Category Archives: Morzine

An apartment for all budgets in Morzine !

As the summer continues to sizzle in Morzine with plenty of sporting and other activities in town, and thoughts turn to the possibility of being able to re-live the mountain dream every summer and winter in your own holiday home, we are lucky enough to be able to offer a selection of delightful apartments with something to suit every pocket……

If you are thinking of taking the plunge and buying a property in our great little town, take a look at some of the apartments that are currently available, and get in touch for further details or to set up a visit or two!

Appt Le Ressachaux, 295,000€
Only about 15 minutes walk from the Tourist Office, with a ski bus stop right outside, this apartment represents very good value indeed in Morzine. There are two good-sized bedrooms, a separate kitchen and a large living room with a cosy fireplace. It is a sunny property and the living area and master bedroom both open onto a super, long balcony/terrace to enable you to make the most of the summer. Storage is not a problem as the apartment comes with private loft-space of 19m2, and of course there is a ski locker at ground level. Excellent rental potential too from this super town property!
https://alpine-property.com/morzine/appt-le-ressachaux/2974

Appt La Plagne, 345,000€
A very pretty apartment in a well-looked after residence in a tranquil setting but right on the ski bus route. This apartment has two good-sized bedrooms, a lovely sunny living room and a separate kitchen. Carefully renovated, it feels very spacious, helped by the long balcony and super mountain views. On a practical note, there is covered parking, separate guest parking and cave storage at street level. A delightful gem of a holiday home-from-home!
https://alpine-property.com/morzine/appt-la-plagne/3081

Appt Mignon, 370,000€
Nowhere could be more central than this apartment! Right in the heart of Morzine’s rue du Bourg, everything is on the doorstep, from skibus to bakery, bars and restaurants. The apartment is light and airy with two double bedrooms, a pretty kitchen, and a modern bathroom. The huge living area has plenty of space for relaxed dining, lounging after a long day on the mountain, and even space to tuck in a sofa bed without disturbing the flow of the room. There is separate cave storage at street level. A very rentable property, and absolutely worth a look for its flexible accommodation and fantastic position in the town!
https://alpine-property.com/morzine/appt-mignon/2816

Appt Slalom 12, 525,000€
In one of the most ‘sought-after’ residences in Morzine, bang in the centre of town next to the Tourist Office, this apartment offers two double bedrooms and a pleasant open-plan living area with a super sunny balcony over-looking the town square. Very convenient for the town and the slopes, this property would make an excellent holiday base winter or summer, is an ideal rental potential, and a solid investment in terms of resale prospects!
https://alpine-property.com/morzine/appt-slalom-12/3012

Appt Creve Coeur, 735,000€
On a quiet side street in an elevated position (so with great views!), Creve Coeur is only a 5 minute walk from all the action on the rue du Bourg, and is barely 100m from the nearest ski bus stop. The apartment is very spacious with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a roomy dining/living area with balcony access, and an open fire for a bit of ambience in the winter! With street level cave storage, and dedicated parking, this property is an ideal holiday home and also has fantastic rental potential!
https://alpine-property.com/morzine/appt-creve-coeur/3131

Our agents in Morzine, Ailsa and Marie-Anne, will be happy to answer all your questions about these and other apartments that we currently have on our books, as well as to organise visits if you plan to be in town – drop us a line or give us a call !

All the properties we have for sale in Morzine.

Spartan Race Morzine 2

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What is the Spartan Race?

An assault course or “obstacle race”, from 4km to 42km. It started 10 years ago in the US and is now franchised to 14 countries. France and the UK have half a dozen races each a year. But of course across Europe the number of accessible races is huge, there is one or two running every weekend throughout the spring and summer. In the US there is even a spin-off TV show!

In Morzine this year around 8000 are taking part, on the Spartan Sprint, Super Spartan, Spartan Beast and Ultra Beast. The 42km Ultra has 60 obstacles and the winners will cover this in 7 hrs, I guess the last people to cross the line will take 12hrs or so!

The obstacles seem to involve plenty of rivers, slippery walls, steep slopes, spear throws, monkey bars, ropes, more ropes and if you fail any obstacles the penalty is 30 burpees. From what I saw some of the harder obstacles are almost impossible to complete when tired so that will mean a lot of burpees! The last obstacle to cross is a fire jump!

Running each event is a huge undertaking, permanent staff and volunteers have to muck it to build the 60 obstacles and manage the event across the weekend. Entry fees for the competitors range from 40€ to 240€ depending on the length of course.

: Climbing into the start zone!Une palissade pour accéder au départ !

: Water, mud and climb/De l’eau, de la boue, de la grimpe

: 30 burpees

: Diabolical descents/ Descentes diaboliques

: Nasty ascents/Ascensions “qui tuent”

: Virtually impossible/Impossible pour un humain normalement constitué !

: Quite/Tout à fait

: Firewall/Saut de feu

New Ski Lift News in Morzine and the Portes du Soleil

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Back in April 2009 I first wrote about the proposed lift linking Morzine to Prodains (and then Avoriaz)…AKA “l’Express Morzine-Avoriaz”. It was part of a clutch of integrated projects the Mairie was proposing. The Department’s application for the Winter Olympics failed and it was suggested the l’Express Morzine-Avoriaz would fall by the wayside with that.

In that earlier blog I listed the projects.

1. The current Prodains lift is due to be replaced, it is old, inefficient and some say it is condemned thanks to the fact it sits (just) within a rockfall zone. NOW DONE.

2. The whole of the Prodains area need redeveloping, it was too busy for the current infrastructure. SOME OF THIS WAS DONE AS PART OF #1.

3. The county (Haute Savoie) has just won the opportunity to bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. WE LOST OUT TO PYEONGCHANG..it’s next year!

4. Avoriaz is just starting a fairly major expansion and remodelling. We have some of the new apartments for sale. NOW DONE.

However despite this the Morzine to Prodains project continued to chug along. In 2013 they produced a video presentation.

There have been various local objections but the Mairie and most everyone else I speak to is still behind it, last month a question and answer article appeared in one of the local papers.

http://www.lemessager.fr/chablais/a-morzine-la-creation-d-un-telepherique

In short the article says.

1 . The Express Morzine-Avoriaz will form part of a massive redevelopment on the parking area between the Post Office and the Rue du Bourg. This will include a new bus station, parking and social housing.

2 . The link will cut down on the 320 bus movements and speed up getting from Morzine to Avoriaz. It’s planned for 2020/21 and is projected to cost €50 million.

3 . The operating company for Avoriaz will pay for it.

4 . There are plans to extend Avoriaz beyond what was done in 2010, another 2,000 beds, thanks to Club Med and Pierre et Vacances.

So it is obviously still on the cards. Locally the Mairie is pushing the environmental and the business case. Both these arguments hold a lot of water with the local Regional government. In addition the Mayor is making the point that Morzine is in fact a business. Last year’s poor snow season is helping further this argument. For a skier staying in Morzine the quicker they can get to Avoriaz the better!

In other news.

The Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil reports 107 million CHF of planned investment over the next 10 years. More information here.

https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/forums/Les Portes du Soleil pg 58

Les Gets Mairie has approved almost €9m of work for their area. The bulk of which is the replacement of the main Ranfolly chair.

https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/forums/Les Portes du Soleil pg 54

The liaison from St Jean d’Aulps to Les Gets is still being discussed in the face of considerable environmental opposition.

http://www.lemessager.fr/chablais/liaison-les-gets-saint-jean-d-aulps-necessite-ou-heresie

Col de Joux Plane Open or Closed?

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Is the Col de Joux plan open or closed? The answer is further down. First I will set the scene.

The Tour de France is coming to the Haute Savoie in 2016. The Queen Stage is Stage 20, the penultimate stage but final day of racing. It’s from Megeve to Morzine and scheduled for Saturday July 23rd . 146km long with about 3,500m of ascent. To add to the hype this stage has also been chosen as the Etape de Tour 2016 , this will be held on July 10th. 15,000 riders are signed up, it’s so popular the entries closed back in 2015! There are all sorts of previews of the route available on the web, this is one of the best.

The climbs are iconic, the Col des Aravis, Col de la Colombiere, Col de la Ramaz and Col de Joux Plane, because of this many cyclists are trying to ride the route prior to the event. The issue is that they have been covered in snow all winter and 3 important sections have major road works on them!

Stage 20 profile

So are they open or closed? I’ll write this from my own knowledge, updated on May 19th/2016 ,I’ll add some pictures and other resources that might help at the end.

In order that they’ll be ridden.

Col des Aravis, no issues here. This stays open all year

Col de la Colombiere, closed to traffic but being ridden by many. No major issues.

Col de la Ramaz, officially closed but the summit is passable over about 300m of gravel. It needs tarmacking. This won’t put most cyclists off. Passable by car too. Though officially closed.

Descent from Praz de Lys to Taninges. Just before the Pont des Gets at 1100m altitude the road is closed to traffic thanks to a long term issue with a landslide. There is an official diversion via the Col de l’Encrenaz which works well for cyclists based in Morzine or Les Gets but it is a big detour for someone trying to ride the official route. UPDATE MAY 21st … In fact the issue (pictured below) is the fear of a spontaneous release on the landslip. There is a wall protecting the road and it is easy to pass. When this section is open the council erect traffic lights and place two full time “spotters” to keep an eye on things. Maintaining this presence out of season obviously costs too much – hence it is closed.

Col de Joux Plane, closed to traffic thanks to ongoing repairs to a landslip at 1640m altitude, just down from the Col du Ranfolly on the Morzine side. It is passable on the weekend by a bike but not recommended, crossing the hole with the bike on your shoulder is slippery and muddy too. I suspect a cyclist will be turned away when the building site is operational.

Col de la Ramaz , 300m of gravel, May 2016

The closed part of the road before the landslip on the way to Praz de Lys (Ramaz descent)

The retaining wall by the landslip, no ongoing work and easy to pass.

Col de Joux Plane, closed! No doubt left by these signs.

The hole in the Joux Plane road.

UPDATE 06/07/2016

The hole on the Joux Plane has been repaired!

Out of interest, the Joux Verte road from Linderets to Avoriaz is closed to traffic but passable by bike.

Col de la Joux Verte, closed to traffic but passable by bike

Lower down the Joux Verte road towards Linderets.

Further resources are available on these links.

These are probably the best, though currently they differ from my first hand knowledge.

http://www.cols-cyclisme.com/ouverture-cols.htm

http://www.sport-passion.fr/parcours/etat-cols.php

This is the official one.

http://www.inforoute74.fr/

and for the Haute Alpes

https://www.inforoute05.fr/wir3/cols.html

Alpine Property in the press, winter 13/14

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Every year I do a round up of where Alpine Property has appeared in the UK press over the winter. In fact it’s mostly in the Autumn as the newspapers promote the up-coming ski season. As you can imagine this makes getting hold of snowy pictures of our chalets a challenge.

You’ll see that we are normally promoted as Winkworth’s Alpine arm. In general the writers like to feature the well known resorts like Chamonix but this year there has been a diversification. Some of the journalists have been actively seeking out some of the lesser known spots in the Haute Savoie.

Evening Standard August 2013

Cathy Hawker wrote this article about Les Gets for the her regular paper the London Evening Standard. It’s promoting some of the new build projects in Les Gets.

Country Life October 2013

Some random ads for some mega chalets (one for 20m€), we sneaked one in in Combloux for 1.68m€. This did quite well for us when reposted on Facebook, the full article is here. Country Life Oct 2013

Country Life November 2013

A classic article by one of the in-house journalists (Arabella Youens) promoting the big name ski areas across the Alps. Verbier, Couchevel, Meribel and would you believe it Morzine. How times change. 15 years ago Morzine would have been mentioned in the “undiscovered French family resorts category. Not in with the big boys! You can see the article here.

Sunday Times December 2013

A nice article by Sean Newsom featuring one of our favourite traditional properties we have for sale in Le Biot. Some of the lesser known ski resorts in the Alps like Bernex and Samoens got a mention Sunday Times Dec 2013

Money Week December 2013

A little snippet advertising one of most picturesque properties in Le Grand-Bornand. It’s chalet Fleur de Neige, just a short walk to the skiing and with amazing panoramic views of the whole area.

Sunday Times February 2014

This was one of the best articles that appeared over the winter. Written by Sean Newsom again (from http://welove2ski.com/) it was a well researched article on Morzine. I even got to be a bit cynical in it! Sunday Times article

Last years results are here:

Does my catered chalet have to be in the ski resort?

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Location, Location Location.

I’ve just answered a question from one of our clients about the location for a catered ski chalet. I thought I would expand on it here.

Qu. Rates aside is there any demand for the quieter out-of-town chalet or do 90% of holiday makers want the bright-lights?
The closer to town the better for your own logistics and also to improve your retention rate. You can always attract the first time customers with good marketing and price but long term a small business has to have a good repeat business rate. Though there is a section of the market that will stick with amazing service and an out-of town location but overall you’ll make life hard for yourselves.

Qu. We always do self-catered these days as we like mooching around town and looking in the shops. But things may be different in a catered chalet. Families may want the quieter place and never go out? There are many different kinds of people so we don’ t have to appeal to everyone but what is the accepted logic of chalet business please ?
This is a funny one but although there are many types of skier you’ll find you will attract a certain sort. The customers will react to where and how you advertise and they will tend to conform to the image you project, as an example if your advertising says “family friendly” and has lots of pictures of kids, you’ll attract the families and not too many single travellers! On the question “will they go out”, given the opportunity a family will. There are always things to do and see in a ski village and most families don’t survive well cooped up. Though saying that if they have no choice and they are prepared with games and DVD’s a spacious chalet is fine too.

Qu. Morzine or Chatel? We have only experienced the Morzine side so are interested in Les Gets/Morzine/St Jean D’aulps. Are we missing a trick? Is there good business opps in Chatel or Abondance? Much quieter though and quite far away in the car I think?
As ski destinations go, Morzine, Les Gets and Chatel are on a par, Morzine and Les Gets have become more well known over the last 10 years, I don’t really know why, the upshot is that it is easier to sell a holiday but that there is now more competition! You can run a catered chalet business in the likes of Abondance and St Jean d’Aulps but I think you’ll find it harder in the long term. Watching the businesses in these places (and I live in St Jean d’Aulps) the majority (not all) tend to gravitate to the bright lights eventually (or give up). It may be that they started in the satellite towns, built up some expertise/clientèle and contacts and that gave them the leg up into the well known areas and that’s fine. Knowing this though, I would be tempted to start in the main town and if I can’t buy, rent.

Some background. Morzine, Les Gets and Chatel are in the Portes du Soleil. I’ll list the main towns (more correctly Ski Stations or Ski Resorts) in bold and then the outlying villages.

Morzine, followed in order of popularity with ski holiday operators > > Cote d’Arboz/Essert Romand, St Jean d’Aulps and then Le Biot.

Les Gets probably has the same satellite towns as Morzine.

Chatel followed by La Chapelle d’Abondance, Abondance

Then of course there is the Grand Massif. Samoens is a popular town and has satellite towns of Morillon and then Verchaix. Les Carroz has Arâches La Frasse.

Over in the Mont Blanc region we have Chamonix, it’s “villages” have grown up somewhat so Les Houches and Argentière are both in bold, Vallorcine is still an outlying village and Servoz even more so. Don’t forget St Gervais and Les Contamines and Megève (it’s unlikely you’ll be starting a business there!) which has outlying villages of Combloux and Cordon.

In the Aravis there is the Grand-Bornand which has Entremont and Le Petit-Bornand and La Clusaz has St Jean de Sixt, Thones and Manigod.

We have chalets for sale in all the above resorts. Many of them would be suitable as properties to be run as a chalet business. As an example here is Chalet Ancolie, situated in La Clusaz, 8 bedrooms, walking distance from the ski lift and for sale at 1 490 000 €uros. Click on the picture for further details.

Giving your chalet a makeover

The final stages of finishing off a renovation are often overlooked, the furnishing and decorating of the newly renovated apartment or chalet is often left to the owners to undertake – a daunting enough task close to home! Many of the renovation projects managed by members of the Alpine Property team are finished off by professionals, you’d imagine that this would increase the cost even more, it doesn’t have to. Especially if you take into account the amount of time you would need to finish the job. Time better spent enjoying the finished product!

Liz Ockelton – MAKE SPACE DESIGNS (www.makespacedesigns.com) has completed a number of projects for Alpine Property. Here are some of the results.

1. Chalet Robri in Morzine. Situated in out of the most sought after locations in Morzine and well worth going to some effort to present in the best possible light.

1. Chalet La Roche SAMOENS – sold by Denis Barbier of Alpine Property renovations completed by MSD adding an extra bedroom and now 4 new bathrooms. The original property listing is here. A selection of photos of the updated chalet are below.

2. La Christiana MORZINE – sold by Lee Massey of Alpine Property though before it ended up on the website. Newly furnished by MSD.

3. This BONNEVAUX farm, sold by Claudia and Ed. Chalet Bonnevaux. The original listing is here, this old farm was habitable but it has now been renovated. Below are some images of the construction and renovation work.

Chalet dressing in Morzine

Lee Massey (our Morzine agent) needed to spruce up a property taken on for sale. He asked Liz Ockleton (Make Space Designs) from Chatel to have a look and see what she could do. Chalet Robri had been used by it’s owners for the last 10-20 years and had had no real attention paid to staging it for re-sale.

The original furniture layout, styling and photos of the property did no real justice to the chalet which has an unusual architectural style and huge potential for potential buyers. Liz’s brief was to dress the chalet for the purpose of adding value and to give it a freshened look.

The following pictures have been taken since the makeover:

The budget was 5000€ including design fees. For this budget Liz was able to address key areas such as lighting, decoration, bedding and the odd piece of furniture. By moving furniture around and re-dressing some of the key areas Liz has been able to add some warmth and character into the space to give it more of a ski chalet feel. The photos of the chalet now show the chalet off to its potential and this will hopefully attract more customers.

Chalet Robri is now advertised for sale in Morzine at 1 195 000 €uros with Alpine Property at http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_3_chaletrobri

The original pictures are available here: