The Skiers' Guide to Châtel

Chatel is a lively and charming family-friendly resort. It has direct connections to the slopes with the gondola located near the top of the resort, connecting the resort to Super Chatel where there are a few blues and reds. From there, you can take two chairlifts to reach Linga and two more to reach Plaine Dranse and be able to access the rest of the Portes Du Soleil domain. Also, the buses to either Vonnes, Linga or Pre La Joux are all free which is an added bonus if you’d rather skip some chairlifts. Within the resort, at Christmas time (when I went) there were lots of activities going on, such as an ice rink and a merry-go-round, as well as Christmas-themed events held for kids, so it is very family-friendly. There are a few good bars too but I would say it’s much more directed towards families than après-ski, unlike other resorts such as Avoriaz or Chamonix.

Overall a great resort with lots of lifts and runs covering a huge area. Only criticism is that the slopes weren’t as well posted as experienced in some other resorts.

Had a fab time here. The ski school for little ones was not great for English speaking kids and has caused a bit of a fear of ski school for my daughter (previous ski schools elsewhere she’s loved). Great accommodation and food options

Lovely picturesque village, some beautiful places to eat with awesome French cuisine.

Service was lovely, everyone was friendly.

The slopes were amazing. All well kept. We had a bit of snow just before we arrived and it was a few days of bluebird skiing, but the piste bashers maintained the runs extremely well.

Great mix of all levels runs to go on too. I really enjoyed getting over to Avoriaz and coming back all in the one day.

I thought was pretty great cos connected to rest of portes du soleil. Wasn't perfect as there is a section which has many many many drag lifts which when u with bad skiers came a Lil tedious cos they always do the falling off, but this section can be avoided so not a bad area

Something for everyone and access to huge area with Ported du Soleil. Friendly town and not too big, lovely small hotels and great shops and restaurants.

Nice little ski town with a gondola up to the main ski area. Possible to ski hike if you can do a red run (though it was quite patchy and chopped up when I was there due to the temp)

Also possibility to get a short transfer to other parts of Portes du Soleil network and skin over to Avoriaz / Switzerland for the day and get back in good time. So you won’t ever run out of new slopes to check out.

I've skied in Austria and France, both have been fun but the Old school style of Chatel makes it the winner for me. The town is cute with good access from either Thonon or from Aigle on the Swiss side.
Driving over the pass from Switzerland into Chatel on a sunny Monday lunchtime to the view of a white ski dreamland started the trip off well. Ski hire pickup was easy and troublefree. I stayed on Rue du Petit Chatel with views over the village to Mont de Grange and easy access to the Petit Chatel chairlift, and a quick bus ride to the main lifts to Super Chatel and Linga.
Early skiing on beautiful groomed slopes is always great in and around Chatel with a good variety of skiing and easy slopes to link between the lifts to get all around the resort with ease.
A couple of the red runs are testy and could possibly be rated blacks but being stretched is never a bad thing. The blues and greens are all graded perfectly and can make for some wonderful relaxed final runs down off the mountains.
Overall the skiing is more relaxed here than at neighbouring Avoriaz.

Very good resort for skiing just Chatel village lacks so much infrastructure eg bars and restaurants the town had out grown the catering for the skiers staying there!

Lovely town and his lifts. Weather was changeable but thankfully there was a snow dump on the first day of the trip. The pistes were varied and the on mountain bars were nice with great atmosphere. One run connecting the resort to the rest of Portes Do Soleil seemed to have been closed for a number of years as there were trees growing in it - this necessitated a long slow traverse lift unfortunately. Overall the resort was really fun but the interconnectivity was a small downside. If the price was right I'd still go back

Lovely skiing, even though it was busy we managed to get away from those areas to find some really good skiing. The resort wasn't to my liking as limited places to eat due to food intolerance.

Beautiful traditional Alpine village. Stay in Chatel for a relaxed, picturesque resort experience, with the benefit of snow sure Avoriaz, snow parks, Follie Douce etc higher up.

Chatel is a lovely original Alpine ski village. It contrasts to neighbouring Avoriaz & Morzine by being more French. The skiing around the Linga and Plan Dranse areas is the most snow sure in the area. A great resort for families and more mature skiers.

Have been to Chatel around 5 times. Always stay at a family friendly hotel Le Renard. It’s close to Linga ski lift so can walk there in 5-10 mins. Taking Linga lift gets you high quickly into the wider PDS ski area, where for long varied piste skiing the variety is fantastic. Great mountain huts, for lunches, being able to go from France to Switzerland is always fun. Overall highly recommend Chatel and the wider PDS area.

Fab place. Great ski area with very modern lift system leading to practically no queues. Linked into the Portes du Soleil system so huge ski area. Tons of off piste and fantastic piste preparation.

Great resort couldnt reccomend more great for all skier/snowboarders level wise and just a great place to escape would move if i could

5 weeks skiing here, fantastic snow, expertly managed, 640km of piste over Portes de Soleil.
Large off piste areas, great food options.
Excellent value.
Fantastique !

A lovely, family resort offering relatively inexpensive skiing for all. Chatel is well connected to the slopes which are predominantly blue and red, with a few black runs.

Nice resort, good selection of pistes, including really fun red and black ungroomed ones.I was a bit concerned about the town and its bottom lifts being spread out over a stretch of the valley but the free buses are great and made it no problem to get about

So many km of runs available to all levels of skiers, snow boarders and d visitors. Apres is good in central locations.