Description
Les Crosets is a small mountain bike village on the Swiss Alps side of the Portes du Soleil, part of the lift-served Bikepark Champéry - Les Crosets - Morgins run by Région Dents du Midi. Four red-graded downhill tracks (1.3 to 6.3km), a four cross course and a testing cross country climb over the Col du Cou make up the riding here. It's well connected to the larger Swiss mountain biking villages of Morgins, Champéry and Champoussin. It also connects well into the French MTB resorts of Avoriaz and Morzine.
The Trails
- Crosets (red): 1.3km, sits right by the Crosets chairlift. A flowing trail that balances technicality, speed and views over the valley.
- Grand-Conche (red): 2.5km, the longest of the classic tracks. Opens with a technical, rocky section before settling into flowing, shaped berms.
- Loquet (red): 1.5km, tucked between the four cross track and the Crosets facilities. Berms, drops and jumps.
- Sundance (red): 6.3km, the newest and longest track here, mixing jumps, banked turns and fast sections.
All four tracks are currently graded red. Grand-Conche and Crosets were previously rated black and blue respectively, but the operator now lists the whole Les Crosets downhill offering as red.
4X and Cross Country
- Les Crosets four cross: kickers, table tops and berms, with some genuinely steep, technical drops. Runs alongside the Mossettes chairlift.
- Col du Cou: the main cross country route out of Les Crosets, a tough climb with rocky, rooty sections and drop offs, descending into either Morzine or Champéry on the far side. It's a serious test of climbing legs.
The trails here are part of the wider Bikepark Champéry - Les Crosets - Morgins network, run by Région Dents du Midi across three connected villages. The wider bike park has twice hosted UCI Mountain Bike World Championships downhill racing at Champéry, most recently in 2025.
Guides, Shuttles and Hire
The chairlifts are the uplift here. Portes du Soleil Suisse runs the Crosets and Mossettes chairlifts, which carry bikes on a mountain bike lift pass, so you don't need a van shuttle for the bike park. The same pass works on the Champéry cable car and the Morgins gondola. Les Crosets itself is small, with bike hire and coaching in the village and full bike shops, guiding and camps a short ride or lift away in Champéry and Morgins.
- Chalet Montriond: mountain bike, e-bike and kids' bike hire, mountain bike lessons and a downhill camp for young riders, based in Les Crosets.
- 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 tours, based in Champéry village and at the cable car.
- Ride Switzerland: cycling tours and camps with qualified instructors, including kids' bike and downhill camps in the Portes du Soleil each summer, based in Champéry.
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 Les Crosets, following the motorway along Lake Geneva into the Rhône valley and then climbing up the Val d'Illiez. 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 a Swiss train along the lake to Aigle. From Aigle, the AOMC mountain railway climbs through Monthey to Val-d'Illiez and on to Champéry. From Val-d'Illiez station, bus 81 runs up to Champoussin and Les Crosets a few times a day, or you can take the cable car from Champéry and ride across. 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 between late March and the end of October InterCity trains also need a bike space reservation. The bus 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. 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 usually runs from late June to the end of August, with the Crosets and Mossettes chairlifts running daily in that window. From September the lifts drop to weekends only, with the Crosets chairlift usually carrying on through weekends into October, while the Champéry cable car also opens at weekends before the main season starts. Dates vary from year to year, so check the Région Dents du Midi website for current opening dates 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, which passes through Les Crosets at the end of June each summer, brings big crowds for a weekend. Early July and the September weekends are usually quieter. Early in the season, snow can linger on the highest ground.
The village sits at around 1,670m and the lifts top out above 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
Les Crosets is a small, high village with the Crosets and Mossettes chairlifts in the middle of it, so staying here puts you straight on the bike park tracks and the Portes du Soleil links over to Avoriaz. It is quiet in the evenings, with a handful of chalet hotels, apartments and restaurants. Champéry, down the valley, is the bigger base, with the railway, bike shops and more places to eat, and the cable car connects it with the Les Crosets tracks. Val-d'Illiez, Champoussin and Morgins are other options inside the same lift network.
Accommodation runs from chalet hotels and self-catered apartments to group chalets and holiday rentals. 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
By car: from Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux or Martigny, take the A9 motorway to exit 18 (Saint-Triphon / Portes du Soleil), head through Collombey and Val-d'Illiez, then follow signs for Les Crosets. From France, cross the Swiss border at Pas de Morgins via Champéry, then follow signs for Val-d'Illiez and on to Les Crosets. Free outdoor parking is available beside the village roundabout on Route des Crosets, close to the Crosets and Mossettes chairlift bases.
By lift: Les Crosets is directly connected by chairlift into Morgins and Champéry, and by trail over the Col du Cou to Champéry and down into Morzine, France.
Share
- If you have visited Les Crosets, please share your reviews, photos, and videos to this listing.