Valais
in Switzerland

Perched on a sun-facing plateau at 1500 metres above the Rhône valley, Crans-Montana has one of the most enviable positions in the Alps. The panorama from the slopes takes in fourteen four-thousand-metre peaks including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc on a clear day, and the skiing, spread across a wide open domain with exceptional snow exposure, suits intermediate skiers particularly well. The resort has a certain unhurried glamour: good restaurants, a handful of serious hotels, and a golf course that hosts the European Tour each September and happens to have one of the finest settings of any in Europe. It is polished without being showy, which in Switzerland is saying something.

Verbier is the Swiss Alps at their most exhilarating. The off-piste reputation is well-earned: the terrain above the resort is serious, varied, and on a powder day after a heavy snowfall, among the finest in Europe. The 4 Vallées lift network is vast enough to keep even the most restless skier occupied for a full week. The village is lively and expensive in equal measure, with a nightlife that outlasts most European ski resorts and a food scene that has quietly become exceptional. Come for the mountain, stay for the whole very good-looking package.

The Matterhorn is one of those mountains that looks almost too perfect to be real, and seeing it for the first time above the rooftops of Zermatt is a moment that genuinely lands. The village is car-free, well-preserved, and exceptionally good at being a ski resort: the terrain is vast, the snow reliable at altitude, and the glacier skiing extends the season well into May. Off the slopes the streets are lined with good restaurants and the kind of outdoor kit shops that make you want to buy things you probably do not need. Come in summer too. The hiking is world-class.