Ok you’ve got a tricky dilemma here. A wife in tow and while you love the ski season she isn’t so keen on getting cold and expending all the physical energy all week just to stay warm and with a distinct lack of on slope shopping your are in trouble..
So you have always wanted to ski Europe but where to go for some great skiing and still keep your wife entertained.
If you followed my earlier blog post for where to ski in Europe you will know there are lots of great choices to satisfy your love of skiing. But adding into the equation some entertainment narrows the choices down somewhat but still there are some great options.
I am going to try and combine the best skiing with some shopping, historic towns, and some amazing classic hotels.
As I am only a poor artist travelling on a meagre budget I will not be able to help much in the choice of expensive hotels at the more luxurious end of the market but I am sure booking.com will help out there. Some are so luxurious I can feel my wallet emptying just by looking at them.
First I would count out France as while the skiing is excellent in the incredible purpose built resorts and huge ski areas, these are all from the 1970’s and really don’t have a lot to do in the days and evenings. 2 exceptions could be Megeve and Morzine but I would not put them very high up the list.
However one place in France does make the list. As part of a trip you could look at Chamonix with its lovely historic centre and a little more off the slopes entertainment. This place is just dripping in mountain atmosphere, history, mountain guides, ski touring, epic off piste. So if it happens to fit in, this is a great place to start but the skiing areas are not linked and it’s a bit of a pain to get around so for skiing it doesn’t score top marks. One plus of this place is you can go through the Mt Blanc tunnel to Italy to ski Courmayeur and your wife can have a days shopping in Italy all on the same pass and you can sample the wonderful cuisine of Italy and smiling hospitality. The next bonus is the pass can be linked into Verbier which I will go into next. Verbier is not far by car and again puts in a day shopping in Switzerland and is a stunning drive through Argentiere (my favourite ski area in the Chamonix Valley) and over the mountain pass.
The best picks of the bunch I think though to keep your wife entertained are in Switzerland. So we have 3 places which stand out really well here.
First lets go to Verbier. This links to Chamonix. It’s not the best choice for history and shopping, but it’s in the mix because, if you get powder this place is the best off piste in Europe without a guide and also with a guide even better. It’s an incredible ski area so you will loose some points here but if you can call in if powder is in the air then its worth the gamble. Verbier town is ok with a good selection of expensive shops and lots of bars and restaurants so there is something there to help you wife entertain herself but really this place is there for the off piste. Combine this with Chamonix which is another off piste mecca but Chamonix really needs a guide as its a tricky place to find your way round the off piste but there are some classic itineraries. You can do a day trip to Verbier from Chamonix if your wife has is booked into a lovely spar for the day.
Here is my number one choice, Zermatt. It ticks all the ski boxes, high altitude, large glacier, plenty of lifts and milage. Add in the Italian resort of Cervinia over the Swiss Italian border up on the glacier you even get the bonus of amazing Italian food, coffee and smiling Italian service. The link to Italy is a bit weather dependent and isn’t always open but when it is that’s a lot of fun getting into Italy and find a few hidden stashes of powder. Zermatt town itself is car free which is a bonus and the centre is steeped in history with some quite incredible historic old hotels and restaurants. Your wife can even take the mountain train up to the observatory in a nice warm carriage and meet you for lunch on the way up. You can call in at Millan or Zurich on the way over from the states to stock up on expensive shopping if you really want to break the bank. Zermatt can be linked in with St Moritz. Its not that close but there is a classic train journey called the Glacier Express which can take you there.
If you are travelling just with your wife then one of the best options in Switzerland is the trains travel. There are some amazing train routes and the train stations are right inside the airport. You can arrange to have your bags sent on separately to you so you can enjoy the train trip with just your day bag.
Number 2 on my list would be Wengen, Grinlewald and Murren, Interlaken. The skiing here and size of ski area is second best to Zermatt but its still pretty good. The shopping and entertainment are a little bit less too. But this is a romantic getaway if ever there was one. Its not sexy but it is just ever so special.
While in France you can travel all day around these mega resorts on skis visiting tiny little mountain restaurants and villages for some incredible lunches and clock up some ski miles. But Wengen takes a bit of the effort out and slows you down to a slow Waltz. You can travel far and wide for lunch on your skis. Yes you ski but not too much. Yes there are a few steep pistes but not too many. And yes you can travel a long way on your skis but trains and cable cars take up some of the slack as you rattle and rumble along in some historic transport in a nice warm carriage.
First you arrive at Interlaken on the lake for a romantic stay but no skiing there, its just the warm up. And then a little way further on to Lauterbrunnen where you take the train or drop the car off in the valley. Then you take mountain train up to Wengen which hangs on the edge of the valley under the Eiger, quite spectacular. From Wengen you can now start skiing. The mountain train heads to the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain while you can ski your wife has the option of going over the top and down to the village Grindlewald on the other side of the Eiger for her morning coffee or even more incredible take the next stage of the mountain railway which climbs up inside the Eiger mountain to the observatory at the top, all in a heated Swiss railway carriage with a bar, coffee and a shop never far away. The next adventure which involves a couple of trains and cable cars takes you to historic Murren which is a scenic trip part on skis and part on lifts so lots of scenery and miles but not too much effort.
3rd on the list is St Moritz which is a very classic choice to take your wife. This is where ski glamour was invented and its a fabulous town. This place probably has the most to do of any of the European ski areas especially if you can cope with the high life with horse racing on the lake, art galleries in abundance and major exhibitions, unbelievable hotels and the list goes on. St Moritz is the place to stay for sure. The skiing is good but not as good as Zermatt and definitely not as good as Verbier. When I went there I combined it with Davos for the world economic Forum and traveled from Zurich by train which itself is a classic train trip on the Glacier Express. Or try Zermatt to St Moritz and take in the full Glacier Express 8hr trip. If you combined these 2 resorts then I think you would be onto a winner. But the romance in me says don’t miss our Wengen. And then my off piste love affair says please don’t miss Verbier. You could do all four in the car and add in Chamonix, its possible, but I think on the trains more than 2 resorts would get a bit tedious if you had to change trains too much.
There are lots of other incredible old towns to ski in Switzerland but these are my favourite 2 for very different reasons. You can combine the 2 into a trip as they are only 3 hours apart by car and that would for me be an unbelievable trip.
Austria also has some classic old towns set around some great ski areas with possibly Zell am See fitting the bill but I am not so familiar with Austria so I am going to leave this out as I can’t think of anywhere which matches Switzerland for this type of trip. But having said that I can’t help mention St Anton in Austria, which if it just happened to be on the way it would be a real shame not to call in. The original off piste capital of Austria with some epic routes, a few luxury hotels in what is a quite large ski area. And maybe your wife could rediscover her past in the mountain apres ski scene which in Austria is something of an unusual beast. Lots of drinking after the skiing finishes, dancing on the tables, a mix of old 80’s rock and Euro pop…. and yes you can imagine a lot of people have a hell of a time getting back to their hotel.
There is one more ski area which does fit into this category of wife skiing but its a real long shot. I am including it for a very special reason and that is Venice. The ski resort is not top of the list for skiing but if there is snow its pretty good but not great. Its real bonus for skiing is the absolutely huge ski circuit in the Dolomiti ski area over 1200km of ski runs. So this place has a few of the ingredients but they just don’t quite fit quite so well together. First if you fly from the UK you fly to Venice airport and straight from the airport you can get a river taxi direct to your romantic hotel in Venice….fantastic. From Venice a 2 hr bus takes you to Cortina perfect. So a couple of days to ski Cortina, maybe 3. A week is just about doable skiing here also. The skiing areas are not well linked so a bit of time gets taken up here. The town doesn’t have the attractions of Wengen, St Moritz or Zermatt but it’s got a historic charm in the centre. Its called the St Moritz of Italy but it doesn;t have such a large amount of off piste entertainment. The bonus of this ski area is of course it’s huge but Cortina is not the best resort to explore it from as it doesn’t link in that well to the main ski circuit but there are taxis which will link it up. The ski areas are high but some of the skiing in the circuit isn’t . So this ski resort has some good plus points and its scenery really is stunning, but the reason it’s on the list is Venice which might earn you some great bonus points. Its too much to add in here but this puts you 4 hours from St Moritz (then onto Zurich) which does have an interesting town and also 2 hours from Innsbruk and 3 hours from St Anton the off piste capital of Austrian and my favourite ski area in Austria.
So my choice for a single resort is Zermatt to keep it simple but these side trips could make for a more interesting trip especially off to Wengen or St Moritz each with their own special element. Chamonix and Verbier are a bit of a further side trip but of more interest to the off piste skier and Cortina and the Dolomites probably the most spectacular mountain scenery and twinned with Venice stunningly beautiful but for skiers it’s not the best choice.
Hope this all helps. If you need it warm as well then try March, but that means probably no powder. February is busy and can get powder but then that’s a bit colder. January is quieter but can be cold.
