Tree lined Les Houches sits at foot of the Chamonix valley, with great views up towards Mont Blanc. With the expansive Megeve sitting behind, and the several great options for riding lining the valley, is Les Houches worth a trip?
We headed to Les Houches in March 2024 to find out.
Les Houches essential stats
- Highest point: 1,900 metres
- Resort altitude: 1,010 metres
- Vertical drop: 900 metres
- Ski area: 55 kms
- Nearest airport: Geneva (GVA)
- Daily ski pass price: €55 (2024)
A short hop down the Chamonix valley from Geneva, Les Houches is a relatively low altitude and beginner friendly ski resort. With the entire resort sitting below 2000m, it can be hit or miss with the snow cover. But, this is home to the famous Kandahar run, a great tree lined black run which is part of the ski world cup circuit.
Les Houches is also the ski area in the Chamonix valley with the best options for beginners.
So with a good mix of beginner friendly pistes and even some more challenging runs for those more experienced skiers and snowboarders, is this a good option for your ski or snowboard break?
Les Houches Chamonix Ski Resort
Choosing your Les Houches ski pass
While Les Houches is part of the Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass, NOT the cheaper Chamonix Le Pass, it is very much it’s own ski resort. In fact, if you’re staying in Chamonix and you want to ride Les Houches, it’s recommended to get a pass for the days you want to ski or snowboard in Les Houches, rather than get the Unlimited Pass.
This is because the Mont Blanc Unlimited Pass covers other resorts such as Verbier, Courmayeur, Megeve, Aiguille du Midi and the Chamonix area ski resorts. Basically, it’s better suited to longer trips where you plan to get the most out of your pass.
But the good news is that Les Houches offers one of the most affordable daily and weekly ski passes in the Chamonix valley, with prices as low as €30 for a day (although expect to pay €54 for a high season one day pass). The 3 day pass comes in at €119.20, which works out as under €40 a day, which is excellent value for a long weekend or mid-week break.
Getting to Les Houches
There are numerous options for coach services from Geneva Airport, with transfer taking around 1hour 20mins. We took the FlixBus to Chamonix itself, but you can jump off in Les Houches, or take the train to St Gervais and connect by local bus into Les Houches.
For larger parties, a private transfer might make sense with barely an hour from Geneva to the resort.
What is Les Houches ski area like?
There are several ways to get onto the mountain to explore Les Houches, the main one being the Prairion gondola. Despite being fairly old, it’s quite a fast gondola and efficient and there are rarely big crowds in this part of the valley, unlike the Flegere/Brevent gondolas.
The bus from Chamonix and St Gervais stops right in front of the gondola and ticket office, and you’re whisked up onto the main station at Prarion (1900m).*
(*Budget tip: theres a great little boulanger right opposite the Prairion ski lift, for a cheap lunch and decent coffee, not to mention a very tempting array of cakes when you’re coming off the mountain at the end of the day)
First impressions off the gondola onto the mountain are quite flat. You arrive at what is mostly a wide area mostly lined with green runs, perfect for kids and learners. You can either drop, skiers left, down a nice little red run, Table d’Orientation, which will eventually lead back to the village (if the run is open, which it wasn’t when we were there). Or, head across the ski school area to take the lift onto the main plateau section to drop down the varying sides of the mountain here.
This sets the tone for much of Les Houches: Lovely tree lined runs which are not exceptionally challenging, but offer some fun cruising and great opportunities for learners and low intermediates.
The central plateau at Prarion is quite broad and flanked by mostly ski schools – with a selection of red blue pistes spreading away down the mountain. The valley facing runs take in views of Mont Blanc and Chamonix (when there is no cloud cover) and this north-east facing slope is where you’ll find the bulk of the longer runs including the epic Kandahar.
The back of the mountain (south west facing) is where you’ll find the shorter but quite thrilling blue and red pistes that face St Gervais.
When I was here, the bottom half of the mountain was sparsely dusted with snow, so most of the longer runs were not available. This meant that, for the most part, runs were quite short – with only the first section of the Kandahar piste open, for example.
Les Houches for learners
In the Chamonix valley, Les Houches is seen as the best choice for learners and families. This is due to a mixture of both family friendly terrain, the village itself and access to baby slopes.
Les Tourchet is a learner area in the resort itself – so no need to take the gondola up. You’ll find two drag lifts here on a simple learners area which is ideal for those taking first steps on the snow. With that being said, during my visit in Mar h 2024, the snow cover on this section was very patchy and I don’t think it was open.
We used the beginner area in Chamonix itself at Les Planards, which is a more full featured learner area, with a selection of ski schools, chairlifts and a fun park too.
The main nursery area is on top of the mountain, just off the main Prarion lift. This is very accessible, just a few steps from the gondola itself – although you will of course need a lift pass to access.
My Les Houches experience
I arrived at Les Houches off the back of several days riding across the main Chamonix resorts of Brevent-Flegere. In fact, the main reason I chose Les Houches on this day, instead of the more challenging Grand Montets or Vallorcine, is because I knew there was going to be poor visibility with a storm rolling in. Les Houches is well known as the better option in low visibility, thanks to those tree lined pistes and the position at the foot of the valley.]
Riding Prarion
So rocking up nice and early, I climbed the gondola from Prairion and landed in the thick of a pretty dense snow storm. Visibility was pretty low, with a wind whipping across the plateau. But, dear reader, that wasn’t going to be put me off… I was here to ride, and so, in the name of research, I got stuck in.
First of all, making sense of the learner area straight off the Prairion gondola was a little confusing, and I found myself riding a green piste when I had been hunting for a red – so that stumped me for a minute. But then I got chatting with a friendly American who knew the terrain, so I followed him and duly found my bearings.
While there was poor visibility, we could still see the signage and enough of the runs that we weren’t riding blind.
The best run at the back of the mountain was the Les Fontaines red run, which was accessed through a long flat section before picking up speed down a zippy red to the Crozats lift. We then rode the La Cha section, which although a little slower and flatter – as a blue run, took in some nice sections which could be ridden off-piste.
Bellevue and Kandahar
Switching to the north facing pistes, I dropped down the short but wide Voza Prarion for a few runs. This was a fun section which probably has some great views on clear days, but as it stands is a nice fast section because it’s so wide. After a few runs here, I decided to try my hand at the Kandahar black run, because why not.
From the top, the descent onto the black section of the Kandahar is much like any other red run, with a couple of small off-piste sections where you can ride through trees between the sections. Eventually you reach a slightly imposing bowl which you can traverse if you decide to chicken out and hit the Voza Prarion red instead. But, I took the plunge and found that actually, it was only this bowl at the top that was the challenging section and beyond that it’s actually a pretty fast and fun run down to the lift back up – as I mentioned it was closed beyond this point so no choice to return to village.
After exhausting the Prarion section, I headed to the Bellevue (1800m) peak which offers a mix of other descents. Hilarously though, I couldn’t make sense of where I was and ended up at the base of a bunch of t-bar lifts which is always fun as a snowboarder. Despite being pretty damn steep, the drag lifts were fine and this section was also fun to explore with longer flatter sections and steep drops.
Towards the end of the day, the cloud started to lift and the views got much better. Finally we could see the villages and even the base of the Mont Blanc/Aiguille du Midi!
Even though it had been pretty much a white out, I’d managed to cover almost all of the terrain across the main plateau between Prarion and Bellevue. I’d even managed to get a run across a closed piste, which was great for a powder run, although the end of it was sparsely covered with snow and I ended up riding some gnarly terrain back to the lift. All good in the end though….
In summary
While Les Houches isn’t the most challenging terrain you’ll find in the Chamonix valley, there is plenty of fun to be had here. The runs tend to be quite short and lifts are pretty fast, so it’s ideal for families or learners getting to grips with the challenges of more advanced slopes. Voza Prarion in particular is perfect for practice runs, with its nice wide aspect and choice of red or blue pistes.
But there is also enough for more advanced riders, especially if the whole mountain is open. The snow park is also pretty accessible, with some jumps and kickers on a blue run leading down the Liason/Stade run. Nothing too extreme, but fun for those looking to add some flair to their ride.
Saying all this, I’d happily spend a few more days riding Les Houches in better weather, especially if looking for an accessible long weekend ski trip.
Les Houches vs Chamonix
If you’re torn between staying in Chamonix or Les Houches, there are a few things to bear in mind. Chamonix itself is a big town and a centre for the area in terms of infrastructure, shopping and other experiences. So you’ll find all your additional ameneties in Chamonix, such as extensive shopping and dining, things to do off the mountain such as leisure centres and of course, extensive apres ski.
Les Houches is, by contrast, much sleepier as a town. While there are options for food and drink, apres ski and non-ski related activities, you’ll be more limited here. With that said, there are some great things to do including the Les Houches ice skating rink, and the Parc de Merlet.
There are a handful of bars and pubs spread across the village, so you’ll find apres ski in Les Houches. Just not as vibrant or exciting as in Chamonix.
In addition to this, Chamonix gives easy access to the main Brevent-Flegere ski area, as well as a short bus ride to Grand Montets and Vallorcine, making it a good base to explore.
To summarise, if you’re looking for the full access to all of the best terrain across the valley, and apres ski is important to you then choose Chamonix.
If you’re happy to enjoy a calmer more sedate ski holiday, perhaps with family or for a romantic break, Les Houches will suit you to the ground.
Where to stay in Les Houches
The village of Les Houches is quite spread out, with a variety of options for accommodation. But with good ski bus access, you’re never too far from the slopes. Due to the close proximity to Chamonix, people stay at points from Les Houches all the way down the valley and commute here on the free bus. It’s about half an hour from Chamonix town centre to the lifts at Les Houches, and there are many options between.
Les Houches itself has some options for budget and mid-range chain hotels, including:
- Ibis Styles: Budget chain with modern frills in a great location close to the centre of Les Houches.
- RockyPop: Mid-range hotel chain offering a more ‘cool’ ambiance.
- MGM Hotels: Chalet Elena is the local chain of this high end apartment company, with access to a pool and spa among other things.
Of course there are also a multitude of great chalets and independent hotels and apartments spread across Les Houches and the neighbouring villages. Try sites such as Vrbo for some good options for local apartments close to Les Houches.
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Header image: Gaëtan Haugeard c/o Chamonix Mont Blanc tourism
