Snowboxx Guide: How to Plan This Ski & Music Festival in Avoriaz, France

A Europe ski trip… but also a full-on music festival in the French Alps?
That’s exactly what Snowboxx is, and it ended up being one of the most fun trips we’ve ever done. You’re snowboarding all day, going straight into après, and ending the night at DJ sets in the middle of a ski village.

However, planning this trip is not as straightforward as a typical ski vacation and when I was doing research, I didn’t feel like there was one place that clearly explains how to approach it.

So this blog is meant to simplify that. It covers what Snowboxx is, how to plan this trip in a way that makes sense, and all my tips to help your trip be even better!

What is Snowboxx?

Snowboxx is a week-long ski and music festival held in Avoriaz, France that happens every March.

Avoriaz is a fully ski-in, ski-out picturesque mountain village in the French Alps. One of the things that makes it so unique is that there are no cars here. There is a big main parking lot at the very front of the town, so you can technically drive here, but once you get to Avoriaz, the only ways to get around are walking, skiing or snowboarding, snowcats, or even horse and carriage. Everything is within walking distance, from the lifts and restaurants to bars, grocery stores, and all of the music stages.

One of my favorite parts was how easy it was to get on the mountain. Each morning, we would wake up, grab our boards from the locker room, walk outside, and be on the slopes within minutes.

During the day, you’re skiing or snowboarding, and then when you are finished on the slopes, things shift into après with music and DJ’s at La Folie Douce. At night, there are multiple stages, DJs, and events happening all throughout Avoriaz. They also have pop-up stages on the mountain that they announce day of and different events going on throughout the week, so there’s always something fun happening.

There’s a lot to explore beyond just skiing too, so even if someone in your group doesn’t ski or snowboard, they can still fully enjoy the experience. There is a fun karaoke bar we went to on a few nights, as well as a place with pool, bowling, and lots of other games.

On the official Avoriaz website, they have SO many other activities from their indoor waterpark, to dog sledding, to relaxing spas, and more.

The Skiing in Portes du Soleil

Avoriaz is part of Portes du Soleil, which is one of the largest ski areas in the world with over 600 kilometers of runs. We snowboarded every day for 6 days and still didn’t come close to seeing everything, so I definitely recommend giving yourself as much time as you can to explore it.

One of the coolest parts is that you can actually ski between France and Switzerland in the same day, which makes it feel like you’re constantly seeing new areas instead of riding the same runs over and over.

There are also a lot of restaurants spread throughout the mountains, so it’s really easy to stop for lunch or take a break without having to go all the way back into town.

Overall, I would say this ski area is especially great for beginner to intermediate riders. There’s a lot of variety, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming, which makes it really fun to explore.

Biggest Nearby Town: Morzine

You also have Morzine right next to Avoriaz.

You can either ski there or take a quick gondola ride from Avoriaz, and it has a lot more restaurants, shops, and a slightly different vibe.

It’s nice to have this option if you want to switch things up during the week.

Tip: We ate at Gusto Pizzaria (in Morzine) one of the nights and the prices were definitely a little cheaper than restaurants in Avoriaz.

How to Plan a Trip to Snowboxx

If you’re trying to plan this trip, here’s exactly how we did it and what I would recommend.

1. Start Early (Important)

Snowboxx releases early bird packages for the next year (if you are booking with THEIR accommodations) shortly after the festival ends each year.

If you’re even thinking about going, I would get on their email list early so you know when everything goes live.

2. Accommodations:

Snowboxx offers accommodation packages that include where you stay, your lift ticket and festival pass all in one, but when we looked at these options for our group, some people would’ve been sleeping on pullout couches. Nobody in our group wanted to be sleeping on a pull-out couch, so we decided to skip these early bird accommodation packages and just book our own place instead. Doing this also made us have to wait to buy our Lift tickets & Festival Passes until they released those later in the year.

There are a lot of options for places to stay in Avoriaz on VRBO and Airbnb.

Tip: Make sure you are booking a place in Avoriaz and not Morzine if you want to be where everything is happening. Most Avoriaz addresses still say Morzine, so make sure you are using the map feature to confirm the stay you book is in Avoriaz.

I found a VRBO in Avoriaz for 8 people:

$530 per person for the full week
everyone had their own bed

We booked this at the end of April, almost a year in advance, which gave us the best options.

3. Lift Tickets + Festival Pass

If you book your accommodation separately like we did, you’ll have to wait for lift tickets and festival passes to go live separately (these dropped in early November 2025 for Snowboxx 2026).

This is where you build your own package.

You will choose how many days you want to ski, and each option includes the full week festival pass. You can also add things like:

VIP
Bottomless Brunch
Bingo
Ski/Snowboard Rentals
Transportation (private or bus)
and more

We booked:

6-day lift pass + festival → $618 per person
VIP → $105 per person
Bottomless brunch → $80 per person

My personal thoughts and tips when booking your package:

I would 100% recommend getting the full 6-day pass with access to all of Portes du Soleil. If you do not get the 6 day lift ticket, it’s VERY IMPORTANT to know that whatever days you choose, it is consecutive days. Some people in our group that got the 5-day lift ticket, took a rest day in the middle of the trip but that counted as one of the 5 ski days. So they ended up having to purchase another lift ticket on the last day to get their 5th day of skiing in.
VIP was worth it for (i) the access to bathrooms, (ii) if you wanted quicker access to get drinks and (iii) you go through a faster security line into the concerts. I personally think it was worth it for the bathrooms alone. The VIP areas were also less crowded, which was nice especially for the aprés at La Folie Douce.
Bottomless Brunch was INCREDIBLE! This was such a fun experience. You get bottomless mimosas, a nice breakfast buffet, and they have a really fun and interactive DJ/MC. It’s like a huge party next to the slopes with singing, dancing and fun vibes.
When booking, definitely include the Snowcat option on the day you arrive. There are no cars in Avoriaz and you will need to get your luggage to your accommodation. Your options are to either walk and pull it on sleds through the snow or take a snowcat. If you have ski/snowboard bags or a lot of luggage, I would definitely book the snowcat option. Arrival day can be busy and a little chaotic, and this makes things a lot easier. As for the day you leave, they have people in yellow vests walking around the streets that help with calling snowcats. We paid 14 euros for our group to head back in the snowcat when we needed to leave.
I would NOT recommend getting the Snowboxx Transfer Bus option (the cheaper option), especially if your flight is getting in later in the evening. We had two people in our group that went with this option but it was snowing a lot on arrival day, so a lot of the Snowboxx buses ended up getting stuck on the mountain driving up. They were supposed to get to Avoriaz at 9pm and didn’t end up making it in until 1am. Plus it was a very scary experience for them (think buses sliding on steep mountain roads).

4. Transportation to Avoriaz

From Geneva, it’s about a 2 hour drive up to Avoriaz. Like I just stated above, Snowboxx does provide 2 transfer options: a cheaper option on a big bus or a more expensive option with a private transfer.

If you already have a group, I would look into getting your own private transfer.

We had a group of 8 people and booked a transfer through Alps2Alps:

It cost $102 per person round trip from the Geneva Airport

This ended up being a lot cheaper than the Snowboxx round trip private transfer option.

5. Flights

The closest international airport is Geneva.

We used credit card points for our flights from Atlanta, GA to Geneva:

37,500 points + $328 per person

Our friends that didn’t use points, spent around $600-$700 for their flights.

We booked our flights about 4-5 months in advance.

7. Give Yourself a Buffer Day

We spent 2 days in Geneva before heading up to Avoriaz, and I would recommend doing this if you can.

It really helps with the time change and makes the travel day to Avoriaz much less stressful. Plus it gives you a chance to check out and explore Geneva!

Food + What to Expect

There are a lot of good restaurants in Avoriaz from nice fancy options, to more casual spots, and even quite a few different food stands.

One thing I would recommend, if you do have a big group, is eating dinner earlier. It gets busy quickly, and it can be harder to find space for a large group later in the night.

We had a group of 15 people and found a lot of restaurants that could either seat all of us or at 2 separate tables.

Plus there are really nice grocery stores right in the main town area. We got groceries to cook some meals and grab snacks, which was a good way to save money.

Tip: Don’t skip out on the pastries and coffee at Le Fournil De Cannelle. We started most of our mornings here and everything was so delicious!

What to Wear and Bring

If you are skiing or snowboarding, I have a full guide on what to wear and my gear recommendations linked here.

A lot of people are in ski gear most of the day, as well as for aprés and the music festival. If we went back to our VRBO to change, I typically kept my merino wool base layers on and then put on jeans and a warm sweater/jacket.

Some things to note:

At night it gets cold so bring/wear layers
Have warm gloves and accessories (I brought my electric hand warmers and those were really nice to have)
Have a good pair of boots for walking in the snow
You cannot wear your ski boots into the concert areas

Costs Breakdown

Base costs my husband and I paid per person:

VRBO: $530
6 day Lift ticket (that includes the full week festival pass): $618
VIP: $105
Bottomless brunch 1 day: $80
Flight: 37,500 points + $328
Private Round Trip Transfer: $102

Total = $1,763

I did not include food and drinks since that varies based on your preferences.

This trip can vary quite a bit in cost depending on how you plan it. You can save money by cooking meals and being selective with add-ons, or it can become more expensive if you choose to eat out frequently and book additional experiences.

Final Thoughts

This ended up being one of my favorite group ski trips we’ve ever done! If you love high energy, skiing/snowboarding, lots of events and electronic dance music, this trip is for you.

The combination of being in the mountains, snowboarding all day, and having something going on every night makes this trip so fun. It’s hard to convey what it feels like to be here in a blog post, but if you’re considering it, it’s absolutely a bucket list trip I would recommend.

If you do have any questions about this trip or planning, always feel free to send me a DM on Instagram or Tiktok @annalise.adventuring