3/12/21 Here is the incredibly simple official site that tells you under what conditions you can enter Switzerland given your current situation: https://travelcheck.admin.ch Here is a handy online booking site for COVID tests: https://www.onedoc.ch/en/covid-testing-center/riddes Switzerland’s Federal Council today made the following announcement, reversing the quarantine requirements brought into force over the last week (see […]
We went hunting for Edelweiss one late summer’s day on the mountainside above La Tzoumaz. See if you can read the whole story without bursting into song! A few weeks ago we bumped into a local couple out hiking up the Col des Mines. Leaning on their hiking poles, they were delighted to stop and share their […]
We often wonder what it’s like for our clients to have a summer chalet holiday in La Tzoumaz, so we decided to find out for ourselves. Most of our visitors are not single families or groups of friends, but are three-generational families or two-family groups. To simulate these conditions, we recruited some friends whose children […]
Switzerland has amazing mountains. We love hiking the mountains, especially with my older children (who were aged 5 & 7 at the time of writing this piece). The question: How to transfer a love of hiking to children? Here are 10 ideas and 10 tips to get children hiking. Designing the hike 1) Go up! […]
From La Tzoumaz to the lake at the Col du Sanetsch We took our clients on a guided Harley Davidson tour from La Tzoumaz to Sanetsch. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the scenery was mind-blowing… the wiggly roads were jam-packed with hairpin bends and long winding corners… just what we were looking for! See the […]
La Tzoumaz is a great base for day trips. We took a day trip to Crans Montana with friends in the summer to check it out. Hiking, biking and browsing the mountain shops are on the menu, accompanied by a panoramic picnic and some marmotte spotting. It is only a short hour in the car from La […]
There is a pleasing variety of options to get down (and up) the mountainside in La Tzoumaz. In summer, by far the most hilarious has to be the trottinette scooter. We climbed out of the telecabin at the top of the Savoleyres and were shown to our trottinettes by the lift operator. “It’ll be a bit steep […]
Full moon ski touring in November?? Are we crazy?? Yes a little!! So as most of the skiing world is aware, we had a nice dump of snow across the alps yesterday and today. Here in La Tzoumaz, the snowline was around the village centre, a little lower than our chalet. It was getting towards […]
“What’s that over there daddy?” asks John. The closest view from our window is of the golden larch forests above Iserables. Each evening we see the lights of the small town, with buildings scattered in the forest. So we decide the next day we’ll go there. Leaving La Tzoumaz, Andrew admires the lawns of the […]
My brother and his wife came to visit this week so I took them out to the Maison de la Foret to show off the beauty of our forested mountainside and explore the birds and the flowers. I had declared we would be going for a “nice easy walk on the flat”, yet I had forgotten that the […]
Here are just a few of the millions and millions of flowers I have seen whilst out and about on the mountainside this week. It’s true that some are to be found in people’s gardens, but many are just growing wild and free! People tend to mow their lawns and strim their steeply-banked gardens around the […]
I’ve always loved the mountains for their raw, wild beauty. They are huge and untamed. Majestic and un-mastered. They seem so massive and unmoveable, but were somehow thrown up by the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates millions of years ago. Now that I live in the mountains, I feel the need to step closer, […]
From the age of 5, I used to dream about skiing for 51 weeks of the year. As a family, we’d look through our printed photos from the previous years, and shout excitedly at Franz Klammer and Pirmin Zurbriggen on Ski Sunday. We’d even sit in a line on the sofa and make chairlift-bumping-over-a-pylon noises […]
Anyone who has an interest in La Tzoumaz, as a holiday visitor or as a chalet or business owner, has at some point over the last years (since 1996) come across the story of the New Lift. Much though we love the quaint, wobbly, cramped 4-(small)-person telecabin built in 1970 that takes an interminable 12 […]
“C” is for “Chalet” Top 7 gorgeous and affordable chalets for your next self-catered ski holiday … all starting with the letter “C” More photos, descriptions, prices and reservations here: #1 Chalet Champagne http://4vallees4saisons.com/chalet/chalet-champagne/ Admire the stunning mountain views from the huge feature windows with a glass of bubbles, or relax in the sauna area. Sleeps […]
FATMAP is our favourite app for detailed off-piste / backcountry skiing data and informed decision-making. It is only useful if you know how to read and interpret the avalanche bulletin (see here and here), can work with slope angles and exposition to minimise the risk of provoking avalanches, are familiar with avoiding terrain traps and equipped […]
Children love coming to La Tzoumaz. Here are some of our favorite activities. Walking The forests are magical for children as well as for adults. The Bisses are a great introduction to hiking, being flat and full of interest. The Sentier des Sens from the maison de la foret is full of activities and snippets […]
Inaugural Godille International Ski Week La Tzoumaz, Verbier’s 4-Valleys, Switzerland 16-20 March 2015 Day 1 Blog Entry My wife and I had ski lessons in our early days, but none in the 21st century so, we decided to sign up for the inaugural Godille International Ski Week in La Tzoumaz to gain some new experiences. […]
Good news for owners of second homes in Switzerland. As the Lex Weber project progresses through the two houses of parliament, it seems existing owners of second homes will benefit most from the law. Until 2012, there was a building boom in swiss mountain resorts. High quality construction, good prices available compared to top French resorts […]
For those of you familiar with the best routes to escape La Tzoumaz excellent snow and family-friendly pistes, you will be delighted to hear that the link to Verbier’s 4-Vallees will be improved for 2014/2015. For those of you unsure of how to access the legendary Mont Fort and other world-class areas of Verbier’s 4-Valleys, the following […]