Transfer to Alps: The Essential European Ski Resort Guide
Oct 9, 2026 · 15 min · 12 segments
You’ve booked the flights, sorted the chalet, and mapped out the pistes, but how do you actually navigate Avoriaz 1800 like a seasoned local? In our Season 2 finale of Transfer to Alps, hosts Liam and…
Because Avoriaz is completely car-free, the usual travel rules don't apply.
If you turn up here unprepared, you are going to waste hours of your precious holiday doing basic admin.
And we are starting with the single biggest mistake people make on their very first morning: standing in the massive queue at the resort lift ticket office.
Ugh, the Sunday morning ticket queue is an absolute horror show.
You walk down to the main office at 9:00 AM on your first day, and there are literally hundreds of freezing, stressed-out skiers standing in a queue that wraps around the block.
You can easily waste 45 minutes of perfect morning corduroy snow just trying to buy a plastic card.
It is a total faff.
It's completely unnecessary, too.
The absolute golden rule of Avoriaz is never buy your pass at the resort window.
Instead, you want to head online to skipass-avoriaz.com weeks before you even pack your bags.
If you have an old hands-free lift card from a previous ski holiday, even if it's from a completely different French resort, you can usually just type the unique WTP number on the back of the card into the website and reload it instantly.
It is brilliant.
The card is instantly activated.
You keep it in your ski jacket pocket, and on Sunday morning, you walk straight past the queue, straight through the lift gate, and you are on the mountain.
But if you don't have an old card, you can still buy online.
They'll email you a QR code, and when you arrive at the resort, you just scan that code on your phone at one of the 24/7 automated pickup machines.
Yes.
The Bord de Retrait, the pickup machines.
They are scattered all over the resort: at the top plateau welcome center, the main tourist office in the center, and the bottom of the Prodains Express cable car.
There is never a queue at these machines.
You scan your phone, the machine spits out your active plastic passes in about five seconds, and you're sorted.
It is so slick.
And a quick tactical tip for when you are on the slopes.
Always keep your lift pass in your left-hand sleeve pocket and keep it completely separate from your mobile phone, your chalet key card, or any loose change.
That is a classic rookie mistake.
Because Avoriaz is completely car-free, the usual travel rules don't apply.
If you turn up here unprepared, you are going to waste hours of your precious holiday doing basic admin.
And we are starting with the single biggest mistake people make on their very first morning: standing in the massive queue at the resort lift ticket office.
Ugh, the Sunday morning ticket queue is an absolute horror show.
You walk down to the main office at 9:00 AM on your first day, and there are literally hundreds of freezing, stressed-out skiers standing in a queue that wraps around the block.
You can easily waste 45 minutes of perfect morning corduroy snow just trying to buy a plastic card.
It is a total faff.
It's completely unnecessary, too.
The absolute golden rule of Avoriaz is never buy your pass at the resort window.
Instead, you want to head online to skipass-avoriaz.com weeks before you even pack your bags.
If you have an old hands-free lift card from a previous ski holiday, even if it's from a completely different French resort, you can usually just type the unique WTP number on the back of the card into the website and reload it instantly.
It is brilliant.
The card is instantly activated.
You keep it in your ski jacket pocket, and on Sunday morning, you walk straight past the queue, straight through the lift gate, and you are on the mountain.
But if you don't have an old card, you can still buy online.
They'll email you a QR code, and when you arrive at the resort, you just scan that code on your phone at one of the 24/7 automated pickup machines.
Yes.
The Bord de Retrait, the pickup machines.
They are scattered all over the resort: at the top plateau welcome center, the main tourist office in the center, and the bottom of the Prodains Express cable car.
There is never a queue at these machines.
You scan your phone, the machine spits out your active plastic passes in about five seconds, and you're sorted.
It is so slick.
And a quick tactical tip for when you are on the slopes.
Always keep your lift pass in your left-hand sleeve pocket and keep it completely separate from your mobile phone, your chalet key card, or any loose change.
That is a classic rookie mistake.
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