Haut Nendaz
The village of Haut Nendaz, 1400m in altitude, commands a fantastic view of the Swiss Alps. A modern holiday resort has grown up around the centre of this delightful old Valais village with its traditional timber houses, barns and grain stores. Cablecars run from here to Mont Fort, at 3330m the highest peak in the Four Valleys.
A short hop on skis over the mountain from Verbier, Nendaz is one of Swiss ski-ing's closest-kept secrets, but it's delights are starting to attract wider attention, as this article in the London Evening Standard shows:
"Overlooking the vine-clad Rhône Valley, Nendaz sits quietly tucked away behind her bigger, brasher sister, Verbier. And to back onto Verbier can only mean one thing: Nendaz is slap-bang in the middle of skiing mecca, the Four Valleys.
A long-time favourite of savvy Dutch and Belgians, the Swiss resort in the Valais region is a welcome diversion from the traditional catered chalet holiday town: with 80 per cent of accommodation Swiss-owned, Nendaz is all about self-catered, high-quality accommodation where the emphasis is not on squeezing sardines into a tin but rather on decent, well-run, family-sized apartments and chalets...."
An ideal location for families
Nendaz has been the proud holder of the Swiss Tourism Federation "Families Welcome" accreditation since 1997.
With its frozen lake on the Tracouet plateau above the village, Nendaz is an ideal location for children and beginners. A snow garden and specially adapted installations allow children to discover the joys of skiing in a fun way. Attractive rates for ski passes for families are available. A nursery welcomes children from 18 months upwards and allows parents the freedom to explore the beautiful mountain terrain surrounding the village.
In the Summer, from the Rhône valley to the glaciers, Nendaz has no less than 250km of walks and 200km of mountain-bike trails to offer its visitors. Many of the ski lifts and cable cars are still operational during the summer, allowing hikers to go for high altitude walks and mountain bikers to access the dramatic downhill trails.
A particular highlight is the excursion by cableway or mountain bike to the glacier on Mont Fort, with its expansive view of twenty 4,000 metre peaks, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.
Owing to the dry climate of the Valais, farmers centuries ago built a system of irrigation channels (called 'bisses' or 'suonen') across the region. Nendaz has the biggest network of these bisses, some of which are still used, and 98 km of footpaths now run along 8 of them. As one of the biggest raspberry and apricot growing areas in Switzerland, Nendaz has dedicated one of the local themed trails to fruit growing. There is also a hike to some of the biggest larch trees in Europe on the Balavaux Alp (Isérables) or, if you have a taste for the exotic, take a stroll through the Japanese Garden.
For the active visitor, there is also the opportunity to experience paragliding or to go pony-trekking, and there are various other activities available in the village.
For music lovers, Nendaz hosts the International Alp-Horn Festival every July, the biggest event of its kind in Switzerland with more than 100 players of all nationalities, and in July and August a Classical Guitar Festival is held, with concerts for lovers of classical music including works from the baroque and contributions from South America and Russia.
