Winter in Switzerland: Saas Fee Ski Trip

Is Switzerland on your winter wonderland bucket-list? Perhaps after reading this SWISS BLISS blog post it will be. My husband and I recently visited Switzerland for a combination of ten days of skiing and city wandering. We visited Geneva, Zurich, and Saas Fee during this short, sweet, snow-filled extravaganza.

We loved visiting Geneva and Zurich, the train rides between cities were indeed a panoramic paradise. Our escapades in both Geneva and Zurich were pretty peaceful. Our idea of a good time consisted of leisurely strolls outside, exploring the old towns' architecture, soaking up fresh winter air, meandering through parks and green spaces, lounging by the lakesides, and marvelling at the numerous families of white swans bathing and floating about. We did manage to enjoy many memorable moments tasting delectable Swiss chocolate (Favarger in Geneva had the most amazing chocolate hazelnut truffles). We also enjoyed a delicious vegan degustation at KLE, in Zurich, among other great restaurants we visited during our stay in these two beautiful cities.

Between our sojourn from Geneva to Zurich we caught a train and a bus to the Saas Valley where we enjoyed five full days of skiing at Saas Fee. This was by far the highlight of our trip. We visited Switzerland in late January and we felt as though we had the ski resort to ourselves. The ski slopes felt so spacious and quiet. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the resort — in comparison to our recent experience with Québec ski slopes— but we felt like we could ski an entire run by ourselves in the early mornings without crossing paths with a single soul. When we'd visit the many slope-side restaurants at lunchtime, however, there would always be a considerable bunch of ski-enthusiasts enjoying the great food on offer.

While Saas Fee offers no ski-in ski-out accommodation, being situated at the base of the valley, our accommodation was only a three minute shuttle ride or about an eight minute walk from the nearest gondola. While we received a slight dusting of fresh snow during our trip, which provided great textured terrain for riding, the slopes were notoriously icy in the afternoons. Apparently this is typical for Saas Fee. Despite the mixed piste conditions we still had a fantastic time, one of our favourite ski trips to date! We didn't try any restaurants while in the Saas Valley. We had a fully equipped kitchen at our accommodation and would generally eat dinner around 5:00pm each evening, before retiring to bed around 7:00pm, to replenish our energy to carve the slopes again the following day.

Check out the video below to see more footage from our Swiss Bliss adventure.

We look forward to discovering more of Switzerland soon, both for skiing and summer hiking. Have you been to Switzerland? What are some of your favourite ski resorts? Feel free to leave a comment below and share your winter wonderland bucket-list ideas.

#Switzerland #SaasFee #Skiing #TheTravelingMapleLeaf