Villars
Villars is posh, polished and very Swiss, with its mountain railway, picturesque chalets, elegant restaurants and smart hotels. It's also one of the best family ski resorts close to Geneva, with a ski area that stretches across to Les Diablerets, Gryon and high, snowsure Glacier 3000.
Villars sur Ollon has a long pedigree as a ski resort. It has been one of the classiest places to take a winter holiday for over a century, and traditionalists can still use the old mountain railway to get to the slopes although there are modern lifts as well.
Villars has more than its fair share of smart restaurants, luxury hotels, and rich and famous residents who jet in and out at weekends taking advantage of the short transfers from Geneva airport, but there is very little ostentatious glitz and bling. Instead, Villars is charming, discreet and very family-oriented with good nursery slopes and child-friendly ski schools.
And you don’t have to be a well-heeled family or jet-set weekender to like the mid-sized ski area that Villars shares with Les Diablerets, Gryon and Bex which includes a snowsure glacier (‘Glacier 3000‘) at the far end. Some of Verbier’s mountain guides bring clients here, knowing that they’ll have the backcountry largely to themselves, and the mountains above Villars form the first 3000m barrier on the northwest side of the Alps that powder-laden snow storms encounter.
Challenges on the piste, however, are limited: the long black and red runs coming down from Glacier 3000 to Reusch are the best of a very small bunch. But that does not matter to the novices and relaxed intermediate skiers who come to Villars year after year. They relish the resort’s short, sunny, gentle red and blue runs which are subtly replenished at night with artificial snow (provided it’s cold enough).
Only in a warm spring does the ski area contract sharply, and even then there will always be skiing at Glacier 3000, but that’s quite a slog to get to from Villars, so many holidaymakers simply hang up their skis and take up other activities such as walking on prepared mountain paths, tobogganing, skating and swimming in indoor pools. Or they just spend more time at lunch, because the smart restaurants in town are mirrored by ones that are just as good up the mountain.
Villars Strengths & Weaknesses
+ Excellent restaurants on and off the slopes
+ Beginner-friendly, mid-sized ski area
+ Mountain railways add to the appeal
+ Quick and easy to get to from Geneva
+ High snowsure glacier at Glacier 3000
+ Good off-piste with a guide
– Expensive
– Long journey to and from glacier
– Non-glacier slopes are not snowsure
– Very few challenging pistes
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