Portes de Soleil

A snowHead

I am looking to buy an apartment in the Portes do Soleil region. We have been looking at Thollon les Memises, has anyone any knowledge of this ski resort and is it accessible to the Portes de Soleil ski area?

We are looking for an apartment within easy reach of Geneva and skiing, so would be grateful if anyone has any recommendations. We would be happy to be in a small village but near to the main ski area.

Thanks for any info.

A snowHead

Snowshower, Thollon wouldn't be my first choice. If it's where I think it is 1. you don't have direct access into the PDS (which may not be an issue) and 2. traffic round Lake Geneva can be a right pain at rush hour and on transfer days. But I've never visited it - it may well make up for this with other charms.

Have a look at Praz-de-Lys.

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Snowshower, I've had an appartment in Thollon for twenty years. Skiing is limited but the views are great. You can access the PDS by car. It takes about 40 mins to get to Chatel / Pre la Joux but other resorts in the PDS are closer. My logic for buying in Thollon at the time was, ski season is 3 months, summer season is 5 months and Thollon is better as a resort in summer than winter. Access to the lake and Evian / Thonon is easy. Access to the PDS is no worse than a daily commute. You get more property for your money. But as always you can only choose based on what your specific wants and budget are.

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BergenBergen, Interesting! Do you rent it out in the winter? I wondered what % of the season is booked! I went for Avoriaz in the end, although small and purpose built I think we only had 3 weeks that the place was not rented last year. That said it was not rented out at all during the summer!

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Roy Hockley, I dont let the apartment out but do let family and friends use the place. Again this seems more popular in summer. I did look at apartments in Avoriaz and Chatel at the time but because we had small children at the time and their skiing time would be limited I went for the space so they could run around. Now that they have grown up and skiing full time maybe its time for a bigger resort

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Thanks for the replies.

We have had an apartment in La Plagne for the last seventeen years but there is nothing else to do if you don't want to ski all the time. We are ready for a change now and want to be in an area where we can ski if we want to but if not there are other things to do, i.e. visit Geneva, go to the lake. We don't want to be isolated in a mountain village again but would prefer something lower down and more accessible. We have never been to the Portes de Soleil but we are going next week to have a look around so would be grateful for any recommendations or advice.

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Snowshower, Let us know how you get on and welcome to snowheads

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Snowshower, i am thinking along the same lines and would be interested in the findings from your visit, especialy time from lake side to mountianside.

Snowshower, we have had holidays in the area both in the winter and the summer. As there are a number of places that you can access PDS from then having a place nearer the lake seems a good idea to me. You can always pick what time you drive up to your chosen lift starting point for the day and the area is extensive, although lower than other "mega resorts". Summer can be fun too near the lake and lots of the PDS lifts operate in the summer for MTB or walking etc

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The lake can be lovely in summer - friends with an apartment in Abondance took us to Thonon, and it was stunning, like being in the south of France (only better). But I'd personally never bother with a visit to Geneva at any time of year. The lower mountain areas are generally much more attractive in summer, too, when apart from the odd high altitude hike (preferably not somewhere which looks like an opencast coal mine) it's better to be below the tree line.

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I like to feel that Geneva is 'just there' - and one of the reasons that we bought land and built in Les Gets 11 years ago - not that I go there very often, hardly at all, but its a bit like being accessible to London, its there, just up to us when we choose to actually go there. We are due out to LG this weekend - can't say we will miss the rain and wind of Sussex - and always love it that time of year and also June. We didn't do a huge amount of research as we had always skied in Austria and more or less came across PDS by a lucky accident - probably if we had done all the research and visiting we would still be thinking about it now.

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BergenBergen, just been chatting to a couple of developers in thollon , and must admit it looks like an interesting prospect as i am looking for an all seasons location, are there any areas to avoid in thollon and any general thoughts from a local would be helpful Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

Neilski, I would suggest looking at places that are within walking distance to the lift. Being close to Evian it can get fairly busy at times and the large car park can get full. Most of the new build properties are central. The Les Lanches piste was blasted out a couple of years back to make the new properties 'ski in, ski out' but the height of the village means that the snow is usually man made and subject to weather. The village is quiet, most events are based around the french holiday periods and outside these it can be deserted. The closeness of Evian, cold beds and lack of any TO activity means that bars, restuarants and shops are limited. On the plus side, geographically it gives has access to the PDS, the Lake and Switzerland and there is no thru traffic so peacefull

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

We are back from our trip to the Haute Savoie and think we have found the area where we would like to buy an apartment. We thought Thollon and the area around it was beautiful but think perhaps the skiing would be too limited unless we drove to PDS. If we were to move permanently we would choose around Thonon, Evian and Thollon.

We came across Samoens and it seems to tick all our boxes, it is an all round location, very pretty, linked to the Grand Massif and no driving to the ski area. I would be grateful for any info and advice, good or bad, on Samoens. Many thanks.

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BergenBergen,thanks for that, think we would want some village activity at most times of the year , but especially in the summer when we would plan to be in residence for a month at a time at least, dontnmind havingnto commute for sporting activities but like to walk for beer and wine and food Very Happy

A snowHead

I think Samoens is lovely, a bit quiet for me but if you want a smaller village it's a good spot.

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Snowshower, we are very impressed with Samoens/Grand Massif. It's on our list of what we do if we a. sell our property in Chamonix and b. don't buy near Morzine. a, is not terribly likely but you never know. I'd go for it...

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Portes de Soleil

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