Morzine / Restaurants & bars

Morzine is a busy little town with more bars and restaurants than you’ll need. It’s difficult to miss restaurants offering typical mountain food and Savoyard specials - for great fondue at a good price head to La Barrique while Le Café Chaud has the ski resort's cheapest Savoyard menu. For pizzas L'Etale and Le Clin d’Oeil are popular with English holidaymakers. For a more 'local' experience, head to Le Pique-Feu: a food shop by day, by night it serves the same produce in a charming cosy dining room behind the shop.

Finding a higher level of cuisine is harder but Le Chamade is a true gourmet experience. Home to the top local celebrity chef Thierry Thorens, he uses local produce to create traditional recipes with a gastronomic twist. Most of the good hotel restaurants serve a varied menu - the three course menu in L'Atelier is highly recommended. Le Restaurant du Chalet Philibert, on the Prodains road, is known for its excellent haute cuisine food and beautifully designed dining room. The Rhodos hotel has a younger feel to it and, for a quick snack, serves excellent hand-made sandwiches. Home made aperitifs are the speciality at the cosy traditional restaurant of La Grange, while the reasonably priced menu in La Flamme is also very popular. If your taste-buds are crying out for something hot and spicy Le Maharaja does a decent curry. If you’re prepared for a trip out of town, La Chalande at Ardent is excellent and L’Amandier in St Jean D’Aulps is worth the journey.

There are various fast food shacks around the ski resort. Le Main à la Pate on the Place de la Crusaz is open until 10pm serving pizzas, crêpes, and ice-creams, while the Burger Place at the Pléney end of the Taille is the only place for burgers and also does a mean full English breakfast. For afternoon tea Café Tyrolia is the ski resort's original tea-shop with an extensive menu of coffees, teas and cake.

The town is equally populated with bars. The Dixie Bar is Morzine's Irish pub and the first port of call for many: football is regularly shown on the big screens and there's live music most evenings. Seasonnaires gather at the famous band nights at the English run Garage Bar on the route towards Prodains and Avoriaz. Back in town most of the action takes place on Taille de Mas du Pléney or 'Bar Street', a noisy strip of restaurants, bars and cafés running between the Pléney lift and Morzine's Tourist Office. Down the same staircase are the Coyote Bar, Le Boudha Café and the Cavern, with L'Opera nightclub next door. The Coyote Bar kicks off later on and has pool tables and arcade games for evening entertainment. Le Boudha Café has a more relaxed, cosy atmosphere with comfy sofas if you get there early. The English-run Cavern is a lively sports bar where football fans can watch matches on the big screen. Seasonnaires enjoy the fancy dress nights on a Tuesday, the two hour early evening 'happy hour' and the lethal shooters bar. The nearby Le Crépuscule was refurbished recently and attracts a young crowd - on a busy night there is dancing room on the bar only.

Away from the Taille Le Café Chaud is a local hangout with a tropical theme and a vibrant atmosphere, while at the other end of town on the road towards Montriond the bar in the Hotel Ridge is a sleek addition to the evening scene.