During the busier weeks in February and other holiday periods, a great Morzine top tip for avoiding the crowds both on the slopes and in the restaurants is simply to take an early lunch.  The majority of restaurants tend to fill up between 1pm and 2pm whilst many skiers opt for a leisurely lunch washed down with a glass of wine or two.

If you start your day nice and early and make sure you’re sitting down in your favourite restaurant by 12:00, not only will you beat any potential mad rush in the restaurant, but when you return to the slopes, they’ll be quieter as the crowds then head inside for their lunch.

Simple.

Bottle water, teas/coffees and fizzy drinks are expensive in mountain restaurants in and around Morzine – €3.00 or more for can of coke for example.

Don’t try and avoid buying drinks on the mountain at all costs as it is worth splashing out once or twice if you want a warming cup of frothy hot chocolate or simply need to escape icy cold winds by going inside a nice warm restaurant for a local vin chaud.

Here are some quick and easy top tips to save some money :

1. Take some drinks on the mountain with you in one or two small rucksacks shared between the group.   Bottled water is fairly inexpensive if you buy in a local Morzine supermarket and you can buy a pack of 6 of small bottles and just refill them each day to take on the mountain.
2. A longer term investment is to buy a rucksack with integrated water reservoir so you can drink whilst on the go.
3. Replace a café au lait with an expresso!  Smaller but typically less than half the price of ‘English’ café au lait.
4. Order une carafe d’eau – a jug of water  (loosely pronounced oon caraffe doh) if you are sitting down for a meal in a mountain restaurant.  This will be free water from the tap that is perfectly safe to drink.
5. Fancy something a bit stronger? Bring a hip-flask on holiday with you and fill it up with your preferred tipple at the start of each day.
6. Find a restaurant that is a little further away from the side of the pistes as these restaurants sometimes have cheaper prices to encourage you to take a short walk to their door.

If you have any more tips on saving money on drinks, please let us know by posting a comment below.

Positioned alongside the outdoor morzine swimming pool, this new covered pool will be a fantastic addition to Morzine especially during the winter months.  Currently, the nearest village with a decent sized indoor public pool is around a 40 minute drive away.  Locals and holiday makers alike have long been wishing for an indoor pool in Morzine as an alternative to heading up the moutain during the winter.

Fortunately, work on the new indoor swimming pool will stop during the summer months whilst the summer season is in full swing so as not to disrupt the use of the outdoor pool.

In autumn 2010, the current changing room area will be demolished and soon after construction of the new buildings will start.  All of the existing outdoor pool areas will remain, including the main large pool and the two smaller childrens pools.

The new indoor morzine swimming pool will be 25m long and 15m wide.  Also planned is a well-being centre with 3 saunas and 2 hammams (turkish baths) as well as a small relaxing area.  A new restaurant will also be built about the same size as the existing restaurant (200 sq. metres) with seating for up to 100 diners.

The opening of the new centre (indoor pool, changing rooms and restaurant) is planned for the winter of 2011.

(The left side of the below artist impression shows the building that will house the new indoor pool.)

Indoor Morzine Swimming Pool

The temperature warmed up quickly and gave us an early taste of spring conditions on the mountain turning the pistes into a soft slush wherever the snow shone.  Northerly facing pistes and shaded areas remained solid however.  Temperatures look set to stay spring like for the next few days with the freezing level hovering around 1400m with snow forecast on the upper slopes.

Friday was a fantastic day on the mountain.  Plenty of sunshine throughout the day and all the pistes throughout Morzine and Avoriaz were in great condition after the 6 inches (15cm) of new snow that arrived on Tuesday.

All the easy to reach off piste was mostly tracked out but there were still pockets of untouched powder here and there.  The hard to reach spots were hardly touched at all thanks to a couple of days of less than perfect visibility with low cloud.

Temperatures still very low and falling down to -15 deg C overnight keeping the north facing off-piste areas in amazing condition.  South facing off-piste has a layer of crusty snow on top now but still great underneath.

20cm at least has fallen in Morzine village and the freezing level is at around 500m (or perhaps even lower) giving us very dry and light powder even down at the village level.

Temperatures are forecast to stay very low for the next few days with hopefully more new snow to come !!!

According to a press release direct from the Portes du Soleil tourist office and thanks to heavy new snow since the beginning of the week, 3 stations will be open for the weekend of the 5th and 6th December 2009.

With 60cm of new snow at the summit of the Portes du Soleil domain (2460m) and 40cm at a level of 1800m, 3 stations will open for this weekend – Avoriaz, Champery and Chatel.

In Avoriaz, the Arare and Lindarets sectors will be open for Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December.

• 5 lifts : The Prodains cable car, the chairlifts, Tour, Lac Intrets, Prolays and the drag Teleskis des Ecoles.
• 11 pistes : Bleue d’Arare, Bleue du Lac, Stade d’Arare, Vaineuve, Prolays, Stade des Lindarets, Combe à Floret, Champ de ski Plateau, Boulevard des skieurs, Mossettes et Crête des Lindarets.
• 1 day ski pass : 15 euros.

In Chatel, Pré-la-Joux will be open for Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December.

• 2 Lifts : The chairlifts Pierre-Longue and Rochassons.
• 2 pistes : Rochassons and La Belette.
• 1 day ski pass : 15 euros.

In Champery, The Champéry– Planachaux cable car (le téléphérique de Champéry – Planachaux) and the Crosets chairlift accessing 3 pistes will be open for Saturday 5th December.

1 day ski pass : 25 CHF for an adult / 17 CHF for a child.

The opening of other lits/pistes will be weather dependant.

The official opening of the Portes du Soleil domain is set for Saturday 19th December.

Question : What is the most important factor when choosing your ski resort?

Share your opinion by completing the poll to the right of this post!

Is it the mix of bars, restaurants and night life that will keep you entertained and topped up on your favourite tipple? Morzine offers many bars, clubs and apres ski spots where you can share a few drinks after a hard day on the mountain as well as a huge array of fantastic restaurants serving anything from the locally famed Tartiflette to great pizzas, steaks and flaming fondues!

Is it more to do with the size of the ski domain that is available on the one ski pass? (Just to let you know, Morzine and the Portes du Soleil offers a massive 650 km of piste on the one Morzine Lift Pass (PDS).  Not to mention the crazy amount of off piste.)

Or is it purely down to cost of the ski pass? (There are a range of Morzine Lift Pass prices available to suit every budget).

Are you only interested in the very high resorts to ‘guarantee’ great snow? During the poor snow season three years ago, Morzine and Avoriaz fared better than most resorts thanks to many of the lower pistes being on a grass base and a high number of northerly facing slopes.

What about the ease of access to the slopes? There are four bases setting off from Morzine and nearby hamlets taking you straight up to the pistes.  Super Morzine, Pleney, Prodains Cable Car and of course the Nyon cable car.  You can also ski all the way back into the village via the Pleney.

Avoriaz on Wednesday 25th November at 9:00 a.m.

A generous layer of new snow has fallen in Avoriaz during the last few days covering all of the higher spots of the domain in readiness for the opening of the resort.

After a worrying brief spell of unseasonally warm weather, the cold weather has now returned.  In comparison to the same time last year, Avoriaz had already been open once for the weekend for locals to take advantage of the early snow.  Whilst not quite as early arriving this year, a good base layer is now in place and the weather looks set to stay cold for the next few days.

It is a beautiful clear blue sky today, but more flurries of snow are expected late on Thursday and a another reasonable dump expected on Sunday night/Monday morning.

The Tour de France finishing stage right through the centre of Morzine village

The 97th Tour de France 2010 is coming to Morzine Avoriaz! From Sunday 11th to Tuesday 13th July 2010 the resort will be taken over by TV stations, camera crews, supporters and sponsors, creating a buzzing atmosphere for us to enjoy! The Tour de France 2010 will arrive in Avoriaz on Sunday 11th July via the impressive Col de Ramaz – a massive 40km climb last visted by Le Tour 16 years ago. There will be a rest day in Morzine on Monday 12th and Tour de France 2010 sets off again on Tuesday 13th, making it’s way to the finish in Saint Jean de Maurienne.

The competitors of The Tour de France sprinting for the finish line

We will be keeping an eye on the programme of the Tour de France 2010 and finding all the best spots to watch this amazing, cycling spectacle!