Morzine to Avoriaz: Alpine Solitude

Travel & Lifestyle

Lac de Montriond

There are some places that invite you to escape, but the French Alps ask you to return… to tranquility, to nature, and to yourself. This kind of return shifts your pace, sharpens your senses and pulls you out of autopilot. Up here, the skies stretch far and wide, pine fills the air and the trails don’t just lead you to the mountains. They lead you to you. 

Winter usually takes centre stage in the French Alps, but in summer, the drama fades and something gentler takes its place. You can find yourself again in Morzine and Avoriaz. 

Tucked into the Haute-Savoie region near the Swiss border, Morzine is a traditional alpine town with roots dating back all the way to the 11th century. The town has managed to retain an authentic charm while evolving into a year-round mountain playground. Just above it sits Avoriaz, a bold vision brought to life in the 1960s by French Olympic ski champion Jean Vuarnet. Designed as a car-free resort with striking wooden architecture mirroring the mountain contours, Avoriaz was built to blend modernism with the natural world. Together, they form a unique contrast where one is rooted in heritage and the other in forward-thinking design. 

Col de la Golèse trail

Alpen Roc 

Staying at the Hotel Alpen Roc will set the tone for your time at Morzine. Just a short walk from the town centre, it offers a balance of comfort and understated charm that feels perfectly in sync with its Alpine surroundings. With its wooden balconies and warm interiors, the classic savoyard design frames the sweeping mountain views that greet you in the morning. With its welcoming staff and relaxed atmosphere; Alpen Roc isn’t ostentatious, it’s the kind of place that anchors you in the mountains while still providing the comfort and ease of a refined retreat.

The hotel has 56 rooms, each designed to frame the mountains and fill with light, so waking up feels like a painting every time. For moments of quiet after a day on the trails, the spa offers a sauna and a hot tub. Perfect for easing those tired muscles while the Alpine air drifts through the windows. Your evenings can be spent in the cosy lounge area with a warm drink in hand or dining on locally inspired dishes that taste like the mountains themselves. 

Morzine Bike Trails

When in Morzine, one has to experience the town's bike trails. They're iconic among mountain biking enthusiasts, but you don’t have to be a pro to get swept up in the freedom of it all. We took a short cable car up the mountain with our e-MTBs which made the journey feel more like an adventure than a workout. The assisted ride gives you the space to soak in the surroundings instead of primarily focusing on the climb. It meant that everyone, regardless of fitness level, could take part. No one was left behind. 

Lake of Nyon

The trails are colour-coded like the winter slopes by difficulty; green for beginners, blue for intermediate and red for advanced. The green trail is technically the easiest, but it didn’t feel any less exciting. Our instructor, Yann, guided us down a picturesque route with the kind of carefree energy that will instantly put you at ease. There was no pressure, no performance. Just pure joy. He cracked a few jokes, he reminded us to breathe and at one point he casually popped a wheelie mid-descent. The whole experience felt less like a guided ride and more like spending time with that effortlessly cool older cousin who quietly lets you break the rules. There’s something incredibly liberating about flying through the spruce forests, dipping past wildflowers that only bloom a few weeks each year, but also feeling completely in sync with the landscape.    

Riding this trail will allow you to tap into a part of yourself that was once forgotten. The sense of motion, the breeze, the way the forest opens up to you, is like a homecoming to childhood, only in a new form, this time with better gear and electrical assistance. Not long after, we reached the breathtaking Lake Montriond. A still, mirror-like lake resting beneath towering cliffs. A stop here feels suspended in time, the kind of place that makes everything else fall silent.

Refuge De la Golèse trail

Time for Lunch 

Le Refuge is a calm secluded place with a view that will steal the words from your mouth more than once. Just outside, a small stone fountain flows with water from a mountain spring that runs down through the valley. One sip will truly humble you. No chlorine, no metallic tang, just pure meltwater filtered by mother nature herself. 

Then came the food. The pork rib, lightly charred and full of depth, was rich without weighing you down. Accompanying it is Pommes Dauphine. A local delicacy of deep-fried mashed potatoes blended with choux pastry. Crisp on the outside and cloud-soft in the middle. In that moment, with the view and the silence filled with the gentle sound of cowbells, it was the kind of lunch that stays with you long after you’ve left the table.

Refuge De La Golèse 

Refuge de la Golèse sits high on the Col de la Golèse is a poetic pause along the GR5 trail. Perched between two valleys with wide open views stretching south over Le Giffre and north into the Manche. Ran by the Baud family, it radiates quiet authenticity. The rhythm of life is dictated by daylight and dinner bells, not just clocks. In the evening, hikers and bikers gather at communal tables. It feels like a secret. What will strike you most is the warmth. No formality. Just guests sharing long wooden tables eating together like they’ve known each other for years.

Avoriaz

Outside, when the sun dips behind the peaks, the sky shifts from blue to violet in real time. Sleeping here will make you realise how much noise we accept as normal in the city. The air cools quickly, wind moves through the valley gently and you can hear the distant bells from the cows grazing on the hills. Sleep felt more like a surrender than an escape. The mountains will hold you and you just have to simply let go. 

From Morzine to Avoriaz

Setting off from Lac des Mines d'Or gaining almost 4,000 feet in elevation isn't easy. The trail keeps you honest. Every switchback, every rocky patch demands focus. If you’re not a regular hiker I should tell you that your legs are going to burn, your breath will be measured and there will be moments where you have to remind yourself that you just need to keep moving. The views cannot be described, pictures and videos don’t do it justice. Rolling alpine meadows, jagged peaks clothed in clouds, it’s like going to a Nature photo exhibition in real time.  

Morzine Town Centre

The same route is part of the Trail des Mines d'Or, a local mountain race that draws serious endurance runners. It’s steep, technical and relentless but truly beautiful in its challenge. You don’t have to race, but walking this path will give you a whole new respect for the people who do. 

Eventually, as you near the ridge, Avoriaz will begin to take shape in the distance. At first, it looks like a mirage. It doesn’t announce itself with signs or crowds, it emerges with a strange symmetry in the landscape. The closer you get, it feels like something ancient and imagined all at once; as if you’re stumbling across a lost city hidden in the mountains. Its architecture feels intentional, futuristic yet grounded.  

Avoriaz

What will strike you most about Avoriaz is how much it offers once you arrive. It’s well balanced with adrenaline but also holds space for family activities, wellness and pockets of tranquility. For creatives, it's inspiring. For athletes, it’s a playground. For the tired and overworked, it’s a high altitude reset button. Despite its remote appearance; the town is full of life and movement. In the summer the snow gives way to a mountain playground, a place where you can marry adrenaline and stillness together.

There’s a dramatic via ferrata route with suspension bridges and cliffside cables if you’re looking for a pulse-quickening climb. The town is a haven for mountain bikers, with downhill trails and e-MTV routes threading through the Portes du Soleil. However, it’s not all intensity. You can find golf, paddleboarding on Lac d’Avoriaz, paragliding (which we didn’t have the heart for), and many other activities. It’s thoughtfully designed; spacious without feeling over-curated. A place where families, couples, friends and solo travellers can enjoy a plethora of activities but also just as easily find quiet in the alpine air. 

Hotel Le Mil8 

Hotel Le Mil8 will feel like you're stepping into a quiet kind of luxury. The interior design balances bold design with softness. Everything felt purposeful yet never fussy; the brushed concrete, the warm wood tones and the sculptural furniture feel like an extension of the surrounding landscape.

The view from the balcony will seal the deal. Looking across the resort with the jagged peaks of Hauts-Forts framed in the scene, you will relish how the dramatic mountain ridges meet the cheerful, everyday life of Avoriaz. It’s the kind of view that will make you pause without even realising.  

A visit here will pull you back to yourself. Places like Morzine, Refuge De La Golèse and Avoriaz don't just offer views, they offer perspective. They strip away the static and leave you with something cleaner.

Not every journey has to be loud to change. Some just need to be real.  

Words & Photography by Philipp Raheem