Hidden Gems

Quieter is frequently better

For every Zermatt there are a dozen valleys with the same mountains, a third of the visitors and half the rates. Some are unknown because they are genuinely inferior — poor snow, awkward access, nothing to do in bad weather. Most are unknown because a marketing budget went somewhere else forty years ago and never came back.

This section is about telling the two apart. We cover the villages, valleys and small resorts that hold up on their own terms, and we are specific about the trade-off each one asks for: a longer transfer, a smaller ski area, fewer restaurants, no nightlife. Those trade-offs are worth it more often than the famous names would like you to think.

They are indexed with everything else, by country: Switzerland, Italy, France, Slovenia.