The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
10 exciting ways to have fun in the Alps this summer (skis optional)
With a bit of luck, you might just make it to those legendary peaks before the autumn is here. Let Chris Leadbeater inspire you with 10 holiday choices that make the most of the warmer weather
If you can find a moment in the midst of the current crisis – and can shut your eyes, block out the news, and send yourself somewhere calmer, quieter and gentler on your mood – then there is a good chance that you will elevate yourself (at least mentally) into the Alps.
This is no bad course of action. Few locations have the capacity to soothe the soul quite like our continent’s rooftop in those months when it has shed (much of) its snowy coat and allowed the sun to beat on its skin. It does not take much imagination to make that picture in your head feel like reality – the smell of warm grass and boundless meadows in the afternoon heat, wild flowers swaying in the breeze, the toll of cowbells on the hillside.
Of course, this alluring image is not just a fantasy. While there are still doubts as to if and how far we will be able to travel in the coming weeks, it may well still be possible to enjoy the highest places of central Europe in August, or earlier – whether you want to do so in the saddle, on the trail, or simply by admiring the view without having to daydream.
SIGHTS AND SORE EYES
Chamonix
At heart, all you need for an Alpine summer holiday is a hotel with a glorious view. You can certainly find this in French oasis Chamonix, where Mont
Blanc shapes the horizon. A week’s stay for a family of four at the five-star Residence Cristal de Jade, leaving Manchester on Aug 29, costs from £3,102 in total, through Inghams (01483 698801; inghams.co.uk).
THE HIGH LIFE
The Matterhorn
In a contest to pick the most recognisable Alpine peak, this Swiss-Italian titan would win. The Matterhorn rears above Zermatt as a 14,692ft four-sided pyramid, its east face like a cobra set to strike. A mountain to be admired – perhaps via High Trail to the Matterhorn, an eight-day self-guided hiking holiday offered by Macs Adventure (0141 530 5429; macsadventure.com) which has it as its end-goal. From £1,130 per person; flights cost extra.
COLD COMFORTS
Matterhorn Paradise
If you are going to Zermatt, you may as well hit the slopes. Yes, in summer. The fabled Swiss resort offers year-round skiing – thanks to the reliably icy presence of the Theodul Glacier, whose lofty altitude (inching down the 13,661ft Breithorn) makes it a venue for downhill delight, even in July. Its ski area (matterhornparadise.ch) reopened on June 6 after a Covid-pause. Day passes cost 88 Swiss Francs (£73); four-day passes CHF246 (£204).
PAST THE PEAK
Mont Blanc
Western Europe’s highest mountain would surely be miffed at such praise for the Matterhorn, and is just as craggily capable of being the focal point of a holiday. Ramblers Walking Holidays (01707 819150; ramblersholidays.co.uk) runs a regular Mont Blanc Hotel Trek – a 14-night odyssey that ambles a full circuit of the Alpine kingpin, through Switzerland, Italy and France. Next departure Aug 27, from £2,099 per person with flights.
FOUR-PLAY
A Tour de Europe
Mont Blanc’s border-straddling is a reminder that the Alps wrap their muscly arms around several European states. So much is also clear in the Four Countries & Three Lakes self-guided cycling break offered by Freedom Treks (01273 224066; freedomtreks.co.uk), which takes nine days to roll through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany, past Lakes Constance, Zurich and Walen. From £765 per person; flights (to Zurich) cost extra.
BORDER BALANCING ACT
The Dolomites
The game of international back-andforth can also be played on the Hiking in the Dolomites group holiday offered by Explore (01252 883749; explore.co.uk) – an eight-day affair that paces the frontier between Austria and Italy along Mount Helm’s 7,986ft-high ridge. Next departure Sept 5, from £1,612 per person, including flights.
DOWNWARDS AND ONWARDS
Via Claudia Augusta
The argument as to whether the Dolomites are Alpine (answer – yes, they are part of the Southern Limestone Alps) can be mulled over on the Via Claudia guided cycling tour that Saddle Skedaddle (0191 265 1110; skedaddle. com) has scheduled to start on Aug 1. This eight-day trip will follow the ancient Roman road in question, flitting south from the Zugspitze (Germany’s highest bluff) to Lake Garda. From £1,895 per person, with flights.
ALONG THE WATERFRONT
Lake Bled
By some definitions, the Alpine realm stretches all the way east into Slovenia, where the Julian Alps frame the placid perfection of Lake Bled. Cycle specialists Flexitreks (01273 410550; flexitreks. com) uses this wondrous water feature to anchor a seven-night programme of soft pedalling along valley floors. From £574 per person, flights extra.
AT YOUR OWN PACE
Lake Wolfgang
If Lake Bled is something of an Instagram staple, its Austrian colleague is rather more of a secret. The Wolfgangsee keeps low among the ridge lines of SalzburgerLand – but is no less fine a venue. Exodus Travels (020 3131 2840; exodus.co.uk) offers an eight-day trip (ref: M07SZ) that settles into a four-star hotel in the village of Strobl, and lets you hike and bike as you wish. From £1,419 per person including flights.
LAP OF LUXURY
Gstaad
If all this talk of riding and striding is tiring, you can do the Alps in serenity and style instead. Perhaps at Gstaad Palace (palace.ch), the grand retreat that has defined its Swiss mountain town since 1913. A week’s stay for two, arriving on Aug 22, starts at £3,554 in total. British Airways (0344 493 0787; ba.com) serves Geneva in August with fares from £70 return.