The Matterhorn, Zermatt. Image by Samuel Zeller
It has snowed already in the Alps. Time to book a week at Chalet Banja, our favourite property in Switzerland?s most spectacular resort, Zermatt.
Zermatt, the village in a deep valley beneath the iconic Matterhorn, remains LUX?s favourite Alpine wintersports resort. St Moritz might have swankier shops, Courchevel may have a more conveniently laid-out lift system, Cortina d?Ampezzo may have a flash of Venetian style and Chamonix may offer vertiginous heli-skiing; but Zermatt has something nowhere else can offer.
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That something is a combination of a few pieces of magic. Beside the view of the Matterhorn, itself worth the journey, the ski areas above the resort ? Rothorn, Gornergrat and the Klein Matterhorn-Schwarzsee zone ? have an unmatched panorama of the Pennine Alps, the highest peaks in the Alps, arranged around Zermatt in a vast horseshoe. In no other area in the Alps do you ascend to a perilous high point above 3000m, stepping out into a subzero gale and fear-inducing view back down, only to realise you are yourself dwarfed by a whole new wall of mountains, some higher than 4500m, and none of them accessible by the lift system. It?s a different dimension. Chalet Banja in the little hamlet of Winkelmatten
As well as the views, and the skiing, which varies from quite tricky to OMG rated (unless you cruise into Italy for the day, which is a bit of light relief), there ar...