Summer Alps

In the summer the Alps are a magnet for touring cyclists, bikers, classic car enthusiasts, walkers, climbers, adrenalin seekers and scenic tourists.

The ski lifts spread to every point of the compass and give effortless access to hundreds of kilometres of high mountain footpaths and mountain bike trails. The towns bustle with excitement, activities, weekly markets, festivals and celebrations. In addition to the many cafés and bars, shops, restaurants and boutiques.

The sporting facilities are impressive, from world renowned mountain biking, incredible road biking, swimming, tennis, golf, summer luge, horse riding, parapenting.... need we say more.

The Alps has something to offer every age and interest, and is the ideal destination for individuals, couples, families and groups. To name just a few of the activities on offer;

Mountain biking

The interlinked lift systems in the Alps allows mountain bikers to cover an unimaginable variety of trails across all levels of riding, from steep and technical World-Cup level downhills to more gentle cross-country journeys.

Mountain walking

The mountain ranges in our resorts offer infinite possibilities from easy walks around the resort itself, to more testing walks up at altitude. Many of the lifts operate during the summer months to give you easy rapid access into the heart of the mountains.

Golf

Les Gets has a magnificent par 70, 18-hole course set at 1,500m of altitude. Many rate this as the most scenic course they have ever played with lush green fairways and the glorious backdrop of a snow clad Mont Blanc. There are several other golf courses in the area including Annecy, Megève, Chamonix, Flaine and of course, the Royal Club at Evian, renown venue on the European Ladies Tour, overlooking Lake Geneva and one of the finest courses in France. Green fees vary from £20-£50, clubs can be hired and pros are available for coaching.

Swimming

Morzine boasts its own fabulous water park with open air Olympic-sized swimming pool, children's pool, flume, volleyball court, lawns, children's games area, and restaurant with terrace. Alpe d'Huez also has a heated outdoor swimming pool open every day. But for the more adventurous looking to embrace mountain life there are some spectacular mountain lakes ideal for swimming, as well as plunge pools and waterfalls to swim in and explore.

All our chalets have fully equipped kitchens but for those who prefer to eat out there are many restaurants open in the summer months, some of our favourites include;

La Flambe - everything from pizzas to moules frite - just a minutes walk from Alaska Lodge. 
Le Grillon - over the road from Alaska Lodge, great takeaway pizza if you fancy a night in 
Le Tyrolein - huge salads and a range of Savoyard food  
Le C'lin doye - a ten minute walk from our chalets, the restaurant is next to Carrefour without a view but luckily the food is very nice to look at and eat! 
Dotty's and Beanies - two very nice day time cafes - Dotty's does a fabulous milkshake. 
Mama's - eat in or take away offers excellent fish and chips, perfect for when you've overdosed on all the French cheese! Supermarkets in Morzine

Supermarkets
On the high street you will find a small Spar shop and just opposite one of the best bakeries in town. Both can provide sandwiches for day time hikes and bike rides. Carrefour is a large supermarket, a five minute walk from our chalets where you can stock up on essentials more cheaply. There is a larger supermarket in St Jean d'alps a ten minute drive from our chalets.

Easy walking around the Morzine area
With the 2 euro a day lift pass you can get around the whole of the Morzine area and into Switzerland. But if you just want to walk to a nice picnic stop our favourite walks include...

• Get the lift up the Plenney and walk past the golf course, stop for a nice coffee in the great mountain restaurant at the top and walk over to Les Gets. You can jump on the bus back to Morzine and the route will take around 2 hours (depending on how long you stop for coffee!)
• A walk to the Nyon waterfall should not be missed. Approximately 25 minutes easy stroll up the river from Alaska Lodge. You can then walk further up the hill - a bracing walk - and walk back down the Plenney - around an hour and 10 mins. • A beautiful walk with stunning views over to Mont Blanc involves driving or getting the bus to Les Gets and getting the Mont Chery bubble to the top. Then traverse an easy track to Les Chervelles - a rustic restaurant that serves the best omlettes in France! The view on a clear day is stunning. • Lake Montriond - about an hour and a half up a meandering hill takes you to a wonderful lake you can swim and boat in.
• Hop on the Super Morzine bubble and the chair lift to take a lovely walk across the plateau with wonderful views of Avoriaz. Pick some wild bilberries and chanterelle mushrooms along the way. About an hour circuit.
• Head over to Nyon and reward yourself for walking to the top of the mountain by eating at Chez Nannon, a tiny little mountain restaurant that has a small menu of local, wholesome food, on the way down.

Activities to keep the children happy...
There are a number of activities to keep children occupied during their summer holiday in Morzine, below are just a few activities on option;

• There is an Indiana Adventure Park for young children (probably aged 5 years and over) about a 10 minute walk from Alaska Lodge near the open air swimming pool. Older children will like the higher tree adventure parks in Nyon (within walking distance of our chalets) and Les Gets (take the bus or drive from Morzine)
• Horse riding - you can take lessons or hack from the stables in Morzine. Very young children can go on tiny ponies around the river paths there. There is also a stables in Les Gets which offers amazing half or full day treks.
• Morzine has a fantastic open air pool plus an indoor pool and also a great water slide. There are two smaller pools with activities for children and babies.
• Head up to Lake Montroind with the family, there is a special shallow, man-made children's pool up at the lake and there are toilets and two restaurants. You can also do archery up here in high season and take a pony ride around the lake.
• There is a goat village nearby where you can meet and feed the (very smelly) goats that roam freely in Linderats.
• Tennis lessons are available or for the more adventurous children over the age of 8 can try white water rafting.

Activities in Morzine for adults...

• White water rafting - Frogs rafting are a great company, fluent in French and English, they offer classic - nice gentle trips - and pro - hairy, fast, watery! - rafting. Jeremy, from Frog's rafting, also takes clients rock climbing and hydro speeding (an in the water experience using floats and flippers). Gorge walking is also available.
• Canyoning and Via Ferrata (climbing using fixed ropes) can be organised at Nyon and Avoraiz. In house beauty treatments and massage can be booked with Induldge. There is also an English Yoga instructor who can do one to one sessions, or you can join in group Pilates classes of which there are several different levels that go on during the week.
• Mountain biking - it is possible to hire a guide who will even take you out overnight to stay in a mountain refuge. Night biking is also available which includes a meal out in a mountain restaurant and then biking back with head torches! You do need to buy a separate lift pass as the multi pass does not include taking bikes on the lifts. We don’t provide a mountain bike guiding service but there are specialists in Morzine who can show you the best of the Portes du Soleil area by bike;
• Road cycling - Of course the Alps is perfect for road cycling and Morzine provides great cycling in the local area including many climbs like the Juplane (up and over to the back of Les Gets) and Avoriaz (follow the road that's used as a finish in a stage of the Tour du France). There are many decent mountain and road bike hire shops just a minutes walk from our chalets. Once a week in Morzine during the summer months they close off the main street to cars and have music and fete stalls in the street. The music normally finishes around 10.30pm.

Summer in Alpe d’Huez provides a lot more than most people are aware of. There is more than enough to keep you busy on a week’s holiday, and there's is something for everyone. Below covers a snapshot of what the resort has to offer for an Alpine summer holiday in Alpe d'Huez....

Premium pass
For the summer season the resort offers an all inclusive pass that entitles the holder to use the Palais de Sports (everything from the gym, classes, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, mini golf, archery, jorky ball, table tennis, tennis, badminton, squash – just to name a few) and all of the lift systems (Nearly all of the gondolas are open providing access to the far sides of resort) allowing access to kilometres of mountain bike trails and lots of mountain walking without the uphill climb!

This is a really good option and most definitely the cheapest (a 6 day premium pass including lift access costs around €79) There is also the option to buy day passes that can include everything the premium pass offers, and also day passes for just the lifts.

Activities in Alpe d'Huez

As mentioned above the Palais de Sport offers many sports, inside the Palais there is also an indoor climbing wall and a high ropes course (In'vertigo) for children under 15 years. The gym is fantastically equipped – during June it is open on inter season hours but from July it is open all the time. There is always a trainer on hand if people want a programme for the week to follow – and their English is pretty good. This is a very pleasant place to work out ( a note for guests – clean indoor trainers and a towel must be presented before you go into the gym and they can be rather strict on this).

There is an indoor and outdoor pool – accessible using the premium pass, but also as a pay on entry fee. It is a 25m pool, with a shallow section as well for children. There is a life guard on duty at all times. Depending on what time of the season the opening hours do vary, but during peaking summer weeks it’s open all day. (men are required to wear speedos in the public swimming pools....believe it or not it is possible to hire a pair if you don't own any!). There is a restaurant and bar at the pool and many people do make a day of it. There are also saunas and jacuzzi’s available at the pool although you will have these facilities in the comfort of the chalet.

There is also a summer luge run included if you have a premium pass. Located at the bottom of town, on the Eclose hill.

The mountain bike routes are extensive. The resort is famous for the 'Mega Avalanche' a 30km downhill race. For really keen mountain bikers there is also the option of going to Deux Alpes.

Road cycling in this area is huge a lot of people cycle the 21 bends, the marmotte route and the numerous other hill climbs.

Alpine Walking - Alpe d'Huez is an absolutely massive area, particularly if gondolas are used to access areas that are not immediately walkable. Maps are available from the lift pass office which are very good and really simple to follow, especially as most routes are well sign posted. You don't necessarily need a compass and an OS map to navigate the walking routes. The church and library also offer walking and photography tours.

Climbing. There are 8 sportif routes available above the Lac Besson area – these are really for experienced climbers bringing their own kit. You cannot rent ropes locally due to health and safety. However, the 'Via Ferreta' makes climbing much more popular and accessible to everyone. It is a simple harness and double carribeana system, of which you follow a steel cable throughout the whole route – you are permanently attached and never have to rely on anyone else holding you or ropes. You can never get lost either! Alpe d’huez offers quite natural routes – some people will be familiar with routes that involve ladders, and tunnels and other man made obstacles. The ones in Alpe d'Huez you simply climb the rock face (don't worry where there isn't a natural foot hole they have put in a little metal rung to give you a helping hand). There are 4 or 5 routes in and around Alpe d'Huez all within walking distance of the chalets. There are also many more routes within a 30 min drive in nearly villages.

Horse Riding; There is an equestrian centre in Alpe d'Huez, the highest one in Europe. Many people bring their horses here to train at altitude. The centre also offers lessons for all levels plus full day and half day treks. There is a training ring and jumping paddock as well.

Along with the activities listed above a short drive or a 30 min walk from the chalets are the lakes which are simply beautiful. There is one fishing lake – you do have to have a license but daily, weekly, and seasonal ones are available. It is restocked weekly (you’re not allowed to fish on Fridays as the fish are really dopey from being dropped in by helicopter – you can literally pick them up with your hands!) They also breed white bait – the little fish you can get fish pedicures from in beauty salons...Alpe d’Huez offer them free of charge! Separate from the fishing lake is the swimming lake. Ideal to take a lilo and a good book and spend the day up there. By the end of august you could spend ages in the water quite comfortably! Probably the last thing to mention would be trail running. There are no official maps as such, but there is definitely plenty to keep the keen runner busy.

Activities further afield...

• Vaujany, Mont Frais, and Oz en Osians offer a variety of activities too – accessible all using the lift system so no driving required. Paint Balling, White Water Rafting, Kamikaze park (similar to 'Go Ape' courses in the UK), Bouldering etc.
• Allemont is a town in the valley, about an hours drive from our chalets, but it is possible to get there via the lifts, then a 5min bus journey from Oz en Osians (included in the lift pass). In Allemont there is a reservoir with a water sports centre offering sailing, pedalo's, paddle boarding etc. Lessons are available and there is a little restaurant down there too overlooking the water.
• St Christoph is a 40min drive from Alpe d'Huez but is the perfect place to spend a day. Here you can try white water rafting. The centre offers all sorts of river based activities.
• La Grave - during winter this is an off-piste resort – in summer it is another place white water rafting and glacier hiking is available. The glacier hiking is very sought after and normally gets booked up quite quickly.
• Les Deux Alpes offers skiing all year round on the glacier. It is open from 7am – 12 midday. There are buses that run once a week perfect for a day on the piste.

Summer Alpine Guiding
There are both hiking and mountain bike guides available in Alpe d'Huez, most are individual guides with licences. Mountain bike lessons are also available through the Alpe d’Huez bike school.

Shopping in Alpe d'Huez
Most of the shops in Alpe d'Huez are open year-round, although the opening hours in the summer months do vary and they don't always seem to follow regular hours. It's the charm of an Alpine resort to guess when the shops will be open!

The bakery is open regularly but for any self catering guests we advise shopping down in Bourg before heading up to resort. This option is much more cost effective but also gives a greater choice of produce too.

There is a weekly market on a Thursday which is a lovely way to spend a morning.

Restaurants and bars
The bars and restaurants in Alpe d'Huez in the summer months seem to have similar rules as the shops ... everything is open every now and then. During the popular events weeks there is more guarantee of all the bars and restaurants being open, but you will always find somewhere to grab a coffee, a beer or some food. Zoo Bar was a popular bar last summer. The two night clubs take turns in opening so there is always somewhere for the night owls to dance the night away!

Rental shops in Alpe d'Huez
Sarenne Sports is a shop very close to our chalets. It is owned by Francois and Brigitte who will look after you very well if you are looking to hire bikes (both road and mountain) or climbing harnesses. Last summer it was approximately €70 for a hardtail bike for the day including helmet and puncture kit. There was also the option to hire body armour for those who chose to hire the more expert double suspension bikes. We can also recommend Rocky Sports (mountain bikes) and Cycle Huez (road bikes) down in the old town.

Beauty treatments
If you're looking for a little pamper session we can recommend Chamois d’Or for beauty treatments etc. Located right next to the chalets so very convenient.