The village of Les Gets (1172m – 2002m) originated in the 11th century and is located between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc in the west of the Portes du Soleil region of the French Alps. The name of the village refers to the channels (gittes or giettes in the local dialect) in the forests which were used to send logs rapidly down the hillside during logging work. Many of these are still in evidence today.
Before Les Gets opened its first chairlift in 1938 and started to develop tourism, wood and water were Les Gets’ main resources. Different varieties of pine were used for building, from interior and exterior walls to chimneys and roofing tiles. It was also used to make kitchen utensils and agricultural tools. The sawmills would operate in spring, when the volume of water is at its highest due to the thaw, and even today the forests cover two-thirds of the Les Gets commune and provide a livelihood for many people.
Agriculture also retains its importance, whether at La Fruitière in the Les Perrières area of the village, where you can tour the dairy and buy local cheeses or enjoy a meal at the restaurant, or at La Ferme de Caroline on the Chavannes road where they keep goats (as well as a donkey and various ducks and fowl) and make the most delicious goats’ cheese and other products. The pastime of picking blueberries (myrtilles) and wild strawberries and raspberries in season continues, as does hunting for mushrooms, when the location of chanterelles, bolets - which in English are boletes or the Penny Bun - and ceps is a strictly-kept secret.
Les Getois retain a deeply-held love for their Savoyard heritage or patrimoine and this makes Les Gets such a uniquely attractive place to visit, whatever the time of year.