Make the most of summer in the Alps

Hiking, biking, gondola rides, festivals, scenic flights over Mont Blanc… Sarah Baxter finds plenty of reasons to swap the Med for the mountains

it all change in the Alps? Skiing has been the big draw for much of the past century: Thomas Cook first offered ski packages in 1908, and most mountain resorts depend on skiing for 75 per cent of their earnings. But with temperatures rising, snow less reliable and the weather downright strange, winter tourism is a rapidly changing landscape.

To counter this, Alpine resorts are putting more effort into attracting summer travellers – more bike trails, running routes, festivals, quirky family fun, astro-tourism and wellness breaks. So, is it time to switch our salopettes for shorts and sandals – and take advantage of cooler mountain temperatures as traditional beach spots warm up?

The concept isn’t new. The first Alpine tourists, in the 19th century, came in summer for clean air, mountaineering and spectacular views. These have always been a given in the Alps – but today, there are ever-more sophisticated ways of admiring them. You can ride audacious cable cars like the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing (opened in 2023; matterhornalpinecrossing.com), hop on the new gondola to Chamonix’s Mer de Glace (chamonix. net), step into the magical new Skyway Monte Bianco Infinity Room in Courmayeur (montebianco.com) or fly over the Mont Blanc Massif in planes with see-through canopies (aerocime.com).

Accommodation options continue to develop, too. Take the Brecon (thebrecon.com), opening in 2024 in the Swiss village of Adelboden, which is aiming to be “more dream home than luxury hotel”. Or chic adults-only Odles Lodge (odleslodge.it), opened in 2023 in Italy’s South Tyrol, with an emphasis on style, freedom and privacy. Tour operator Original Travel has reacted to the trend of walkers wanting fancier places to stay – which they have named “bootiquing” – with a new trip in the Dolomites, combining hikes with five-star hotels and a posh refugio-with-wine celIs lar (five days half-board from £4,975 per person, including flights; originaltravel.co.uk).

The truth is, whether you are after mindfulness, massage and Michelin stars, or hut-to-hut hiking, mountain cheese and old-fashioned Gemütlichkeit, in essence the Alps haven’t changed all that much. We might now be offered “forest bathing” excursions or guided wild swims, but it is the trees and tarns themselves, and the abundance of fresh air, space and splendour, that really make this region the perfect summer spot.

Up in the Vaud Alps, the views are pretty special. The resort of Les Diablerets, at 1,200m, gazes right at a rocky massif. And, from Glacier 3000, a scenic cable car ride above the village, you can see the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. Also at this height you’ll find a taste of winter Alps: explore the glacier on foot, by Snowbus or sledge, and go tobogganing on the Alpine Coaster. Alternatively, test your nerve on the vertiginous Peak Walk, the world’s first suspension footbridge between two summits. Settle your nerves afterwards at Glacier 3000’s restaurant – reopening this summer following a fire in 2022, it has been redesigned by Swiss architect Mario Botta, with a new panoramic terrace.

alpesvaudoises.ch; glacier3000.ch

iCatch your breath: take a break from bike rides at Saalfelden Leogang, in Austria, popular with cyclists