Doing a Season in Les Gets

Most people who do a season in the Portes du Soleil end up in Morzine. It has the deepest British employer market in France, an established seasonaire community built up over thirty-plus years, and a well-worn infrastructure for people arriving alone who need a social circle fast. All of that is real, and it's why Morzine keeps getting recommended.

Les Gets — 6km away by road, directly connected by lift, and on the same 600km Portes du Soleil pass — is the quieter version of the same deal. It is not a consolation prize. For a specific kind of seasonaire, it is the better choice.

The Resort

Les Gets sits at 1,172m in the Haute-Savoie — slightly higher than Morzine's 1,000m base, which matters modestly for snow reliability at the village level in marginal weeks. The village has a recognisable traditional Savoyard character: the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste at the centre, chalets lining the ski pistes directly into the village, a pedestrian main street with a functional range of shops and restaurants. It reads as a ski village rather than a ski station — it existed before tourism arrived and it shows in the architecture.

The Musée de la Mécanique, a museum of mechanical musical instruments established in 1965, is an unusual piece of local culture and a genuinely eccentric footnote for a ski resort. It is not why anyone moves here for a season, but it is the kind of thing that signals a place with some character beyond the lift-ticket economy.

The Skiing

The skiing from Les Gets covers its own direct sectors — Col de l'Encrenaz, Les Chavannes, and Mont Chéry, totalling approximately 50km of marked piste served from the village — plus the full Portes du Soleil connection via lifts to Morzine and the wider network of 600km from there. Access to Avoriaz, Châtel, Champéry, and the Swiss sector works identically to a Morzine-based season.

The Mont Chéry sector is south-facing, which can mean good afternoon light in clear cold periods but less reliable snow cover than the north-facing La Turche area, which holds snow well and tends to be the better call in marginal conditions. Experienced seasonaires learn the micro-geography of both resorts quickly and route their days accordingly.

One honest note about the skiing: Les Gets's direct ski area is smaller than Morzine's on its own. If you plan to stay within walking distance of the Les Gets lifts for most of your skiing rather than routing through to Morzine, the terrain variety is more limited. The benefit of the Portes du Soleil is only fully realised when you actually use the whole area. Most seasonaires based in Les Gets do exactly that — they ski the whole domain as a matter of course — but it's worth being clear that Les Gets's independent ski area is the smaller component.

The Key Difference from Morzine

Les Gets is quieter. Not slightly quieter — meaningfully quieter. The seasonaire population is smaller. The British tour operator chalet presence is lower than in Morzine, though not absent. The nightlife is more limited: there are bars, there is après-ski, there is a social scene, but it is a smaller version of what Morzine offers rather than an equivalent one.

This is a feature for some seasonaires and a drawback for others. If you want to be at the centre of the densest British-seasonaire social infrastructure in the Alps, Morzine is where that lives. If you want the Portes du Soleil terrain and a reasonable employer market but a slightly less tourist-saturated daily atmosphere — a quieter main street, fewer groups of British tourists on a long weekend, a more local rhythm to the week — Les Gets delivers that.

The two resorts function as part of the same practical ecosystem. The Morzine-Les Gets ski bus and taxi service runs throughout the season. Most seasonaires based in Les Gets go to Morzine for specific evenings, shopping trips, or job interviews. Most Morzine-based seasonaires venture to Les Gets for quieter days or certain runs. The distinction is not a wall between two separate worlds — it is a genuine difference in daily atmosphere within the same connected area.

Cost of Living

Similar to Morzine overall. Shared accommodation in Les Gets runs approximately €380–650 per person per month — slightly lower in some categories than Morzine due to less demand pressure, but not dramatically so. The same dynamic applies: starting your accommodation search in August or September is essential, because the supply of shared houses is finite and December start dates fill up before November.

Working Rights

France throughout — see /visa-guides/france for current details. The same rules apply as in Morzine: UK nationals can use the Permis Vacances Travail for ages 18–35; EU nationals have full freedom of movement.

The Job Market

Smaller than Morzine. This is the honest constraint on Les Gets as a seasonaire destination. Some British tour operators have operations here — Ski France and Inghams have had presence in Les Gets — alongside independent French hospitality employers, restaurants, equipment rental shops, and a smaller hotel sector. But if your job search is specifically targeted at Les Gets rather than the broader Portes du Soleil area, you are working from a smaller pool of positions.

Many seasonaires take a practical approach: they look for positions that cover the Portes du Soleil area from either resort, then choose their accommodation in Les Gets once the job is confirmed. The two villages are close enough that this is workable.

The Morzine seasonaire Facebook group covers the broader Portes du Soleil ecosystem and is still the primary informal market for both jobs and housing in this area, regardless of which village you end up based in.

Who Les Gets Actually Suits

Seasonaires who want the Portes du Soleil terrain and reasonable access to the British employer market in the area, but who specifically want a quieter daily environment than Morzine provides. Those who find Morzine's density of British tourist nightlife something to avoid rather than seek out. Couples or groups where the priority is the skiing and the mountain life rather than being at the social centre of the British seasonaire world. People doing a second or later season who already know what the busy version looks like.

If you are on your first season and your primary concern is finding a job and meeting people quickly, Morzine's larger infrastructure makes that easier. If you already know how seasons work and you want a specific kind of quieter atmosphere without giving up the terrain, Les Gets earns its consideration.