Ski Lifts in Villars

The ski lift system at Villars has undergone an extensive replacement and refurbishment programme and the queues of the past are now largely confined to memory.

Villars Ski Lifts

The choice of train or gondola from Villars is your first decision of the day. The trains leave every 30 minutes from the centre of the village and take about 15 minutes to meander up the mountain. With several stops at hotels and mountain restaurants on the way, this choice is nothing if not convenient.

The gondola is easily accessed from the village centre using the excellent and frequent free bus service and is a seven-minute ride to the top. The first run down from the top station is red, so beginners are better off taking the train.

Once you’ve arrived at the Bretaye hub, the region is opened up by chairlifts linking the four main peaks interspersed with draglifts. However, throughout the main Villars-Barboleuse-Gryon ski sector, there is not a single ski run which necessitates the use of a drag lift: every descent can be reached by using the train, two gondolas or a choice of two, four and six-person chairlifts.

Les Diablerets ski lift system, on the other hand, is almost all draglifts, while the glacier is reached either by two long cable cars or a shorter one followed by a chairlift. Right up top on the constantly shifting ice field, draglifts are more prominent since these work best on glacier terrain.

Although the Roc d’Orsay gondola from the village is the most obvious route to the glacier,  you can also take the train from the village to the main skiing hub of Bretaye and start from there. This involves slightly less skiing but given that the gondola is faster than the train, it amounts to roughly the same journey time to the glacier.

Villars Ski Lift Pass

Any all-areas Villars ski pass, for three or more consecutive days, includes access to both glacier cable cars and lifts as well as an extra 100 kilometres of ski slopes at the neighbouring ski areas of Leysin and Les Mosses, which are easily reached by car or public transport.

For more information about the ski lifts at Villars and Les Diablerets (Glacier 3000):

Tele-Villars-Gryon Ski Lift Company
Tel: +41 (0) 24 495 8113
Web: www.televillars.ch  

Glacier3000 Ski Lift Company
Tel: +41 (0) 84 800 3000
Web: www.glacier3000.ch