The Haute Savoie area, specifically the Portes du Soleil, has for many years been a popular area for second homes in the mountains. The attraction is obvious – extensive snow sure skiing, beautiful alpine architecture, within easy reach of the channel and only 60 minutes from Geneva airport.
The most popular resorts in the Portes du Soleil have historically been Morzine and Les Gets, and their prices reflect this. The smaller resort of Chatel though, has often been overlooked.
Chatel is a picturesque resort, roughly the same size as Les Gets, located right on the Swiss border and at the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area. The village managed to miss the ugly concrete building boom of the 70′s and developments have remained true to its chalet style alpine heritage.
As well as being a ski resort, Chatel has a lot of extra benefits. Being right on the Swiss border gives easy access to the Lake Geneva towns on Montreux and Lausanne. Also in summer, the mountain bike park at Pre La Joux just goes from strength to strength and the open air swimming pool and activities such as “luging” and “devil kart” mean there are plenty of activities to keep everyone happy. Couple this with the flowers found throughout the village, and the tinkle of the cow bells, Chatel makes a wonderful place to take a summer holiday.
Chatel has always lagged behind Morzine and Les Gets price wise. This has mainly been because the ski circuit breaks down here, and it is necessary to get a bus from Linga to Super Chatel. On paper, this puts many people off. However, what you don’t realise without actually visiting and skiing the area is that Chatel has some of the best skiing in the Portes du Soleil. The north facing slopes of Linga and Pre La Joux have varied and exciting terrain and link in to Avoriaz (the highest point in the Portes du Soleil) really easily. This area gets some of the highest snowfall in the French Alps so the season is long – from the end of November to the end of April. On top of this, the ski area has benefitted from lots of investment over the last few years, with large/fast express chairlifts largely replacing the older 2/3 man slow lifts, and now 100% of the slopes are covered by snow making facilities.
The fact that Chatel has remained relatively undiscovered has given it the reputation as the Alp’s “best keep secret” between those in the know. However, all this may be about to change.
Starting this year, the two ski areas of Super Chatel and Linga are going to be linked, with the liaison being based at the picturesque Lac De Vonnes area of the village. This will be a multi stage project over the next 2 or 3 years, but when it is finished, finally Chatel will be able to join the big boys of the ski area. It will truly be at the heart of the Portes du Soleil, with easy access to both the Avoriaz side and the Swiss side of this massive domain. When this happens, the price difference between Chatel and Morzine will close significantly.
Some big players are already aware of this potential. MGM, the luxury ski apartment specialists, are building a large development in Chatel. MGM are experts in the ski apartment market, and they study areas which are about to explode in popularity. In fact, their development has proved to be so popular that they are putting up their prices by up to 10%!
Now is the time to buy in Chatel before the market starts to take off again. We have a number of properties available in Chatel and the surrounding area, including the aforementioned prestigious MGM development. If you want to arrange a visit, the contact us. If you need to book accommodation in the resort, then White-Peak Holidays can arrange a convenient place for you to stay.
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Posted by Gareth 
