Description
Champoussin is a small alpine village in the Swiss canton of Valais, one of the four resorts, alongside Champéry, Les Crosets and Morgins, that make up the Portes du Soleil's bikepark.ch network. Champoussin has no graded or lift-served trails of its own, but it sits right beside the lift-served bike park based in Les Crosets, putting green through black grade riding within easy reach.
The Trails
- Champoussin does not have its own downhill runs, chairlift-served descent or pump track. The graded bikepark.ch trail network, spanning green through black, is split across Champéry, Les Crosets and Morgins.
- See the Les Crosets, Champéry and Morgins listings for the full graded trail list.
- Above the village, the Aiguille des Champeys chairlift climbs to a high ridge at 2,019m with views of the Dents du Midi. A singletrack and forest doubletrack route has historically dropped from here towards Les Crosets and on to Champéry, but this lift doesn't currently appear on the official summer lift list, so treat it as a pedal-up route rather than a lift-served one, and download a route or use GPS navigation before you set off.
- The nearest bike lifts are the Crosets and Mossettes chairlifts in Les Crosets, a few kilometres up the road, which carry bikes on a mountain bike lift pass and link into the wider Portes du Soleil, including Avoriaz and Morzine on the French side.
Guides, Shuttles and Hire
The Les Crosets chairlifts are the uplift for riders based in Champoussin, so you don't need a van shuttle. Champoussin itself has e-bike hire, and full bike hire, lessons and guided rides are a short ride or bus trip away in Les Crosets and Champéry.
- Chalet Montriond: mountain bike, e-bike and kids' bike hire, mountain bike lessons and a downhill camp for young riders, based in Les Crosets.
- Chez Gaby: e-bike hire with a helmet included, run with an electric bike specialist from Monthey, based at the auberge-restaurant Chez Gaby 1670 in Champoussin. Hire costs CHF 60 for a half day and CHF 90 for a full day, cash only, for riders aged 14 and over.
- Expérience Champéry: an outdoor activity agency with a bike school running guided rides and technique sessions for all levels, plus electric mountain bike hire, based in Champéry.
- Le Vélociste: bike sales, hire and repairs, including enduro, all-mountain and electric mountain bikes, with guided e-bike rides, based in Champéry village and at the cable car.
- Portes du Soleil Suisse SA: the lift company for the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil, running the Champoussin lifts in winter and the bike-carrying lifts in Les Crosets, Champéry and Morgins in summer, and selling mountain bike lift passes.
Prices are correct as of September 2026 but subject to change, so check current rates with the operator.
Getting There from the UK
Geneva is the nearest airport and has the widest choice of flights from the UK. From there it's around an hour and a half by road to Champoussin, following the motorway along Lake Geneva into the Rhône valley and then climbing up the Val d'Illiez. Lyon Saint-Exupéry is the next option, at around three hours by road. Shared and private transfers run from Geneva to the Swiss Portes du Soleil villages.
By rail, take the Eurostar to Paris and a TGV Lyria to Geneva or Lausanne, then Swiss trains along the lake to Aigle or Monthey. From there, the AOMC mountain railway climbs the valley to Val-d'Illiez station, where bus 81 runs up to Champoussin and on to Les Crosets a few times a day, in around a quarter of an hour. Bikes need planning: Eurostar has limited bike spaces or asks for the bike to be bagged, and TGV Lyria only takes bikes that are part-dismantled and packed in a bike bag. In Switzerland you need a bike ticket, and in the summer season some InterCity trains also need a bike space reservation. Bus 81 carries bikes with a valid ticket.
Driving from Calais or the Channel Tunnel is around 950 to 1,000km, roughly nine and a half to ten hours via Reims and Dijon. You can go through Geneva and the Swiss motorway to the Saint-Triphon exit, which needs a Swiss motorway vignette, or along the south shore of Lake Geneva past Thonon and over the Pas de Morgins. Either way, the last stretch climbs from Monthey through Troistorrents and Val-d'Illiez to Champoussin. A car makes it easy to bring your own bikes and to reach the other Portes du Soleil villages.
When to Go
The lift-served season at Les Crosets usually runs from late June to the end of August, with the Crosets and Mossettes chairlifts running daily in that window, then weekends only in September, with the Crosets chairlift usually carrying on at weekends into October. E-bike hire in Champoussin runs from mid-June to mid-October. Dates vary from year to year, so check the Région Dents du Midi website before you travel.
July and August are the busiest months, when the Swiss and French school summer holidays overlap. The Pass'Portes du Soleil MTB tour brings big crowds to the area for a weekend at the end of June each summer. Early July and the September weekends are usually quieter. Early in the season, snow can linger on the highest ground.
Champoussin sits at around 1,600m and the ridge above it tops 2,000m, so it can be cool and windy up high even when it's hot in the valley. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in high summer and can close lifts for a while, so start early, carry a waterproof layer and check the forecast each morning.
Where to Stay
Champoussin is a quiet, high village with views across to the Dents du Midi, a few kilometres below the Les Crosets chairlifts, so it suits riders happy to pedal or take the bus up to the lifts in exchange for a calmer base. Les Crosets puts you right at the bike park lifts, while Champéry is the bigger base, with the railway, bike shops and more places to eat, and Morgins covers the other end of the Swiss sector.
Accommodation in Champoussin is mainly holiday apartments and rentals, including a large apartment residence, plus an auberge with rooms. Guests who pay the local tourist tax get the Illiez Card, which gives pedestrian lift access and discounts on activities across the Région Dents du Midi, but it does not replace a mountain bike lift pass.
Getting Here
Park at the main car park at the entrance to Champoussin, next to the Aiguille des Champeys chairlift base station and the "Champoussin-Télésiège" bus stop (CH-1873 Champoussin). Les Crosets and its lift-served trails are a short ride away. Champéry and Morgins are reachable by road or via the connecting lift network.
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