Switzerland · Lake Geneva & Valais · Travel guide
What a ski week or a hiking summer in the freeride mecca of Valais really costs, why you sleep in Le Châble and ski in Verbier, and where the bisses lead you across the hillside in July.
Photo: Christopher Politano / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in Swiss francs (CHF). Cards and the Twint app work practically everywhere, even on alpine pastures. Many shops accept euros but give change in francs at a poor rate. Service is included in prices; rounding up is customary. Getting there: By train (SBB) or car, 1 to 4 hours from Zurich.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
The oldest hotel in Verbier, a simple family-run house in the old village part of Verbier-Village below the resort, with plain rooms, sauna and restaurant. One of the few houses in Verbier that stay below mid-range prices; the local bus to the Médran lift stops 30 metres from the door.
Traditional house on the Rue de Médran between the Place Centrale and the valley station, plain rooms, with a sauna and a restaurant serving Valais cuisine. For skiers who want a bed within walking distance of the lift and eat out in the village in the evening.
Small hotel with restaurant down in the valley in Le Châble, 200 metres from the station and the gondola to Verbier, plain rooms, parking. This is where the western Swiss sleep who ski Verbier but do not want to pay Verbier; in the morning you are up top in ten minutes.
Mid-range
Four-star hotel right on the Place Centrale with large rooms and suites with balconies, indoor pool, sauna and an Italian restaurant. In the thick of it, with the bus to the Médran lift in two minutes. For guests who want to experience Verbier in the village and not just ski.
Solid three-star hotel between the Place Centrale and Médran, rooms in light wood, sauna, breakfast buffet, ski room. No surprises, reliable, for skiers who want a good bed and short distances.
Chalet hotel a little below the centre with an indoor pool, spa, restaurant with terrace and a shuttle to the Médran lift. Rooms spacious and quiet, views of the Val de Bagnes. For families and couples who do not need to be standing on the Place Centrale in the evening.
Luxury
The Marriott brand's design hotel right at the Médran valley station, ski-in ski-out, with a spa, outdoor pool, several restaurants and the bar where the après-ski of the wealthy takes place in winter. Loud, modern, international. For the Verbier winter in its jet-set form.
Five-star Relais & Châteaux chalet above the village at the Savoleyres lift, with antiques, fireplaces, a spa and a gourmet restaurant with a view of the Grand Combin. Quiet and family-run, the opposite of the W. For couples who want alpine luxury the classic way.
The Parisian Experimental Group's house with seventies design, a cocktail bar, the Farm Club as a nightclub in the basement and a spa. Rooms smaller than at the Chalet d'Adrien, but with the nightlife in-house. For guests who want to experience Verbier after midnight too.
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By gondola and cable car via Les Ruinettes and the Col des Gentianes up to 3,330 metres, with views of the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Grand Combin and Dent Blanche. In summer free with the VIP Pass, otherwise around CHF 60 (about EUR 64) return; in winter included in the ski pass. Two to three hours, cold and windy at the top.
The slopes of Mont Gelé, Attelas and the couloirs below Mont Fort with a mountain guide who knows the terrain and the snow, avalanche equipment included. Private group CHF 500 to 700 (about EUR 535 to 749) a day, in a group from CHF 150 per person. For confident skiers, January to April.
410 kilometres of pistes across Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon, the largest ski area in Switzerland, with Mont Fort as the highest point. Day pass CHF 80 to 90 (about EUR 86 to 96), dynamic, cheaper bought online and early, from six days around CHF 70 a day. Verbier alone CHF 70 to 75.
Level walk along the old irrigation channel from Verbier through larch forest with views of the Grand Combin, two hours, free, manageable for families. Guided bisse walks with explanations of the history from CHF 30 (about EUR 32). June to October.
SAC hut at 2,457 metres, 30 minutes from the La Chaux lift station, with the best terrace in the region and rösti for CHF 25 (about EUR 27). Overnight stay with half board CHF 80 to 100, for the sunrise over Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin. July to September and in winter as a ski hut.
Downhill and enduro trails with gondola transport from Médran and Le Châble, bike park with trails for all levels, bike hire from CHF 60 to 90 (about EUR 64 to 96) a day, lifts free in summer with the VIP Pass. For experienced riders one of the best places in the Alps, June to September.
By PostBus from Le Châble in 45 minutes to the 250-metre arch dam at the back of the Val de Bagnes, circular walk across the dam and through tunnels along the reservoir, two to three hours, free. Around CHF 15 (about EUR 16) return with a Half Fare Card. June to October, hotel at the foot of the dam.
From Les Ruinettes or Savoleyres 1,000 metres down over the Val de Bagnes to the village, 15 to 25 minutes in the air, CHF 180 to 220 (about EUR 193 to 235), summer and winter. Verbier is one of the most reliable flying sites in the Alps, with thermals on the south-facing slope.
Visit the Laiterie in Le Châble, where the Bagnes raclette cheese is made, with tasting and shop, tours on request from CHF 15 (about EUR 16). In early October the cattle drive down from the alps with the Hérens cows and a market in the village, free. Combines well with Bruson for a valley day.
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Verbier eats in two halves: up on the Place Centrale international and expensive, with sushi, burgers and champagne, down in the Val de Bagnes the Valais cuisine with the Bagnes cheese, which in the locals' opinion makes the best raclette in the canton. Plus dried meat, rye bread, Cholera and Fendant from the Rhone valley. You eat well and affordably at lunchtime with a set menu, in the evening in the stube on the edge of the village and in Le Châble.
Raclette from Bagnes cheese made in the valley's alpine dairies, melted over the fire, creamy and stronger than Gomser. CHF 8 to 10 (about EUR 9 to 11) per portion, all you can eat CHF 32 to 40, cheaper in Le Châble.
Tip:The Valaisans tell the alps apart by taste; ask which alp the wheel comes from, the number is usually stamped on it.
Cheese fondue made from pure Bagnes cheese instead of the Fribourg blend, spicier and a little runnier. CHF 28 to 36 (about EUR 30 to 39) per person.
Air-dried beef that in the villages of Bagnes traditionally dried in the lofts of the barns, wafer-thin with rye bread. Walliser Teller CHF 26 to 34 (about EUR 28 to 36) in Verbier, at the butcher CHF 8 to 12 per 100 grams.
Tip:Buy it in Le Châble for the picnic on the mountain; up top the same thing costs a third more.
The Valais oven pie with potatoes, leek, apples, cheese and bacon, originally from the Goms, today found across the canton. CHF 20 to 26 (about EUR 21 to 28) as a main course in the traditional restaurants.
A cake of fried potatoes with a fried egg, bacon or raclette cheese, the lunch on the terrace. In Verbier CHF 26 to 32 (about EUR 28 to 34) at the piste restaurants, at the Cabane Mont Fort CHF 25.
Tip:The locals' huts are on the Savoleyres side and in Bruson, with smaller prices and the same plate.
Fendant for raclette, Petite Arvine as the great white, Cornalin as the old Valais red with cherry and pepper. Fendant CHF 7 to 9 (about EUR 7 to 10) per decilitre, Petite Arvine CHF 10 to 13, Cornalin from CHF 45 a bottle in a restaurant.
Tip:Fully, 20 minutes from Le Châble, is the village of Petite Arvine; the wineries open for tastings on Saturday.
Dark Valais rye bread AOP with butter from the alp and honey or alpine cheese, the breakfast of the valley. A loaf CHF 5 to 7 (about EUR 5 to 7), at any bakery.
Valais apricot and pear brandies with protected origin, clear and fruity, with coffee after the raclette. CHF 6 to 9 (about EUR 6 to 10) a glass, a bottle from CHF 35 in Martigny.
Tip:A "Café Abricotine" after the cheese is the Valais digestive, not compulsory but tradition.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Verbier sits on a south-west-facing terrace at 1,500 metres above the Val de Bagnes, and until the 1920s there were only mayens here, the mid-altitude huts that the farmers from Le Châble and the villages in the valley occupied in spring and autumn. The Val de Bagnes was poor and notorious: in 1818 the ice dam of the Giétro Glacier burst, and a flood wave devastated the valley as far as Martigny, killing 44 people. Tourism started late. The first hotel opened in 1925, the first ski lift ran to the Col des Mines in 1946, the chairlift to Médran in 1950, and in the 1960s families from Geneva and Lausanne built chalets before the English arrived and made Verbier their alpine resort. In 1983 the cable car to Mont Fort (3,330 metres) began operating, and with the link to Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon the 4 Vallées were born, with 410 kilometres of pistes the largest ski area in Switzerland. Verbier's reputation, though, rests on the terrain off the pistes: the slopes of Mont Fort and Mont Gelé and the Bec des Rosses couloir are among the steepest ridden in the Alps, and since 1996 the Freeride World Tour final, the Xtreme Verbier, has ended there. In 2010 the Le Châble to Verbier gondola arrived as the second feeder lift from the valley, and in 1994 the Verbier Festival for classical music, which brings the best orchestras and soloists to the resort every July. Today Verbier has 3,000 inhabitants and 35,000 guests in February, chalets for 20 million and alongside, in the valley, still the villages of Bagnes with their dairies and bisses from the 15th century.
From Zurich you travel via Bern or Lausanne to Martigny (2 hours 45 minutes), there onto the regional train through the Val de Bagnes to Le Châble (30 minutes) and up to Verbier by gondola in 10 minutes; a good 3 hours 45 minutes in all, from Bern 2 hours 45 minutes, from Geneva 2 hours 15 minutes, from Basel around 4 hours. With a Half Fare Card, Zurich return costs around CHF 130 (about EUR 139) including the gondola; the gondola from Le Châble is included in the ski pass, on its own it costs CHF 10 to 12 one way. By car it is 3 hours 30 minutes from Zurich via Bern, the Lötschberg car shuttle and Martigny or along the A1 beside Lake Geneva, 2 hours from Geneva. Verbier is not car-free, but in the high season weeks the road up is one long queue, parking in the village costs CHF 20 to 30 a day and is full at weekends, and the road requires snow chains when it snows. The honest advice: put the car in the car park in Le Châble at the valley station (CHF 10 to 15 a day, partly free for ski pass holders) and take the gondola up. In the village free buses run between Médran, Place Centrale, Carrefour and Savoleyres every ten minutes in winter, less often in summer.
The 4 Vallées, with 410 kilometres of pistes, are the largest ski area in Switzerland, but the number is misleading: the Verbier sector alone has around 200 kilometres and is the part with the altitude, the terrain and Mont Fort; Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon are gentler, and the return trip needs planning because the connections close in the late afternoon. The ski pass costs CHF 80 to 90 (about EUR 86 to 96) a day for the 4 Vallées, CHF 70 to 75 for Verbier alone, cheaper online and in the pre-season, and Verbier has dynamic pricing that rises on fine weekends; booking early pays off more here than elsewhere. Mont Fort at 3,330 metres is the summit with the view of the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc and Grand Combin and with the steepest piste in the area, which is really a mogul slope. The freeride terrain of Mont Gelé, Attelas and the slopes around the Bec des Rosses are the reason Verbier is full in February. Never ride there without avalanche equipment, without a partner, and ideally on the first day with a mountain guide (CHF 500 to 700 a day for the group, from CHF 150 per person in a group) who knows the slopes. For piste skiers and families, Savoleyres on the other side of the village and La Chaux are the right terrain, sunny and wide.
Verbier is a chalet resort; hotels are few and almost all in the upper price bracket: mid-range double rooms CHF 220 to 320 (about EUR 235 to 342) in the winter season, CHF 150 to 200 in summer, the five-star houses (W Verbier, Le Chalet d'Adrien, Experimental Chalet) from CHF 500 to 900. Holiday apartments are the rule and in winter are let by the week, Saturday to Saturday, from CHF 1,500 a week for four people in the low season, double to triple in the February holidays and over New Year, plus a cleaning fee and visitor's tax of CHF 4 to 6 per night. Location: around the Médran valley station you stay ski-in ski-out or two minutes away, at the highest prices. The Place Centrale is the meeting point with bars and shops, noisy until 2 am. The trick the western Swiss know is called Le Châble: the village in the valley at 820 metres has hotels, inns and a hostel for half the Verbier price, the station and car park are on the doorstep, and the gondola takes you to the Place Centrale or straight into the ski area in 10 minutes, last run around 8 pm in winter. For February and New Year you book by September; January after the 6th and the second half of March are often still available and 30 per cent cheaper, and summer can be booked at short notice.
Verbier charges London prices where it can: beer on the Place Centrale CHF 9 to 12 (about EUR 10 to 13), a cocktail CHF 20, a burger at a mountain hut CHF 32. Five things help. First: in summer, from one night's stay you get the VIP Pass, with which all the lifts of Verbier, La Tzoumaz and Bruson are free, plus the bus, the indoor pool and many activities; that makes summer the cheapest time for the mountains. Second: buy ski passes online and as early as possible, the price rises dynamically, and multi-day passes from six days bring the daily price down to around CHF 70; the pre-season until mid-December and April have ski-and-hotel packages. Third: Bruson, the small ski area opposite Le Châble, has its own cheaper day pass and on powder days the best tree runs. Fourth: lunch at the huts costs CHF 25 to 40 without a drink, in the village there are lunch menus for CHF 22 to 28, and the Migros and Coop on the main street fill your rucksack. Fifth: the Verbier Festival in July has, alongside the main concerts for CHF 60 to 180, a large free programme of rehearsals, academy concerts and performances in the village and on the alps; with the programme in your hand you hear a week of world class for nothing.
The winter season runs from the end of November to the end of April, Mont Fort thanks to its altitude often into May. December before Christmas is cheap and often thin on snow, Christmas to New Year and the February holidays (Swiss, French and English one after the other, so three weeks) are full and expensive, January has cold powder and empty pistes, March sun until 6 pm, spring snow in the afternoon and the Xtreme Verbier, the freeride final on the Bec des Rosses, which you can watch for free from the Col des Gentianes at the end of March. Summer is Verbier's second face and the cheaper one: from mid-June to mid-September the lifts to Mont Fort, Attelas and Savoleyres run, free with the VIP Pass, there are 400 kilometres of hiking trails, bike trails with gondola transport and the bisses, the old irrigation channels along which you walk on the level across the hillside. The Verbier Festival from mid-July to early August brings a quieter crowd. September is for us the best hiking month: clear, empty, lifts still open until the middle of the month, after which it goes quiet. The shoulder seasons from May to mid-June and from mid-September to the end of November are pronounced in Verbier: many restaurants and hotels close completely, the lifts stand still, but a room then costs CHF 120.
The bisses are the water channels with which the Valaisans have irrigated the dry south-facing slopes since the Middle Ages, and the paths beside them are the most beautiful level walks in the canton. The Bisse du Levron runs from Verbier for two hours through larch forest and across slopes with views of the Grand Combin, and the Bisse de Saxon from La Tzoumaz, at 32 kilometres, is the longest in Valais. The Cabane Mont Fort at 2,457 metres is an SAC hut that you reach in summer from the La Chaux lift station in 30 minutes; the terrace with its view of Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin is the best lunch in the region. At the back of the Val de Bagnes stands the Mauvoisin dam, 250 metres high, the second-highest arch dam in the world, reached by PostBus from Le Châble in 45 minutes, with a circular walk across the dam and through tunnels and a hotel at its foot. And in the villages of Bagnes, in Le Châble, Bruson and Sarreyer, are the dairies where the Bagnes raclette cheese is made, which in the Valaisans' opinion is the best in the canton; the Laiterie in Le Châble sells it direct and runs tours, and in early October Le Châble hosts the Désalpe, the cattle drive down from the alps with the Hérens cows and a market that fills the valley.
By train from Zurich in a good 3 hours 45 minutes via Martigny to Le Châble, then 10 minutes up by gondola; from Bern 2 hours 45 minutes, from Geneva 2 hours 15 minutes, with a Half Fare Card around CHF 130 (about EUR 139) return from Zurich. By car 3 hours 30 minutes from Zurich, 2 hours from Geneva. The best place to park is Le Châble (CHF 10 to 15 a day), then take the gondola up; in the village parking is expensive and scarce. Once there, free buses run, every ten minutes in winter.
In winter a week is normal, because the 4 Vallées are big, the apartments are let by the week and you need a day with a mountain guide and a good snow day for the freeride slopes. A ski weekend from Geneva or Lausanne is doable, from Zurich with almost four hours of travel it is tight. In summer three to four days are enough: Mont Fort, a bisse walk, Cabane Mont Fort and Mauvoisin or a bike day, with all lifts included in the VIP Pass.
For one person in a mid-range hotel in Verbier with a six-day 4 Vallées ski pass, lunch at the hut and a simple dinner, expect CHF 2,200 to 2,800 (about EUR 2,354 to 2,996) per week, more in the February holidays. For four in a holiday apartment in Le Châble with self-catering and picnics that drops to CHF 1,100 to 1,400 per person including the ski pass. That makes Verbier more expensive than the Aletsch Arena and about on a par with Zermatt, with the difference that Le Châble can halve the price.
With reservations. There are beginner slopes at Les Esserts and Les Moulins and the wide, sunny pistes of Savoleyres and La Chaux, plus ski schools with children's programmes. But the resort's reputation comes from the steep terrain, many blue pistes are in truth red, the connections within the 4 Vallées are long, and the prices are not family-friendly. If you mainly want relaxed skiing with children, you are better off in the Aletsch Arena or in Nendaz, the cheaper part of the 4 Vallées.
The VIP Pass is the guest card of the Val de Bagnes: anyone staying at least one night in Verbier, Le Châble, Bruson or La Tzoumaz receives it and rides all the lifts in the region free from June to September, plus bus, indoor pool, tennis and minigolf, and gets discounts on bike hire and guided tours. That makes summer in Verbier the best value for money in Valais: Mont Fort return would otherwise cost around CHF 60 (about EUR 64). The card is issued digitally by your accommodation.
The festival runs from mid-July to early August, with orchestral concerts in the Salle des Combins for CHF 60 to 180 (about EUR 64 to 193) and chamber music in the church for CHF 30 to 80, tickets on sale from February, the big names go fast. Alongside, a free programme runs daily: rehearsals, academy concerts, performances in the villages and on the alp, with the programme published online in June. Book hotels by April, or sleep in Le Châble and take the gondola, which runs until after the concerts during the festival.
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