Flying to Switzerland and Austria
Verbier, Switzerland
Suddenly Verbier has stolen the crown from under the noses of Courchevel, St Moritz and Klosters and become the place for Europe’s elite to ski. Last year saw the opening of Sir Richard Branson’s first ski chalet (£56-£96,000 per week), the Coco Club nightclub (offering £5,000 cocktails), and the Coskun Gallery (giving passing skiers the chance to pop in and drop £500,000 on an original Warhol, Lichtenstein or Indiana on their way to the cable car).
Recent visitors have included Hugh Grant, the Beckhams and Jamie Oliver, while singer James Blunt has a chalet in town and a ski lift named after him. The key is that hardcore off-piste skiing here means the resort keeps a sporty, young atmosphere – while Prince Charles goes to Klosters to ski, his sons come here.
Fly to: Sion, 64km away
Best for après ski: St Anton, Austria
If après ski were a sport, then the village of St Anton would be its Lords, its Centre Court, its Wembley. Just above the village, the two most celebrated bars in the Alps face each other across blue piste number 1 – to the left, the Krazy Kanguruh, where the concept of après ski (glühwein, singing, Jägermeister shots, dancing on tables in ski boots…) was invented in the late 1970s; to the right, the Mooserwirt, reputed to sell more beer than any other bar in the country. The party starts at 3pm and by 7pm the piste is carnage as the well-refreshed revellers attempt to ski back down to the village (where the clubs stay open till 6am). Try not to get too carried away – St Anton also has some of the best skiing in Europe, with cruising pistes that connect to the neighbouring villages of Stuben, Zurs and Lech, and legendary off-piste. Stay at Artemis, Scott Dunn’s brand new luxury chalet for 12, or for old-school glamour, the Alberg Hospiz in the nearby hamlet of St Christoph.
Fly to: Innsbruck, 100km away
Arosa, Switzerland
A charming resort, a top-notch five-star hotel and a breathtaking spa – what more could you want for a truly indulgent long weekend in the snow? Arosa is typical chocolate-box Switzerland (old wooden chalets, horse-drawn sleighs, skating on the frozen lake) and its best hotel, the Tschuggen Grand, is a classic grand European five-star. But cross a glass bridge from the hotel and automatic doors swish open to reveal what looks like a Bond villain’s lair – a colossal spa on four floors, built inside a hollowed-out mountain.
The Bergoase (“mountain oasis”) was designed by Mario Botta, the Swiss super-architect behind San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, and features his trademark minimal interiors as well as indoor/outdoor pools and all manner of saunas, steam and treatment rooms. To complete the Bond vibe, the hotel even has its own private monorail to deliver you straight to the middle of Arosa’s quiet, well-groomed pistes. Fly to: Zurich, 130km
Another new post with good points, I have been a lurker right here for quite a while but desire to become more included soon.