Daily life in the French Alps

This winter I spent 6 weeks in a tiny village in France. When I was looking for a place to do some remote work, while enjoying skiing on my days off, I literally looked at the best prices for accommodation. Not an easy thing… but I found something reasonable in the town of Morillon. I had no idea what it would be like and thought I might end up just being bored, but in the end it worked out perfectly!

Morillon is part of the four villages (along with Les Carroz, Samoëns and Six Fer à Cheval) and forms the Grand Massif ski area together with Flaine. It’s not a particularly high part of the Alps. Morillon village lies at only 600m. But the highest point in Flaine is about 2500m. With 260km of slopes, I thought I wouldn’t get bored easily. Mind you, some of these slopes didn’t open this season because it was not a great snow year. But still, there was plenty left to explore!

It meant that in the valley there was not very often snow. Even when it did snow all the way down, it didn’t really stay. Especially towards the end of my stay I had winter up in the mountains and summer in the valley. I loved it, because on work days I could spend some time in the sun on my balcony. And even after skiing it was nice to be able to go for a walk. And there was plenty of walking! There is a beautiful trail along the Giffre river that leads from Morillon to Samoëns and beyond. But it also became my regular walk to the supermarket! Although Morillon has a small superette, the big supermarket lies on the main road close to Samoëns. But luckily there are walking trails that lead there. Even though I couldn’t buy too much, since I had to carry it back for 45 minutes, it was always a pleasure to go shopping.

It was a bit more interesting when I went there to do my laundry. I stuffed everything in my hiking backpack and took my standard walk. I got some strange looks. Everyone was dressed in workout clothes and there I was, in a dress with a huge backpack. So I made sure I only had to do laundry once. The rest was little hand washes while I was taking a shower. My apartment was super comfortable and had everything I needed (apart from a washing machine). It had a pool too, so I sometimes went for a lunchtime or after ski swim. I fell into my own little routine and got really comfortable in Morillon.

On the one hand it felt silly to pay a lot of money only to work from here, but on the other hand it brought me out of my usual environment, one that wasn’t very nice at the time. It gave me the chance to enjoy the most incredible scenery, ski on all my days offs, find peace and quiet, the feeling of being abroad, meet interesting people and create my own little bubble. Time passed so quickly, I didn’t have time to get bored. When I handed in my rental skis on my last day, the shop owner asked me if I’d be back for summer. I wish! The sunshine in the valley had made me google walks and I found so many interesting options. I’d had the chance to see a bit of the valley in Sixt Fer-à-Cheval, but there was so much more to do here.

When I booked, I’d been disappointed that I couldn’t afford to stay at altitude in a resort such as Flaine. But in hindsight, staying in the valley gave me many more opportunities. I was not so “stuck”. Staying in Flaine would have meant being close to the best snow and having more nightlife to enjoy. Yet, staying in the valley meant I could enjoy walks, meet up with people more easily and enjoy the comfort of a big supermarket. The lift would bring me to the snow anyway. But now I got to see both winter and spring. The best of both worlds! I loved my time in the French Alps. I wouldn’t have it any other way!