Switzerland Options

A snowHead

I’m going to hedge our bets and book an alternative to our 3Vs February HT family holiday (will ensure hotel offers free cancellation) … we have easyJet flights to GVA so Switzerland is the obvious option. We are a mileage-hungry strong intermediate / expert foursome (Mrs F and I plus our 2 14Y old and 11Y old boys). We have been to Zermatt a few times and I’d rather go somewhere different. Wengen is an obvious option (Mrs F and I have very fond memories of a couple of Lauberhorn weekends). Can you lovely people recommend any other alternatives (Verbier is of course one) that are reachable by train from the airport please? Thanks.

A snowHead

We did a 5 day trip to Davos pre-Covid; very easy train journey, although we did fly into Zurich - not sure how GVA compares. You’d think it would be extortionate, but the sheer number of hotels also means plenty of bargains and we had a fab “family suite” with 2 bedrooms, dinner and breakfast included, plus pool and on demand mini bus to any of the ski areas. Areas are not joined up but it’s a lot of fun doing a different one each day.

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Look at Nendaz - Bus up from Sion station every 30 mins.
Verbier, but a fraction of the price.
Good access to entire 4V.

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Champery: Easy access from GVA airport with train. Large domain (shared with France) and even with a closed border you should have plenty to play around with. Nice town, great skiing for all levels.

Andermatt: Longer journey with train but excellent terrain. Cozy town and they have invested heavily lately in new lifts. Ski a day in Disentis as a bonus.

Engelberg: Might not be a large area and suit your mileage needs, but still reachable with train.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Just got back from Nendaz. Hired a car from geneva but did look at train option. Would have been easy by train (to Sion and then bus up to Nendaz). Accom opposite main Tracouet gondola (appartments cristiania) so easy access in morning. Good access for intermediate /advanced to whole 4 vallees. (Managed to ski whole area - 2 advanced and 2 leisurely intermediates) without too much trouble. Just give yourself enough time to get back from opposite ends as imagine missing last lifts back would be costly.

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Have a look at Adelboden/Lenk. Plenty of mileage in the main area and 3 satellites to visit.
It's a destination which has dropped off the Brit list in the last 10 to 15 years.
We ski it regularly on the "Top Four Ski Pass" and all the friends who have visited with us have been blown away!

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@Rogerdodger, i love that area

After all it is free

Val d'Anniviers is another option. Zinal and Grimentz are linked by cable car, though you'd need to take a bus to connect to St Luc / Chandolin

La Tzoumaz is another Satellite to Verbier that might be worth taking a look at if Verbier itself is pushing your budget. Also accessible by public transport from GVA, although not quite as direct*. I'd still admit that Verbier is the ideal for accessing the widest skiing area with minimum gondola/chair time.

The official Swiss tourism site MySwitzerland.com might be worth a look at, just to give an idea of the various resorts and they sometimes have special offers. The Swiss Railway SBB holiday pages also often have rail/skipass/holiday offers.

You might find the MySwitzerland.com section The Ten Most Popular ski resorts in Switzerland worth a look at too.

*Train GVA>Martigny>Riddes, télépherique Riddes>Isérables (TRI), PostBus Isérables>La Tzoumaz, see SBB timetable.

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@franga, don’t think you can beat Zermatt or Verbier for the ski areas but Val d’anniviers or Saas Fee are decent options with some altitude. Portes du Soleil from Champery or Villars/Diablerets are a couple of other options with some mileage but too low IMO if not booking with a near term weather forecast. Andermatt/Disentis ski arena is also good, and excellent snow record but a longer journey

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If you stay in La Tzoumaz and you take the lift up to Savoleyres, do you have ski access to the rest of the area or is there some kind of bus you then have to take to access La Chaux and Les Ruinettes. Is this area fully linked by pistes now?

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@Coco You've always been able to take the 200 Savoleyres télécabine down from Savoleyres into Verbier, and then get the navette up to Carrefour-Mayentzet, and get to Ruinettes on the 107 Mayentzet-Ruinettes chair (previously 2x chairs, now a single, fast one). To get home, you'd (preferably) ski down to Carrefour and hop on the bus to the base of 200 and then back up to Savoleyres. If you end up at Médran, the navette goes from there to 200 Savoleyres as well.

There's also always been a ski run down from Savoleyres to Carrefour (below). The Video starts at the base of three pistes: (i) drops down directly from the Savoleyres station, (ii) drops down opposite the summit of the 204 Taillay chairlift and (iii) drops down from the Croix de Coeur café/restaurant. You can also get here from half way down 207 Tournelle, but it's easy to miss the turn-off.

http://youtube.com/v/8_d-LgkoDmA

At Carrefour, you just carry on for a couple of hundred metres and you get to the 107 Mayentzet chairlift. The last part of the run tends to be hard on the legs so most people take abreather (as you can see in the video) before moving forwards. You just need to be aware that pedestrians and people waiting for the bus can be oblivious to the skiers materialising out of the woods, at speed, so be prepared to shout/pole-bang to let them know you're approaching.

107 then takes you up to just above Ruinettes. You either turn right to go down a short slope to Ruinettes and the 113 Chaux Express combimix to La Fontanet, or turn left and curve 'round to the 112 Les Attelas chair that takes you up to Attelas and Lac des Vaux.

But if there's avalanche danger, then the gate at 1m12s in the video will be shut. You then have to turn right, and ski down a red to the road, and get on the navette to Carrefour, or you can cross the road and go onto the learner slope, and ski into Verbier and get the drag up to Mayentzet. You know if the gate is shut when you look at the big status display liaisons at the Savoleyres summit. You will often see people duck under the gate and carry on. It's up to you whether it's worth the risk but worth saying there have been avalanches right across this run: personally, I wouldn't ignore the shut gate.

Overall, this is why La Tzoumaz ia a satellite, and cheaper than Verbier - because there's a chance that you'll have to spend an extra 30 minutes or so to get to Mayentzet, compared to just hopping on the navette in Verbier and getting off at Carrefour. Médran seems the obvious place to start, but that's where everyone parked down in the valley at Le Chable arrives on the gondola from there, plus everyone nearby in Verbier. If it's quiet, that's no problem, but in holiday weeks it can be very busy and may be easier to go up to Mayentzet in order to get up the mountain.

Generally, when we go, we'll spend a couple of days just in the Savoleyres sector to get back onto form and then go over to Verbier and beyond first thing in the morning, and then come back to the Savoleyres sector in the afternoon, when the Verbier slopes will be busier. We're fairly leisurely, on-piste skiers, so we tend not to go further than Combatseline from La Tzoumaz. If we want to do Veysonnaz then we'd usually drive over first thing, otherwise we won't have much time there before we have to head back. Plan du Fou, Conbatseline, Col des Gentianes and Mt.Fort are fine - you can get up there and back no problem. The same applies to going over to Bruson - no problem but I'd go over first thing then have a leisurely route back (either hop on the navette at Médran, or go up 102 Médran to Ruinettes etc.

The trouble with the piste map is that the perspective foreshortens the whole Savoleyres sector down into Verbier, so this is hard to follow from the map. I did my own planview map for our clients but I have to disclaim all responsibility for accuracy: I wouldn't use it on piste. One small error is that on the map, I use the term 'Savoleyres sud' to mean the bottom of the gondola down from Savoleyres into Verbier - in fact, it's also the name of the drag lift up from the bottom of the old slalom run below Savoleyres.

Wow, thanks for your extremely comprehensive answer. That’s very helpful, thank you

You know it makes sense.

Thanks very much all for your advice and suggestions - a very HNY to you and your loved ones. I’m pleased to say that Mrs F will now be treating our 14Y old to a weekend in Verbier next week and that we’ve narrowed our options for our family break in February down to Adelboden (looking to stay at The Cambrian which looks ace) and Andermatt (I wish we could afford The Chedi which is a steal at £14K for the week rolling eyes

). Thanks again, much appreciated.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@franga, we had a work meeting at The Chedi once. They had to drag me out

A snowHead

Great information. We are looking to move our lads trip from the 3 Vallees and Verbier/4 Vallees is high on the list.

In terms of where to stay is it worth staying in Le Chable or better to be up the hill?

A snowHead

@FrediKanoute Well, as you might expect, it's better to be in Verbier than down in the valley at Le Chable, unless you are trying to keep costs right down. Although in that case, you might opt for a satellite like Nendaz or La Tzoumaz.

The 4 Vallées and especially Verbier are accessible by train/télépherique/PostBus from right inside Geneva Airport: which is good, considering the current* astronomical cost of car rental at GVA. The timetable is on the SBB website.

*UPDATE 9.1.22 Just looked at the car rental at GVA today and it seems to have become much more reasonable. So worth taking a look for comparison purposes.

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Thanks guys. Price is a consideration, but I will put it to the guys in the group. We had booked a 7 bed apartment in meribel for 4 nights for £1800, so anything around that is going to work.

Just a question on the Verbier piste map, the yellow trails are these ungroomed pistes?

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@FrediKanoute, the definitions that I have seen are:

"Itineraries are officially designated off-piste routes, marked on the piste map as yellow lines, a single line of yellow poles in the snow marks the direction of an itinerary route. Itineraries are bounded 20m on each side of the yellow poles.

Itinerary routes are marked on the official piste maps, however they are not maintained, not controlled and intended for experienced users only. Although marked itinerary routes are avalanched controlled they should not be confused with marked pistes."

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Hi. Newbie here.
I had planned to go to Ischgl just before Christmas but got Covid. Having read many of the 165 pages of the thread on travel to Austria, I have concluded that there is too much risk of still triggering a PCR when I make my next bid for the Alps in a fortnight. A LFT to go to Switzerland looks like the safer bet with Zermatt as the destination as I have not been there before.
My question to you good folks is whether you can point me to the official source that specifies whether the LFT needs to be a) done by a clinic or b) be video witnessed by a clinic or c) whether we can use the one that we do at home and upload a photograph to the provider. As far as I can see, it is not specified so I assume any of the above are OK.
Many thanks

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Check this out @ThreeBlades,
https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/united-kingdom/en/home/representations/embassy-in-london/coronavirus.html
I’m travelling to Switzerland on Tuesday. I’ve purchased a LFT kit and I plan to test myself on Monday and scan the result to the Randox CertiFly phone app, which apparently provides a certificate within 3-hours of uploading the scan.

After all it is free

Many thanks @skidm
After many more hours with our friend Google, I did come across this one from the Geneva canton:
https://www.ge.ch/en/covid-19-travelling-and-entry-switzerland
This suggests that self testing is not valid. However it is strange that this is not mentioned on the national link that you sent.
Like everywhere else, as clear as mud !
I would prefer to self test as they are very efficient as you describe. However I can see the loophole for those who wish to exploit it.

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@choirboy Yes, you're right. I checked prices from GVA again today and they seem much more reasonable than they were - about £65/day from Hertz. So it looks like they've moderated a lot.

Seems to me a lot of people are discovering that Switzerland is a viable alternative to France, even on an average budget. It's fairly standard on any 'where to ski?' thread to see people exclude Switzerland 'because of cost' but it seems to me unfair - excluding CH because Zermatt is expensive is like excluding the USA because Vail is expensive, or France because Courcheval 1850 on-piste is expensive. But I'd be interested to hear form those of you who've skied Switzerland for the first time as to whether tyou'd agree or not.

Yes, the ski pass can be pricey, but then £60/day or so for the 400Kms of relatively quiet slopes across the Quatre Vallées is a premium I'm happy to pay. For the rest, Id' say that like anywhere, you can spend a lot if you decide to, but it can be done on a reasonable budget as well.

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Hi, just looking for some advice. We're a couple in our 20's and previously booked Val d'Isere France for new year but obviously weren't able to go. We're now looking into potentially booking somewhere in Switzerland but no idea where to start. Looking for a mix of good quality skiing and good atmosphere but not too expensive. If anyone has any advice that would be great. Thanks!

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You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@skishambles01 +1 for Verbier and as you'll see above, there's a view that Switzerland can be done at reasonable cost, compared to major resorts in other Alpine countries. If Verbier is still looking outside your budget, then a satellite like La Tzoumaz or Nendaz may be an option worth considering.

Good train links (see the SBB website: from 'Genève-Aéroport' to 'Verbier (télécabine)') or car hire from GVA (see the Geneva Airport Car Hire pages as a starting point for pricing).

A snowHead

A snowHead

We have booked to go to La Tzoumaz in half term, as France (where we were originally going) seems too unsure at the moment. We will be staying in an apartment close to the gondola in La Tzoumaz, flying to Geneva and renting a car. I have found the information in this thread very helpful, but I'm wondering how long time approximately it takes for "blue run skiers" to get to and from Verbier from La Tzoumaz? Asking as we are considering sending our 6 year old to ski school in La Tzoumaz, which would limit the time we have available to ski over to Verbier and back. Or would it be a good idea to send him to ski school in Verbier rather than La Tzoumaz, so that we have easier access to the slopes in Verbier? We chose to stay in La Tzoumaz purely as this was much more affordable compared with staying in Verbier. Thanks.

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I wouldn't say CH passes are that expensive - if you don't mind forking for a 3V or a Cham pass then you can't complain about Swiss"s 4V. And you know about these things upfront. Plus there's the Magic Pass if you go often.

In addition, if coming from abroad and without a car, the transport offer is far superior - trains, postal buses, etc. no need to drive or book a cab.

However it's for accommodation and food that, compared to Italy or France (or the UK) you need to either degrade the whole experience or make a dent in your savings.

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@Motherofthree We have an apartment in La Tzoumaz, so you are welcome to download the

■ La Tzoumaz Village Guide and the
■ Driving From GVA to La Tzoumaz and Shopping en route Guide

we've done for our clients, if you want. The only caveat is that we've missed out on getting there last winter and this one so far, so it's always possible that some of the detail has changed e.g. Exit 24 on the A9 to Riddes was shut for repairs in the summer when we went, but should have re-opened by now. There are also similar maps on the Résidence Laforêt website, plus links to rental shops and local excursions etc.

If the luge run is open, then you can hire a luge in the village and do the run with your toddler. But bear in mind that it's 10kms long so this may be one of those activities that they either love or hate. They'll need to be well wrapped-up and tolerant of you running off the slope into snow. Don't do it in ski boots. There is a swimming pool in the main télécabine building, but I suspect it isn't open - it was shut in the summer when we went. One thing you might try out if the weather's bad or you want a change is snowshoeing: there are some nice trails around the village and you can hire shoes by the day.

The worst case scenario for a 'blue run' skier going over to Verbier, who really doesn't want a challenge 1st thing, and/or who checks the liaisons on the status board at the summit of Savoleyres, and finds the Planards gate to Carrefour is shut (see video above), would be to just take the gondola down from Savoleyres into Verbier, and hop on the free navette to Mayentzet. Savoleyres>Mayentzet will probably be ~40 minutes if you just miss the navette (be careful, because they also go to Médran and Hameau from there as well).

If the liaison via Planards to Carrefour is open, as in the video above (the Savoleyres status display will tell you) then I personally prefer to ski down (rather than get the gondola and navette). If you're nervous about the red down from Savoleyres summit then you could ski down the blue to Croix de Coeur, then take the blue down to the right from there.

On the way back, if you're in a hurry, or just don't fancy trekking all the way down the mountain, or if the weather closes in badly, I'd just hop on the gondolas back down (#101 Funispace Attelas>Ruinettes and then Ruinettes>Médran, and get the Savoleyres navette from Médran. Probably a similar worst case time.

If your toddler is learning then they'll be using the 'Baby Slope' at Etablons (where there's a nice bar by the bus stop/roundabout, if you want to wait or have lunch after:

[An assiette de skieur with a local dôle blanche du Valais at the Les Etablons bar/café] I'd say keep their lessons in La Tzoumaz - in case they're completely knackered and just want to get home - which is a walk from the ski school rassemblement or a short bus ride down from Etablons. If they're more advanced, then they may get taken up to the blue that runs down from the summit.

The only caveat is that I don't know your ski level or detailed abilities, or the stamina of your toddler, so the above advice is very generic.

As for places to eat or have a break on piste in the Savoleyres sector, I've mentioned the Etablons bar/café already; the Savoleyres summit has a large, self-service café with nice views:

the baskets around the windows sit above the radiators and are great for drying/warming your stuff. You'll often see families there in the afternoon, where one is child-minding while the other skis and then they meet-up or swap 'round.

There's also the more up-market café/restaurant at Croix de Coeur (with heli-pad, if you're arriving that way), and my favourite, Chez Simon, which is independently owned and sort of middle-of-the-road - my favourite dish is the Croûte aux Champignons with one of their own wines for lunch, or a vin chaud with their own tarte baked on-site in the afternoon:

When I last skied La Tzoumaz Savoleyres in Feb 2019 and this summer when we went, the Maison de la Foret was open for snacks. This is on the very leftmost (on the piste map) blue run, next to the road into Etablons from just above Taillay. It's a small and very cosy visitor centre traditionally-built building with just a few tables, but has a good ambience.

If you're over in the Verbier sector, there's a lot to choose from, but my favourite on a nice day is the Cabin du Mt. Fort terrace:

It's en route from the Col des Gentians (just to the right of the building's roof) down to La Chaux.

One upside of the inconvenience of being is a satellite is that most of the Savoleyres sector is north-facing, so it tends to retain better snow conditions than the south-facing slopes of Verbier. To the extent that you can feel quite resentful when Verbi-ites 'come over' because their side is too busy/slushy. The only other tip I'd give is that Wednesday afternoons can be busier across the whole area, as that's school sports afternoon.

I hope you have a great time.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

And here's a video I did of a panorama around Croix de Coeur:

http://youtube.com/v/Rzc5QF7Syug

As it pans 'round towards the approach piste down from Savoleyres, the blue down to the Planards Gate is on the left and the piste back down to La Tzoumaz is on the right. You can see where to park your helicopter.

And here's the summer-then-winter video of the ride up from La Tzoumaz centre to the Savoleyres summit:

http://youtube.com/v/r6jCH3mmJwM

it starts in the summer and then flips to winter. As I said, have a great trip .... I suspect that we're not going to manage to get out there this season, so I'm envious.

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@LaForet, thank you so much for your detailed information which I have only just seen, it is very helpful! I will indeed be downloading and printing out your guides. We are going to stay in Residence Diana which is near the main gondola in La Tzoumaz.

My husband and I have skied in Sweden, Norway and France before and our two teenagers and 6-year old have only skied once before (in France two years ago), so we need to stick to easy blue slopes when skiing together. How long would you say it takes approximately to get from the bottom of the main gondola in La Tzoumaz to the Mayentzet lift in Verbier, and how long would it take to get back approximately? We are only able to ski on blue slopes or take the bus.

Is there anywhere on the slopes in La Tzoumaz/Verbier where you can bring your own food and eat indoors? The self-service cafe pictured above looks lovely, what's the name of this place?

I have been a bit shocked to see the prices for hiring ski gear in La Tzoumaz. It's over £700 for the 5 of us for basic gear for 6 days in Monnet Sports and Perraudin Sports!! It's about twice as much as in France. Is there anywhere else to rent ski gear near La Tzoumaz? We are even considering hiring the ski gear in Verbier, as we found a cheaper place there. However, the lift passes are very similarly priced, if not a bit less, than the big ski resorts in France, especially bearing in mind that our 6-year old skis for free in La Tzoumaz/Verbier.

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In the past, our visitors have got a discount at Monnet Sports by hiring via the SkiSet website: it’s worth giving SkiSet a try just to see.

After all it is free

Err - I've just checked it and Monnet is there. This is www.skiset.co.uk that you're using? Another one that's been mentioned is www.alpinresorts.com, but I have no personal experience of them.

As for transit time from La Tzoumaz to Mayentzet (or Médran) as I said, it'd be about 40 minutes - possibly a bit less - if you went on the gondola up from La Tzoumaz to Savoleyres, then down to Verbier, and then got the bus to Carrefour, and then skied the 200m or so to Mayentzet. The alternative is to ski the blue to Croix de Coeur, the blue to the Planards Gate, and the video run to Carrefour - if the gate is open (shown on the 'liaisons' status board at Savoleyres). Perhaps on your first days you could take a break at the Croix de Coeur café and then you'll be able to look down and judge the ski-ability of these runs, which you can see from there.

The blue-type areas in Verbier are around La Chaux and Lac des Vaux. If you wanted to get to them with absolutely no skiing at all, then you would just get the gondola La Tzoumaz>Savoleyres>Verbier and the bus to Médran. Then the gondola Médran>RUinettes. Then either the Funispace RUinettes>Attelas for Lac des Vaux, or the Combimix RUinettes>La Chaux.

If you want to make your life easier getting back into Verbier from La Chaux. you'd get on a gondola as opposed to a chair (it's a 'combimix' of chairs and gondolas) at La Chaux, stay on it at Fontanay and get off back at Ruinettes, then get the gondola Ruinettes>Médran, then the bus to Savoleyres Sud. Similarly, if you're at Lac des Vaux and just want an easy return (or you're running late), then get the gondola back down: Attelas>Ruinettes and then Ruinettes>Médran (then the bus to Savoleyres gondola).

If you were running late, at Savoleyres you could just take the gondola back down to La Tazoumaz, rather than ski the blues down from there.

Again, the caveat is that I'm assuming you're genuinely only able to do blues, and not handle reds at all. But in Verbier, quite a few reds have little 'by-passes' that swing 'round the steep bits that make them reds. And in La Tzoumaz, there are some reds where a competent novice could just tkae the steeper bit more slowly and cope. But in both cases, you need to know a bit about which these are, as opposed to full-on reds that would frighten a novice. It's very difficult to give meaningful directions at a distance: it's be a cinch if I could accompany you for an orientation morning.

Once you're in the resort it might be worth dropping into the ESS (École du Ski Suisse) ski school for some advice after a day or two as you'll have a good mental map of all the runs by then. In an ideal world, you'd hire a guide for half a day and they could judge your skiing ability and give you a tour. But I appreciate this is probably too big an expense.

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The café with the big windows is the Restaurant de Savoleyres in the Savoleyres gondola summit building - at the top, you walk straight out the gondola up from La Tzoumaz, towards the ESS hut, and it's to your right, past the ski stands. You'll see an outside terrace and the entrance is on the right of the terrace. You can usually eat your own stuff on the terrace without anyone complaining. The prices here are the cheapest you'll get up the mountain, in my experience, and the menu includes bowls of frites and usually a cheaper option like sausage+frites. The goulash and vegetable soups are usually another cheaper option and are pretty substantial.

We usually pack an 'emergency' supply of bread-and-cheese, and then at lunch just get a goulash/soup (potage) and have that with the soup. Or supplement it with a bowl of frites to share.

The building also has a picnic room in the basement for self-caterers. It's not bad, and we've used it with relatives who are trying to keep the costs down. Sometimes, it's actually less hassle to eat a packed lunch as opposed to a bunfight in the main café. The entrance is just by where the old gondola comes up from Verbier. But I'd caveat this in that I'm not sure if this is open in Covid times or not as I haven't been since February 2019.

If you look at the photo of Chez Simon, you'll see people sitting by the top and bottom end of the large building on the right - they usually put benches out there for people to picnic. Obviously, it's better in good weather. Just fYI, Chez Simon publish their menu with prices here which should give you an idea of costs. You'll see for example, that a ham sandwich is CHF 5.20 (£4.16) while their potage is CHF 8.50 (£6.80) or with cheese and bread, CHF 12.00 (£9.60) so you can see why we take our own baguette and cheese up with us ...

Help!!

Switzerland Options

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