Transfers for Avoriaz

For the majority of visitors flying to Avoriaz, we would choose Geneva Airport and a pre-booked transfer.

Geneva is close, there is plenty of competition between specialist operators and there is little reason to hire a car solely for an Avoriaz holiday.

The real decision is not simply shared or private.

It is also either:

1. Geneva → Prodains → cable car → accommodation; or
2. Geneva → Avoriaz Accueil → accommodation

For one or two passengers arriving while the Prodains Express is running, the first option is often inexpensive and efficient.

For a family or larger group, particularly with a lot of luggage, a private transfer directly to Accueil Station may justify the extra cost.

Most importantly, ask your accommodation provider which arrival point is best for your building. Avoriaz is compact once you're settled in, but dragging several ski bags through snow because you chose the wrong drop-off point is an avoidable introduction to the resort.

Once you understand that final stage, Avoriaz is actually remarkably easy to reach: Geneva is less than two hours away, and after arrival there is virtually no need to think about cars again.

These are only indicative figures. Prices vary with the operator, date, arrival time and type of service, correct as at September 2026.

The important point is that the cheapest and most expensive transfers may not finish in the same place.

Staying in Avoriaz or Morzine?

Do not treat these as the same transfer destination.

Morzine is at around 1,000m in the valley. Avoriaz is the separate high-altitude resort at 1,800m above it.

A Geneva–Morzine transfer may finish in Morzine town centre and leave you needing another bus or taxi to Prodains.

Likewise, the Prodains cable car is not in Avoriaz itself. It is the valley-bottom lift that takes you into Avoriaz.

When booking accommodation, check which arrival point it recommends:

Prodains Express, Avoriaz Accueil Station, or occasionally another agreed pick-up point.

That one detail can make the difference between a very straightforward arrival and an unnecessarily complicated one.

Getting from Prodains into Avoriaz

The Prodains Express connects Les Prodains in the Morzine valley with Place Jean Vuarnet in Avoriaz in about four minutes. It is therefore one of the most useful access routes into the resort.

During winter, the current published pedestrian timetable runs from 07:00, with closing times varying by day: 21:00 Monday to Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 22:00 on Sunday. There is a short daily evening interruption between 19:30 and 20:00. Always check the current timetable before travelling, particularly if your flight arrives late.

Current published pedestrian fares are €9 one way for an adult and €14.50 return.

Once you arrive at the top of the cable car, you are in Avoriaz itself, but you may still have some distance to cover with your luggage.

That is why “Geneva to Prodains” and “Geneva to my Avoriaz apartment” are not quite the same journey.

How does arrival in a car-free resort actually work?

If you're a first-time visitors this is something you'll need to understand.

Avoriaz has no normal road traffic through the resort. If you arrive by road at Accueil Station, your transfer vehicle stops at the resort entrance. If you arrive via Prodains, the cable car takes you to Place Jean Vuarnet. From either point, the final journey is through the pedestrian resort.

At the main Avoriaz reception area there are unloading zones, a heated waiting room, luggage facilities, luggage sledges and access to the resort's internal transport. Snow vehicles provide transport for passengers and luggage, particularly during busy arrival periods and at night.

Historically, Avoriaz has also used horse-drawn sleighs as daytime taxis. Please check the sleigh service will be operating for your travel dates. Snowcat transport remains available throughout the winter season.

This last stage is normally simple once you know about it, but it is worth asking your accommodation provider where they recommend you arrive and how they suggest moving your luggage from there.

Geneva isn't only the most convenient airport when travelling to Avoriaz, it’s also the closest. There are other airports in Lyon, Grenoble and Chambery but they're further away. The last two are also mainly used for tour operator charters.

What's the nearest airport to Avoriaz?

The closest airport to Avoriaz is Geneva, around 95km from the centre of resort. It only takes around 1h50 to arrive from Geneva airport to the Portes du Soleil ski area.

These are the average transfer times and distances from the main airports to Avoriaz. The values are approximate and can be affected by snow, bad weather or peak holiday times:

A fixed-stop or express shared transfer is usually the cheapest straightforward option from Geneva Airport.

Many services run to Les Prodains rather than Avoriaz itself. This keeps the road journey shorter and lets passengers complete the final ascent using the Prodains Express.

Choose this type of service if: you are travelling alone or as a couple, price matters, your flight fits the timetable and the Prodains cable car is operating when you arrive.

It can be a very efficient solution.

Just remember to include the cable-car journey and the final trip to your accommodation when comparing it with a transfer that goes directly to Accueil Station.

A shared airport transfer groups you with passengers arriving at similar times and travelling towards Morzine, Prodains or Avoriaz.

For one or two people this is often the best balance between convenience and price.

The compromise is time.

You may have to wait at Geneva Airport while other passengers arrive, and the vehicle may make several stops before reaching Prodains or Avoriaz.

Allow more time than you would for a private vehicle, particularly on Saturdays and during school-holiday weekends.

Check what “shared” actually means

This is especially important for Avoriaz.

A service advertised as a shared Avoriaz transfer may take you:

• to Prodains, leaving you to take the cable car
• to Avoriaz Accueil Station
• to a fixed transfer point in the Morzine valley
• or, on some services, to different points depending on your arrival time.

Before paying, check where the road journey finishes.

Two operators may both advertise “Geneva to Avoriaz” while actually offering quite different journeys.

A private transfer gives your group exclusive use of the vehicle and normally lets you leave Geneva as soon as everyone has collected their luggage.

The driver normally meets you and takes you directly to resort. There is no need to wait for unrelated passengers and no series of other people's accommodation stops once you reach the destination.

This is particularly useful if:

• you are travelling as a family or group
• you have young children
• you have lots of luggage
• you are carrying skis, snowboards or bikes
• your flight arrives very early or late

For Avoriaz, however, “private door-to-door” needs qualifying.

The vehicle can take you directly to Prodains or to Accueil Station, but it cannot drive through the pedestrian resort to the front door of an apartment in the normal way.

Current local prices give a useful benchmark as to the difference. Geneva Airport private transfers might be priced at €295 to Prodains and €320 to the Avoriaz Acceuil Station, with peak-date prices of €315 and €335 respectively.

Private transfers work particularly well for families and groups, passengers arriving outside the main shared-transfer timetable and anyone travelling with a lot of luggage.

Give the operator your flight number and tell them exactly where you are staying. A good Avoriaz transfer company should be able to advise whether Prodains or Accueil Station makes more sense for your accommodation.

Often, yes.

Four passengers paying €60 each for a shared transfer are already spending €240. Five passengers at the same price would spend €300.

At that point, the gap between shared and private transport may be small or non-existant.

A private vehicle also eliminates most airport waiting time and can take you directly to the most convenient Avoriaz access point for your party.

For four or more people, always compare the total group price rather than simply comparing one shared seat with one private vehicle.

Using public transport can help keep the costs down on your trip to Avoriaz. However, it can take considerably longer than a shared or private transfer as buses usually stop several times along the way and you will need to make a connection in Cluses or Thonon, the nearest transport hubs in the area.

How do you get from Geneva airport to Avoriaz using public transport?

Public bus transfers run from Geneva airport to Thonon-les-Bains, a town by Lake Leman and on the route to Avoriaz. From Thonon, there are regular buses to Morzine, stopping in Saint-Jean-d'Aulps along the way and ending in Les Gets. The Thonon to Morzine transfer time is around 45min. From Morzine, you'll need to get another bus, (line A), to the Prodains cable car (around 10 minutes) and then the lift up to Avoriaz (five minutes). 

Avoriaz does not have a railway station.

The most useful railheads are Thonon-les-Bains and Cluses, both of which have onward bus connections towards Morzine and Avoriaz.

From Geneva, Thonon is normally the more logical option. From there, the Y91 regional bus runs through the Vallée d'Aulps towards Morzine, with some services reaching Les Prodains.

It is therefore possible to make the journey from Geneva Airport using public transport, but it requires considerably more organisation than a direct airport transfer.

You first travel from Geneva Airport towards Geneva or the Léman Express network, continue to Thonon, then take a regional bus towards Morzine or Prodains, before finally taking the cable car into Avoriaz where appropriate.

For someone simply arriving on a flight at Geneva, a direct shared airport transfer is normally much easier.

Rail makes more sense if you are already travelling through France or Switzerland by train.

Lastly, for the avoidance of doubt, Eurostar services from London do not currently serve Geneva or anywhere nearby. Eurostar Snow is a winter ski service that runs to the Tarentaise valley resorts, which is not a convenient route for accessing the Northern Alps resorts like Chamonix, Morzine, or Avoriaz.

This matters slightly more in Avoriaz because a delayed flight can affect not just your airport transfer but also how you enter the resort.

Private transfer operators normally ask for your flight number and monitor the arrival.

Shared-transfer companies have different policies, so check what happens if you miss your allocated departure.

Also consider the Prodains Express timetable.

If your transfer is booked only as far as Prodains and a significant flight delay means you arrive after the cable car closes, you need to know whether the company will instead take you to Avoriaz Accueil, move you onto a later service or leave you to arrange the final journey yourself.

Some operators specifically schedule direct Avoriaz Accueil services outside Prodains operating hours.

For evening flights, this is more important than saving a few euros on the ticket, which is then eaten up with a late local taxi up the road.

You can drive to Avoriaz, but the resort's car-free layout means that a hire car is often less useful here than in almost any other major Alpine resort.

The road climbs from Morzine to the Avoriaz reception area. Once you arrive, you unload your passengers and luggage and leave the vehicle in one of the car parks at the resort entrance.

Covered parking can be reserved in advance and is strongly recommended during busy periods. The main outdoor Avoriaz car park cannot be pre-booked.

Alternatively, you can leave your car at Prodains and take the cable car. The Prodains car park has around 540 spaces, with separate short- and longer-stay zones.

Hiring a car therefore makes most sense if Avoriaz is only one part of your trip or you intend to travel around other resorts during the holiday.

If your plan is simply to ski in Avoriaz and the Portes du Soleil for a week, a transfer is usually simpler.

Ummm, no.

In fact, you cannot use one in the resort.

Avoriaz was designed from the outset as a pedestrian resort. In winter, the streets are covered in snow and used by skiers and pedestrians rather than normal traffic. Most accommodation is effectively ski-in/ski-out.

For longer journeys inside the resort, Avoriaz operates dedicated internal transport.

That means hiring a car purely for getting around Avoriaz makes almost no sense. Once you've parked it on arrival, it may remain there until you leave.

Specialist Alpine transfer companies are used to carrying ski and snowboard equipment.

Many operators include skis and snowboards on their Avoriaz services and their summer vehicles can also accommodate bikes and other outdoor equipment.

Always tell the operator what you are bringing.

This matters particularly with bikes. Avoriaz is a major summer mountain-biking destination, and several large bike boxes can use most of a minibus's luggage capacity.

Also think about the last section within Avoriaz.

Carrying one suitcase across the snow is manageable. Moving a family's suitcases, ski bags, boots and pushchair from the resort entrance to an apartment several hundred metres away is a different proposition.

Use the luggage sledges or resort transport rather than assuming you will simply walk everything across town.

Avoriaz works very well for families once you're in the resort, but the arrival needs a little more planning.

When comparing shared and private transfers, consider the entire journey rather than just the airport fare.

Changing at Prodains with two adults, young children, suitcases and ski bags may still be perfectly straightforward, but some families will prefer to pay more for a vehicle directly to Accueil Station.

Ask for appropriate child seats when making your airport-transfer booking.

Once you arrive in Avoriaz, the lack of traffic is one of the resort's major advantages for families.

Lyon Saint-Exupéry is a “possible” alternative to Geneva, but the journey is substantially longer. We've included this advice here as the question of how to achieve the feat of arranging Lyon to/from Avoriaz transfers has come up every year for years on end.

Lyon Airport is around 212km and 2 hours 45 minutes from Avoriaz in normal road conditions (and a bit less to Prodains cable car).

Nonetheless, whatever you may have saved on flight prices (which would be a real surprise in the first place) you will more than pay for in extra transfer costs and time once you land.

There are fewer shared services than from Geneva, and private transfers will generally cost more because of the distance.

Lyon might still make sense if:

• there is a substantially better flight
• you are combining Avoriaz with another part of France
• you are hiring a car
• your flight times make the Geneva alternatives inconvenient

But compare the entire journey before booking.

A cheaper flight into Lyon can easily become a more expensive trip once the additional transfer cost and travelling time are taken into account.

Overall, if it's not yet absolutely clear already, we're not commenting on Lyon Airport to Avoriaz as a recommendation to actually attempt but rather as a recommendation to avoid it.

Our advice is not to start your “adventure holiday” in Lyon, just go to Geneva like everyone else, if you possibly can. Unless it's for a bet. Or a dare. Or you definitely want to hire a car.

Everything we wrote just about Lyon applies here too…

Chambéry

Chambéry is geographically closer to Avoriaz than Lyon or Grenoble, with a distance of around 137km and a normal transfer time of approximately 2 hours.

The limitation is the flight schedule. Chambéry is a much smaller airport and its ski traffic is heavily concentrated around seasonal winter routes and weekend operations.

If a convenient direct flight exists from your departure airport, it can work well. Otherwise Geneva normally offers much greater choice.

Grenoble

Grenoble Airport is around 215km from Morzine and about 2 hours 45 minutes by road in good conditions.

It is primarily a winter airport and is more naturally positioned for resorts in the Isère and southern French Alps.

If you can actually get to Avoriaz from Grenoble at the relative time, there is generally little reason to choose it ahead of Geneva unless the flight itself is particularly convenient or inexpensive. As with Lyon, check your onward transport before purchasing the flight.

Yes, but Italian airports are not normally sensible gateways to Avoriaz.

Although Avoriaz lies in the northern French Alps, there is no direct tunnel connection comparable with Chamonix's access to Courmayeur.

Transfers from Turin or Milan therefore involve much longer road journeys and far fewer shared-transfer options.

Italian airports make most sense if Italy forms part of a wider itinerary or you are hiring a car.

For a straightforward Avoriaz ski holiday, Geneva is almost always easier.

For most visitors, it comes down to this:

Travelling alone on a budget: look for a scheduled or shared transfer to Prodains and use the cable car.

One or two people: compare the scheduled and shared Prodains services with shared transfers to Avoriaz Accueil.

A family: compare the full cost and convenience of a private vehicle to Accueil Station.

Four or more adults: always get a private quote as well as pricing individual shared seats.

Arriving during normal Prodains Express hours: Prodains can be an extremely efficient entry point.

Arriving late in the evening: look carefully at the cable-car closing time and consider a direct transfer to Accueil Station.

Leaving very early: check whether collection will be from Accueil rather than Prodains.

Travelling with lots of luggage or young children: minimise changes and arrange the final resort transport before arrival.

Bringing bikes: tell the airport-transfer company in advance.

Planning to explore the wider region by road: consider hiring a car, but remember that it will remain parked while you're in Avoriaz.

Read our How to get to Avoriaz for more information on all the different ways to travel to the Portes du Soleil.