My memories & more
‘Just one season’, I told myself as I set off to the fairy-tale village of Saas-Fee to accomplish my childhood dream of learning to ski. Little did I know, I was at the start of a three-year adventure in a country that would change my life.
The mountain road to Saas-Fee is long and winding. It’s three hours by road from Geneva airport, but totally worth it. Saas-Fee in winter has a special magic. Surrounded by the highest mountains in Switzerland, you’re cut off from the rest of the world. You’re forced to slow down, appreciate your surroundings and place one foot in front of the other to walk everywhere. Cars are forbidden; they lie abandoned in a huge concrete multi-storey car park on the edge of the village.
The car park is a stark reminder of the urban life that continues down in the valley and soon fades from your mind. In just a few steps, you’re in another world: Saas-Fee! It’s the snow-clad reality I dreamt of as a child. Picture-perfect shuttered wooden chalets lie swaddled in a freshly laid blanket of snow that glitters in the moonlight.
Wham’s Last Christmas
For anyone pining for a real winter wonderland, this is the place. Ancient cobbled pathways wind past stone huts on stilts (to keep the mice out), and forested tracks skirt isolated chalets, their chimneys filling the air with the delicate scent of smoky wood fires.
You could be on the film set for Wham’s Last Christmas. In fact, you probably are. It was filmed right here in Saas-Fee! You can find the location of the Last Christmas chalet marked on Google Maps. But whether or not you’re a fan of my favourite Christmas song, heading off in this direction is well worth the stroll. You’ll soon find yourself in the village’s quieter ‘back end’. More rural than resort, eccentric wood-carved figures and faces peek out from the nooks and crannies of old crooked chalets.
Perfect for a romantic stroll, this is one of my favourite parts of Saas-Fee. The further you go, the quieter it gets. Pick your moment (when the rest of Saas-Fee is out on the ski slopes), stand still, and close your eyes. You can hear the rare sound of absolute and utter silence. Then open your eyes and remember how lucky you are to be standing in one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is how I felt every day as a holiday rep in Saas-Fee.
Winter in Saas-Fee holiday highlights
- It’s so high, super snowy, and perfect for anyone dreaming of a White Christmas. The village sits at 1800m, and the ski area reaches up to 3500m. You can even ski on the glacier in the summer.
- A whole mountain is reserved for non-skiers; skiing and snowboarding are prohibited. Take the cable car to the top of the Hannig mountain for idyllic winter walking trails and thrilling toboggan runs.
- The highest revolving restaurant in the world. Gnocchi and goulash soup as the view moves around you. What’s not to love about that?
- Curious to see the icy interior of a glacier? Saas-Fee’s Ice Pavilion tunnels into the actual Fee glacier. Here, you find mystical ice sculptures and an avalanche simulation.
- Back in town, fly around the steel toboggan track on the Rodelbahn at speeds of up to 40km per hour.
A few of my favourite things about winter in Saas-Fee
The cheese & chocolate
Push open a heavy wooden door and give a big sniff. If your nostrils inflate with the essence of cheese, you’re in the right place. A couple of my favourite places to swirl my fork in molten cheesiness are the Alphütte and the Vieux-Chalet. These days, you can even book a fondue gondola experience. But dangling in the air with a mouthful of cheese doesn’t quite have the same appeal to me as a cosy wood-clad chalet with a roaring log fire. As for the chocolate, it’s everywhere you look, but a Lumumba (hot chocolate with rum) is my top tip for warming up when your toes have frozen on a T-bar.
The stars
Oh, the stars in Saas-Fee! As one of Switzerland’s highest and least light-polluted villages, a clear night sky unveils a starry extravaganza.
The Fasnacht carnival
What a surprise to witness the ordinarily sedate and civilised Swiss letting their hair down. High-spirited revellers dressed in shiny feather-trimmed tutus, billowing capes and sinister pointy hats parade through the streets to a fanfare of discordant trumpets. Hiding in doorways, armed with fly swatters and water pistols, they jumped out at me (the poor, unsuspecting holiday rep) as I made my way to my hotel visits. The Swiss Fasnacht carnival traditions date back over a century. They include dressing up in outlandish costumes to chase away evil spirits before Lent. It was a definite highlight of my winter that I’ll never forget.
Guest grumbles
Is it always this cold?
Well, no, of course not, if you return in summer, you should pack a pair of shorts and a couple of T-shirts. But yes, winter in Saas-Fee can be chilly. You must embrace the cold and celebrate the mountaintop thermometer dipping to -26 degrees (the coldest day of my winter). It’s an excellent excuse to stop for another Lumumba in an inviting-looking mountain hut while your nose defrosts.
For the best chance of relatively mild winter temperatures, choose spring skiing in Saas-Fee. The high altitude and cold temperatures guarantee one of the longest winter seasons in the Alps, making it a perfect choice for an Easter ski holiday.
It’s very quiet; everyone seems to be in bed by 9:00 pm.
I fondly remember shots of flaming sambuca at Nesti’s ski bar. Saas-Fee’s après-ski is there, but it’s fairly laid back and only takes place behind thick stone walls once night falls. As the noise police set off for their nightly patrol to ‘Shush!’ the occasional disobedient reveller, silence descends, broken only by the quarterly chimes of the church bell.
There’s not enough skiing.
Are you an expert skier who dislikes skiing the same run more than once? If you want to clock up as many kilometres as possible by whizzing down piste after piste, Saas-Fee may not be for you. But 100 km of pistes is more than enough for leisurely intermediates. I skied the Saas-Fee slopes most days for a whole winter without getting bored.
There are too many drag lifts and not enough chairlifts.
T-bars and button lifts are the only way to install lifts on a constantly (slow) moving glacier. The upside is the access to high-altitude glacial snow.
As for the lack of chairlifts, yes, there are only two. Having to unclip your skis to climb inside a cable car, gondola or funicular railway can be seen as an inconvenience or the opportunity to have a rest.
You’ll find plenty of purpose-built resorts with a more seamless lift system than Saas-Fee, but you’ll struggle to find anywhere so full of authentic Swiss charm and guaranteed snow.
Finding facts & further information about Saas-Fee
Read my blog about summer in Saas-Fee here.
Switzerland Tourism https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/destinations/saas-fee-1/
Saas-Fee Tourism https://www.saas-fee.ch/en/
Want to read more about winter in Switzerland?
Find out which is the best ski resort in Switzerland for you here.
Visit my post about winter in the Jungfrau Ski Region here.