Peak Breaks

Renowned for its skiing in winter, Switzerland’s Alpine region offers a different but equally appealing experience in the warmer months.

- Tom Otley

The Alps are always magical. Looking up to the mountains as dawn breaks, the higher peaks are like a painted backdrop against a pale, cloudless sky, and as the temperature rises and the valleys get the sun, the villages and towns begin to bustle and their sounds carry through the clear Alpine air.

You’d expect them to be overrun in the warmer months, but in a strange reversal of fortune, Alpine resorts that once relied on summer visitors for income to keep them going through the long and inhospitable winters now find themselves far busier during the winter months.

That turnaround began in 1864, when, as the story would have it, Johannes Badrutt sat by the fire in the Kulm hotel in St Moritz with four English holiday guests and enthused about the resort in winter. He called it “a paradise on earth”. The Englishmen, used to dark, cold winters, did not believe him, and so the conversation led to the legendary bet – Badrutt suggested that the four should return in December and, if they did not enjoy their stay, he would reimburse the travel expenses. The men returned – and stayed until Easter. Badrutt won his bet, and winter tourism was launched.

Roll forward 150 years, and the situation has led to a pricing anomaly. To attract visitors in the summer, rates are up to 50 per cent lower than in the peak winter season. It means mere mortals can experience and enjoy some of the best hotels in Europe at a price that matches what they’d be paying at far lesser resorts on the European coast at the same time of the year. And without the crowds but still with the mountains and all that fresh air.

It’s not all staring at the sky, however. There are myriad activities on offer, some at an additional charge, others for free. Walking or hiking, depending on your appetite for exercise, is largely free, not least since in the summer many hotels offer complimentary li passes and local transport.