Les Gets: Family-Friendly Portes du Soleil Gateway

Les Gets is the resort most people wish they’d known about on their first trip. A traditional village rather than a concrete purpose-built resort, a gentle skiing profile that flatters beginners and intermediates without intimidating them, and access to one of the largest linked ski areas in the world when you want to explore.

For Yorkshire families planning a first ski holiday, this is often the right answer.

The resort

Les Gets sits in the Haute-Savoie in the French Alps, part of the Portes du Soleil ski area which spans the French-Swiss border. The village itself is a picturesque traditional Alpine town, wooden and stone chalets, a compact largely traffic-free centre, and a genuine sense of place that purpose-built resorts don’t deliver.

The village altitude is modest by Alpine standards, which affects snow reliability at valley level in marginal conditions. The main ski areas are higher, so the skiing itself is usually fine even when the village is marginal.

The skiing

Les Gets has its own local ski area, with a mix of:

Nursery slopes in the village for absolute beginners
The Chavannes area: a larger snowsure beginner and intermediate zone, family-focused with themed trails for children
Mont Chéry: a quieter side of the resort with genuinely good red runs for improving intermediates

The local area alone is enough for a full week of family skiing. Beyond that, the resort links into the wider Portes du Soleil, giving access to over 600km of pistes across 14 resorts including Morzine, Avoriaz, Châtel on the French side and Champéry, Morgins and others on the Swiss side.

Across the full Portes du Soleil there are around 286 marked pistes (roughly 34 green, 119 blue, 101 red, 32 black), plus snowparks and boardercross areas.

Who it suits

Les Gets is particularly good for:

Families with young children: the resort is genuinely designed for them, with excellent ski schools, themed beginner zones and a compact village
First-time skiers: the nursery slopes and gentle learning terrain are among the best in the Alps
Intermediate skiers: plenty of blues and reds without the ego-bruising of a huge off-piste resort
Groups with mixed abilities: the linked Portes du Soleil means advanced members can push out while beginners stay local

Less suitable for:

Advanced powder skiers: there is off-piste available across the Portes du Soleil, but Les Gets specifically is not a powder destination
Snow reliability purists: the village altitude is modest; higher-altitude resorts are snow-safer in marginal years

Getting there from Yorkshire

Geneva is the main airport, and transfers to Les Gets are typically around 1h 15m to 1h 30m depending on conditions. From Leeds Bradford, direct routes to Geneva run in the winter season. From Manchester, frequency is higher.

For Yorkshire skiers, Les Gets sits in one of the fastest-transfer zones from Geneva, shorter than Val d’Isère, shorter than Chamonix. You can fly from Leeds Bradford in the morning and be on the mountain the same afternoon if timings work.

See the airport transfers guide for practical detail on Geneva transfer options.

What a week looks like

A typical family week in Les Gets:

Day 1: Arrive, pick up hire equipment, settle in. Most families don’t ski on arrival day.
Day 2: First morning lesson for beginners. Others explore the local Chavannes area.
Days 3-4: Group lessons continue; confident intermediates start exploring further into the Portes du Soleil via the link to Morzine.
Day 5: Often a big day out, for intermediates, a loop across to Avoriaz or Switzerland; for families, a full day at Chavannes.
Day 6: Last skiing day, typically shorter. Some take the afternoon for packing or town time.
Day 7: Travel home.

Non-ski options in the village include tobogganing, ice skating, snowshoeing and horse-drawn carriage rides. For families where not everyone wants to ski every day, Les Gets handles that well.

Honest verdict

For a first Alps trip from Yorkshire, for a family holiday, or for a week where you want the skiing to be fun rather than intimidating, Les Gets is one of the best French resorts to consider. The infrastructure is excellent, the terrain flatters, the village is genuinely charming, and the Portes du Soleil gives you room to grow.

It is not the cheapest French resort, Les Gets sits in the mid-tier for price. It is not the most snowsure. And it is not where you go if you want steep challenging skiing. But for the majority of UK families and intermediate skiers, none of that matters. Les Gets delivers what most people actually want from an Alpine week.