SkiRadar FR

Les Houches

Northern Alps Altitude 1,004 – 1,401 m Linked area Houches / Saint Gervais Checked on 18 September 2026
1,004 mVillage altitude
1,401 mTop of the ski area
29 kmAlpine pistes
16Ski lifts
—Adult day pass

Les Houches is a ski resort in the Northern Alps (Haute-Savoie). The village sits at 1,004 m and the ski area rises to 1,401 m.

Famille PlusFlocon VertOfficially classified tourist resort (France) Full page in French →
Les Houches — view of the resort
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The area offers 29 km of alpine pistes, 36 marked pistes (5 green, 11 blue, 15 red, 5 black), 16 ski lifts, plus a snowpark.

Les Houches belongs to the linked Houches / Saint Gervais area: one lift pass covers the neighbouring resorts.

Measured on the OpenStreetMap map: the longest piste runs 2 km (Les Aillouds Supérieur Col de Voza) and the highest lift tops out at 1,884 m.

The resort holds the Famille Plus and Flocon Vert and Station classée de tourisme labels.

Access: 56 min by road from Genève and 2 min from Les Houches railway station.

3 official webcams show the pistes live (on the French page).

SkiRadar ratings

How ratings are computed →Computed on 18 September 2026

Seven criteria rated from 1 to 5 stars, in half-stars, from this page's sourced data. A rating is a rank among the 322 French resorts we cover — 5 stars means “among the best in France on this point”, not “perfect”. Nobody types these in.

  1. SnowCan you count on the snow?
    2 / 5

    Top of the ski area: 1,401 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,401 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 48 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 23%

  2. Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?
    3 / 5

    Km of pistes at the resort: 29 km · Km of pistes across the linked area: 29 km · Lifts: 16 · Balance between piste levels: 92%

  3. ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?
    n/a

    Not rated: “adult day pass” is missing from this page.

  4. Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?
    3 / 5

    Share of green and blue pistes: 44% · Magic carpets: 1 · Sledging runs: 4 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 2 · Famille Plus label

  5. AccessIs it easy to get to?
    4 / 5

    Average drive time from 20 major cities: 4 hr 29 · Nearest railway station: 2 min · Nearest airport: 1 hr 21

  6. Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?
    3.5 / 5

    Bars and pubs: 5 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 10 · Upcoming events: 3 · Collective tourist beds: 735 — index: what the map and the listings publish

  7. Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?
    1 / 5

    5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 0% · 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 (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata), snow depth observed at the Météo-France station, ERA5-Land model) ; ski area (OpenStreetMap pistes and lifts, linked area (Wikidata)) ; 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).

Snow and opening

7-day forecast → Snow report →
Status unknown

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.

7-day forecast

Village 1,004 m · top 1,401 m

Loading the forecast…

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.

Average snow depth by month

Natural snow is low on average: skiing depends on snowmaking and good years.

Météo-France measurements · 9 winters (2016-2025)

☀️ Average daily sunshine : Nov 6.2 h · Dec 5.6 h · Jan 5.9 h · Feb 7.2 h · Mar 8.5 h · Apr 10.2 h — 26 bright days in April (Open-Meteo estimate, 2015-2025).

  1. November2 cmInsufficient · 0%
  2. December16 cmInsufficient · 23%
  3. January25 cmInsufficient · 35%
  4. February19 cmInsufficient · 28%
  5. March3 cmInsufficient · 4%
  6. April—no record
  7. May—no record

30 cm on the ground: the benchmark for groomed-piste skiing. Bar = monthly average depth; percentage = share of time above 30 cm.

  • Good skiing: 30 cm on more than 8 days in 10
  • Variable: 30 cm on 5 to 8 days in 10
  • Insufficient: 30 cm less than one day in two
Météo-France snow observation network (poste nivo « CHAMONIX-OBS » (1043 m, à 6.5 km)) — total snow depth recorded by the resort observers, open archive. During the season the daily report prevails. The percentage is the share of readings with at least 30 cm on the ground; “—”: month without readings.

Snow actually measured, winter by winter

63 complete winters measured, from 1959-1960 to 2024-2025 — on average 48 days a winter with at least 30 cm on the ground.

Météo-France — “CONTAMINES MJ” station (1180 m, 9.2 km away) · 12 Sept 2026
  1. 1-15 Dec13 cmInsufficient · 16 %
  2. 16-31 Dec20 cmInsufficient · 27 %
  3. 1-15 Jan25 cmInsufficient · 32 %
  4. 16-31 Jan35 cmVariable · 50 %
  5. 1-15 Feb38 cmVariable · 58 %
  6. 16-29 Feb37 cmVariable · 60 %
  7. 1-15 Mar30 cmInsufficient · 46 %
  8. 16-31 Mar17 cmInsufficient · 26 %
  9. 1-15 Apr7 cmInsufficient · 8 %
Best winter of the series
1981-1982 — 126 days at 30 cm or more
Worst winter of the series
1963-1964 — 0 day at 30 cm or more

How much snow actually falls — 302 cm a winter on average, spread over 35 days of snowfall. Measured over 65 complete winters.

Biggest 24-hour snowfall
80 cm — 1977-1978
Snowiest winter
1998-1999 — 595 cm
Leanest winter
1963-1964 — 55 cm
Total snow depth on the ground measured at 06:00 at the Météo-France “CONTAMINES MJ” station (1180 m, 9.2 km away), from the open “Daily climatological data” dataset (Open Licence 2.0). The season is counted from 1 December to 15 April; only winters with at least 95 % of those 136 days measured are kept, so no figure here rests on a handful of readings. The reading is taken at 1180 m. In season, the resort’s daily report prevails. Snowfall figures are the fresh snow depth over 24 hours recorded at the same station (the HNEIGEF column): a day of snowfall is a day with 1 cm or more, and only winters measured 95 % of the time on that column are counted — which is why the record can be longer or shorter than the one for snow on the ground. More snow always falls than remains: some melts, settles or blows away.

The ski area

Compare with another resort →

36 pistes, by level — 29 km

5 green11 blue15 red5 black
Lifts
1 cable car, 1 gondola, 7 chairlifts, 6 drag lifts, 1 magic carpet
Snowpark
1 mapped zone, 2.7 km from the resort — Snowpark
OpenStreetMap, surveyed on 18 September 2026. OpenStreetMap does not map individual features (kickers, rails): what is counted here are the named zones.
Cross-country skiing
3 km of nordic trails
Without skis
3 km of snowshoe and walking trails · 4 sledging runs
Piste aspect
N 14% · E 56% · S 0% · W 30% (descent direction of 43 OSM pistes, terrain model)
Lift opening hours
Lifts open from 07:30 to 17:30 (saison été 2026 · Du 30/08 au 13/09/2026) (official website, read on 9 September 2026)
Piste map (PDF)
Plan_Hiver_HCH (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
Famille Plus
The resort’s family page (declared by the resort, ANMSM)

Resort data: declared by Office de tourisme des Houches and distributed by ANMSM · read on 18 September

Pistes and lifts surveyed on OpenStreetMap within 4 km of the resort — for a resort in a linked area, the figure may include neighbouring pistes.

Lift passes detail →

The price list for this resort is being collected: most resorts publish winter prices between September and November.

The ski area in figures

Measured on 9 September 2026
2 kmLongest piste — Les Aillouds Supérieur Col de Voza (blue), 282 m of vertical
349 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 1,643 → 1,294 m, 2 km
1,892 mHighest lift top — TS du Crozat (chairlift), national lift register
22,556Total lift capacity, people per hour — 19 installations: 1 aerial tramway, 1 gondola, 8 chairlifts, 7 drag lifts, 2 magic carpets
29 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1936, newest 2022
2,100Biggest lift, people per hour — TS du Crozat (chairlift, 1994)
10 kmTotal length of lifts — 13 lifts mapped
753 haSki area boundary (OSM)
3,515Inhabitants — Les Houches (INSEE 74143)

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 Les Houches only (“HOUCHES (LES)”), magic carpets included.

Staying and hiring gear in Les Houches

We compare the partners that cover this resort. Some links earn us a commission — never at the expense of the price or of the data.

Stay & accommodation

Ski Planet
Self-catering flats and all-inclusive ski holidays at the foot of the slopes, since 1999.
See offers
Montagne Vacances
Flats and chalets in the resort, at direct prices.
See offers
VVF
Family holiday villages, kids’ clubs included.
See offers

Ski hire

Sport 2000 Location
Skis, boots and helmets booked online, collected in a resort shop.
Book
Skiset
Network of ski-hire shops in the resorts.
Book

Live webcams

All webcams (3) →
Prarion Open at the operator ↗
▶ Watch live
Tramway Du Mont BlancSkaping
▶ Watch live
Webcam site internet Les Houchespanoramique

Official players of the resort, live image. Checked on 18 September 2026.

Piste map

Open on OpenSnowMap ↗

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 Les Houches

From Paris: 6 hr 23 (610 km) by road.

By road

  • From Genève: 56 min · 75 km
  • From Annecy: 1 hr 09 · 99 km
  • From Chambéry: 1 hr 37 · 140 km
  • From Grenoble: 1 hr 59 · 142 km
  • From Lyon: 2 hr 31 · 218 km
From other major cities (15)
  • From Valence: 3 hr 02 · 234 km
  • From Saint-Étienne: 3 hr 09 · 276 km
  • From Besançon: 3 hr 25 · 249 km
  • From Dijon: 3 hr 32 · 331 km
  • From Clermont-Ferrand: 4 hr 14 · 388 km
  • From Strasbourg: 5 hr 00 · 417 km
  • From Montpellier: 5 hr 09 · 439 km
  • From Marseille: 5 hr 14 · 448 km
  • From Nice: 5 hr 25 · 461 km
  • From Nancy: 5 hr 34 · 534 km
  • From Paris: 6 hr 23 · 610 km
  • From Perpignan: 6 hr 30 · 587 km
  • From Toulouse: 7 hr 26 · 673 km
  • From Bordeaux: 8 hr 12 · 775 km
  • From Pau: 9 hr 21 · 863 km

Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.

By train

Les Houches station

halt · then 2 min drive (1 km)

Nearest main station: Annecy, 1 hr 07 by road.

Shuttles and buses from the station: see the resort’s official website.

By plane

  • Genève (GVA): 1 hr 21 by road · 83 km
  • Chambéry-Savoie (CMF): 1 hr 40 by road · 139 km

Take me there

These links open the app with Les Houches as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.

Charging an electric car

5 charging stations within 2 km

18 charging points · up to 300 kW

  • LES HOUCHES - Parking du Fresnay · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.1 km
  • 333 Rue de l'Essert · QOVOLTIS · 4 points · 22 kW · 0.5 km
  • HOTEL ST ANTOINE · CAR2PLUG · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.9 km
  • RELAIS HOUCHES NORD · TotalEnergies Marketing France · 4 points · 300 kW · 1.3 km
  • LES HOUCHES - Base de Loisirs des Chavants · EASYCHARGE · 6 points · 22 kW · 1.4 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.

Off-piste & ski touring

The resorts for off-piste skiing →
0 Marked off-piste itineraries
4 km Ski touring routes
— Skiable vertical · top 1,401 m
Safety. Off-piste terrain is neither marked nor made safe by the resort: a transceiver, a shovel, a probe and reading the avalanche bulletin are the minimum — and going with a mountain guide is better still. Today's avalanche risk (Météo-France scale of 1 to 5) will appear here during the season.

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

Resorts for ski touring →

12 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of Les Houches — up to 1,790 m of climb.

Summit and routeSki gradeClimbAltitudeAspectFrom resort
Passage des Rognes · Depuis les Houches4.2 · E2 · D1,600 m1,000 → 2,600 mN1.5 km
Mont Lachat · Ravin des Arandellys3.2 · E2 · AD1,130 m1,000 → 2,115 mNE1.5 km
Mont Lachat · Par le Planet descente versant NE3.1 · E1 · AD-1,150 m980 → 2,115 mN · NE2.2 km
Mont Lachat · Par Bellevue2.3 · E1 · PD+1,125 m993 → 2,115 mSW2.2 km
Le Prarion · from Les Houches via Granges des Chavantsn/a · F+838 m1,130 → 1,968 mE2.7 km
Tête Rousse N · Versant W par le Glacier de Bionnassay3.1 · E2 · AD1,790 m1,410 → 3,205 mNW2.9 km
Les Rognes · Couloir NW3.1 · E1 · AD-1,525 m1,130 → 2,590 mNW3 km
Col de Tricot · Traversée NE > SW2.3 · E1 · PD+1,000 m1,300 → 2,299 mSW3 km
Baraque forestière des Rognes · Par la moraine de Bionnassay et Désert de Pierre Ronde3.1 · E2 · AD-1,400 m1,410 → 2,768 mNW · W · SW3.1 km
Les Rognes · Couloir W4.2 · E2 · D+850 m1,801 → 2,650 mW3.1 km
Aiguille du Goûter · Couloir Trappier4.2 · E3 · D1,200 m1,801 → 3,043 mN3.2 km
Aiguillette des Houches · Depuis le Bettey2.3 · E1 · PD+965 m1,320 → 2,285 mSE3.2 km
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 ↗

Beyond skiing at Les Houches

Ice rink

Swimming pool

  • Piscine de Saint-Gervais · Saint-Gervais-les-Bains · 6.5 km away
  • Piscine de Marlioz · Passy · 8.4 km away

Spa and thermal baths

Dog sledding

Paragliding

Museum

Cinema

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.

Practical information

Collective accommodation

735 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels

  • 8 hotels · 352 rooms (7 × 3★, 1 × 2★)
  • 1 holiday village or family centre · 120 bed spaces
  • 2 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 527 bed spaces
  • 1 youth hostel or sports centre · 88 bed spaces
  • 1 campsite · 20 pitches

Commune: Les Houches · INSEE tourist accommodation survey, 2026, read on 12 September 2026. Collective accommodation only — privately let flats and second homes are not counted. INSEE dataset ↗

Tourist office

Office du Tourisme

📞 +33 4 50 54 73 85

🌐 chamonix.com/infos-et-services/offices-de-tourisme/office-de-tourisme-les-houches

Ski school

ESF Les Houches

📞 04 50 54 48 79

🌐 esf-leshouches.com

111 instructors

🇬🇧 79 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available

🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗

Source: esf.net

All about the ski school in Les Houches →

Days without skiing

  • Cinema · Cinébus
  • Ice rink · Patinoire

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.

What's on around Les Houches

All events →

Events published on OpenAgenda by the agendas named above, kept when they take place within 10 km of the resort. We organise nothing: times, prices and cancellations are the organiser's.

Nearby resorts

Servoz 5 kmSaint-Gervais-les-Bains 7 kmChamonix-Mont-Blanc 7 kmPlanpraz 7 kmSaint-Nicolas-de-Véroce 7 kmPlaine Joux 8 km

Frequently asked questions

How high is Les Houches?

Les Houches sits at 1,004 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 1,401 m.

How many kilometres of pistes does Les Houches have?

Les Houches has 29 km of pistes served by 16 lifts, within the linked Houches / Saint Gervais area (OpenStreetMap survey).

What is the longest piste in Les Houches?

The longest piste is Les Aillouds Supérieur Col de Voza: 2 km (blue run), for 282 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 Les Houches?

The highest lift, TS du Crozat (chairlift), tops out at 1,892 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.

How many lifts does Les Houches have, and what is their capacity?

The French national register of mechanical lifts records 19 installations at Les Houches (1 aerial tramway, 1 gondola, 8 chairlifts, 7 drag lifts, 2 magic carpets), for an authorised capacity of 22,556 people per hour, of which 2,100 for TS du Crozat alone. The fleet spans 1936 to 2022, an average age of 29 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 do I get to Les Houches?

By road, Les Houches is 56 min from Genève (75 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Les Houches, 2 min by road from the resort. The nearest airport is Genève, 1 hr 21 away.

How long is the drive from Paris to Les Houches?

6 hr 23 for 610 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.

What time do the lifts open in Les Houches?

Lifts are announced open from 07:30 to 17:30 (saison été 2026 · Du 30/08 au 13/09/2026), according to the official website (read on 9 September 2026).

Is the snow reliable in Les Houches?

Natural snow is low on average according to twenty winters of Météo-France measurements; in season the daily report prevails.

Is Les Houches good for beginners and families?

44% of the pistes are green or blue: a rather technical area. The resort holds the Famille Plus family label.

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. Les Houches in French →

Every figure carries its source and date; a missing figure shows as “—”, never estimated. Embed this widget on your site