Villars

Along with Leysin which is in the same ski area, Villars is a pleasant year round town overlooking the Portes du Soleil. It proves to be an excellent location for the long weekend market due to its close proximity to Geneva airport and the 100 km of pisted runs being adequate for 3 good days skiing.

The ski area offers a good mix of wooded and open pistes. The cog railway goes up the mountain to the Col de Bretaye with excellent intermediate slopes off both sides with some great runs back to the village. From the Bretaye the chair will take you up to the Chaux Ronde where a ski down and another chair up takes you to the Les Chaux area with its lovely open pistes.

Experts are well catered for with some serious off piste and heliskiing available. Intermediates will enjoy the terrian of Villars and Les Diablerets with a decent amount to get stuck into. Beginners will find the nursery slopes of Villars really enjoyable and the progression up to Bretaye using the cog railway will be an excellent introduction to some higher mountain terrian.

There is some pretty decent apres especially at weekends when the resort comes alive with visitors from nearby Geneva, with the Mini pub and Charlies particularly busy when we were last there.