and pubs: 0 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 1 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 0 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?1 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Spas and saunas: 0 · Jewellers, watchmakers, fashion boutiques: 0 · Adult day pass: €38 — 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).
Lift passes
All prices (child, family, season) →€179 6 days
Price declared by the resort to ANMSM (the French ski resorts’ mayors association) — not the official price list, which prevails. Season not stated by the resort. ANMSM ↗
4 pistes, by level
3 green0 blue1 red0 black
- Skiable vertical
- 68 m
- Cross-country skiing
- 1 named trail — 1.2 km of marked loops, 15 km from the resort
Ski-area figures — top, lifts: STRMTG — French national lift register (1 Jan); km of pistes, pistes by level: OpenStreetMap (1 Oct) .
The ski area in figures
Measured on 7 October 20261 kmLongest piste — unnamed on the map (green), 102 m of vertical
102 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 1,182 → 1,080 m, 1 km
1,161 mHighest lift top — Les naz (platter lift), national lift register
3,820Total lift capacity, people per hour — 4 installations: 3 drag lifts, 1 magic carpet
33 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1976, newest 2011
2,000Biggest lift, people per hour — Le montoiseau (magic carpet, 2011)
2 kmTotal length of lifts — 3 lifts mapped
120 haSki area boundary (OSM)
433Inhabitants — Chézery-Forens (INSEE 01104)
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.
Source: national register of mechanical lifts (STRMTG, CAIRN), fleet as of 1 January 2025 — lifts attributed to Menthières only (“MENTHIERES”), magic carpets included.
Staying and hiring gear in Menthières
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
- 1 campsite · 66 pitches
Commune: Chézery-Forens · 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.
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 Menthières
Swimming pool
- Centre aquatique ValséO · Valserhône · 7.2 km away
Paragliding
- Site de parapente : le bouant - crête de Charmy pré sud · Confort · 1.9 km away
- Site de parapente : Sorgia - La Charmante · Valserhône · 4.2 km away
- Didier Marinet accompagnateur en montagne et moniteur de parapente · Confort · 6.9 km away
Cinema
- Cinéma Les Variétés · Valserhône · 7.8 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
Resort contacts and documents
- Tourist office
- Office de Tourisme du Pays de Gex · 225 rue des Monts Jura, 01410 · 04.50.42.45.77 · infoclient@monts-jura.com (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
- Resort app
- Android (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
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.
Resort data: declared by Office de Tourisme du Pays de Gex and distributed by ANMSM · read on 16 October
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing →Ski touring routes described
9 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of Menthières — up to 1,109 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Crêt d'eau / Crêt de la Goutte · Depuis Menthières | n/a · F | 550 m | 1,070 → 1,621 m | n/a | 1.5 km |
| Grand Crêt d'eau / Crêt de la Goutte · Depuis le NW | n/a · PD+ | 550 m | 1,076 → 1,621 m | N | 2 km |
| la Poutouille · La poutouille | 3.2 · E1 · PD | 930 m | 500 → 1,446 m | S | 2.2 km |
| Grand Crêt d'eau / Crêt de la Goutte · Face E du Grand Crêt d'Eau | n/a · F | 1,109 m | 512 → 1,621 m | E | 3.2 km |
The other 5 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 October 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 Menthières
From Paris: 5 hr 28 (509 km) by road.
By road
- From Genève: 58 min · 58 km
- From Annecy: 1 hr 07 · 58 km
- From Lyon: 1 hr 36 · 118 km
- From Chambéry: 1 hr 37 · 121 km
- From Grenoble: 2 hr 11 · 177 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Saint-Étienne: 2 hr 25 · 177 km
- From Dijon: 2 hr 37 · 230 km
- From Valence: 2 hr 42 · 217 km
- From Besançon: 2 hr 49 · 247 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 3 hr 19 · 285 km
- From Nancy: 4 hr 40 · 434 km
- From Montpellier: 4 hr 45 · 418 km
- From Marseille: 4 hr 51 · 428 km
- From Strasbourg: 5 hr 10 · 439 km
- From Paris: 5 hr 28 · 509 km
- From Perpignan: 6 hr 07 · 566 km
- From Nice: 6 hr 28 · 586 km
- From Toulouse: 7 hr 03 · 653 km
- From Bordeaux: 7 hr 17 · 675 km
- From Pau: 8 hr 57 · 842 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Bellegarde-sur-Valserine station
main station, high-speed trains · then 18 min drive (15 km)
No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables (checked on 11 October 2026): ask the resort about a private shuttle or a taxi.
Shuttles and buses from the station: see the resort’s official website.
By plane
- Genève (GVA): 1 hr 01 by road · 50 km
- Lyon-Saint-Exupéry (LYS): 1 hr 27 by road · 112 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Menthières as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
No freely accessible charge point is declared within 2 km of the resort (checked on 9 October 2026). Covered car parks in the resort may offer chargers reserved for their customers: those are not listed here.
Freely accessible charge points read from the French national EV charging database (data.gouv.fr ↗, operators’ own declarations), checked on 9 October 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 Menthières?
Menthières sits at 1,093 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 1,161 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Menthières have?
Menthières has 2 km of slopes, 4 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Menthières?
The longest single descent: 1 km (green run), for 102 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 Menthières?
The highest lift, Les naz (platter lift), tops out at 1,161 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How many lifts does Menthières have, and what is their capacity?
The French national register of mechanical lifts records 4 installations at Menthières (3 drag lifts, 1 magic carpet), for an authorised capacity of 3,820 people per hour, of which 2,000 for Le montoiseau alone. The fleet spans 1976 to 2011, an average age of 33 years. This count covers the resort itself, magic carpets included, not the whole linked ski area — a resort brochure often announces a different number. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How much is a lift pass in Menthières?
The adult day pass costs €38 and the 6-day pass €179 (season not stated by the resort, declared by the resort to ANMSM (the French ski resorts’ mayors association)).
How do I get to Menthières?
By road, Menthières is 58 min from Genève (58 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (main station, high-speed trains), 18 min by road from the resort. No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables. The nearest airport is Genève, 1 hr 01 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Menthières?
5 hr 28 for 509 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
When does Menthières open?
According to the dates declared by the resort (ANMSM feed), the resort opens on 19 December 2026 and closes on 29 March 2027 (2026-2027 season).
Is the snow reliable in Menthières?
Natural snow is low on average: skiing depends on snowmaking and good years. 32 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 199 cm of fresh snow, measured over 46 winters at the Météo-France “GIRON” station. This verdict rests on 46 winters of Météo-France measurements (1964-2019); in season the daily report prevails.
Is Menthières good for beginners and families?
75% of the pistes are green or blue: a very accessible area.
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. Menthières in French →
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