Verbier

Verbier sits on a broad south-facing shelf at about 1,500 m in the Valais, above the Val de Bagnes, and it is the resort serious skiers name first.

The reason is the terrain. Verbier is the main gateway to the Four Valleys, the largest linked ski area in Switzerland — around 400 km of piste — and, more to the point, it sits under some of the most accessible steep off-piste in the Alps.

It is also expensive, international and rather pleased with itself. The village is a sprawl of chalets rather than a historic centre, and nobody comes for the architecture.

The skiing

Mont Fort, at 3,330 m, is the high point and the glacier, holding snow into spring.

The off-piste is the draw: the Backside of Mont Fort, Vallon d’Arby, the Stairway to Heaven. These are avalanche terrain, not marked runs, and they are the reason Verbier has a large population of mountain guides — hire one.

Every spring the resort hosts the final of the Freeride World Tour on the Bec des Rosses, a face so steep it looks unskiable from the village. It is free to watch from the Col des Gentianes and it is genuinely alarming.

Summer

Quieter and much cheaper, and the terrain that makes it good for skiing makes it good for the rest.

Verbier is one of the main mountain biking centres in Switzerland, with lift-served descents and the Verbier E-Bike Festival. There are around 400 km of marked walking paths, and the Tour des Combins and the Haute Route to Zermatt or Chamonix both pass nearby.

The Verbier Festival in late July and early August is a serious classical music event, with an orchestra of young musicians and a fair share of the world’s best soloists teaching and performing in a tent on the mountainside.

Getting there

• By train and bus — the railway reaches Le Châble in the valley below (Geneva about two and a half hours, Zurich about four), then a cable car or a bus climbs to the resort in ten minutes.
• By air — Geneva is the airport, about two hours by road.
• The cable car from Le Châble runs year-round and means a car is unnecessary.

Practical

• Expensive, particularly in February and at Christmas. January and late March are the value weeks.
• The lift pass covers the Four Valleys and is priced accordingly; a Verbier-only pass is cheaper if you will not range that far.
• Off-piste — check the avalanche bulletin, carry a transceiver, and take a guide. People die here every winter, and almost always outside the marked runs.

When to go

December to April for skiing, with the best snow usually February and March. July and August for walking, biking and the festival.

May, June, October and November are the closed months — most of the resort shuts.