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Reliable snow resort
Backcountry (off-trail) skiing
Stunning views
Best amenitiesReliable snow resortBackcountry (off-trail) skiingStunning viewsBest amenitiesReliable snow resortBackcountry (off-trail) skiingStunning viewsBest amenitiesReliable snow resortBackcountry (off-trail) skiingStunning viewsBest amenitiesLocated in the Valais, on the sunny side of the valley opposite Verbier, La Tzoumaz is Verbier's quiet, affordable neighbour connected to the Savoleyres sector of the 4 Vallées with sunny slopes and family character. The resort sits between 1,500m-2,354m, with 9 (local) / linked to Verbier's 4 Vallées lifts serving 53km local / 410km+ 4 Vallées across 14 local runs. The vertical drop of 854m provides satisfying descents, and the season runs from mid-December to mid-April. Swiss ski resorts continue to attract UK travellers seeking quality and character.
With reliable at altitude of snowfall, La Tzoumaz provides reliable skiing. Check out La Tzoumaz ski deals to start planning your trip.
Located in the Valais, on the sunny side of the valley opposite Verbier, La Tzoumaz is Verbier's quiet, affordable neighbour connected to the Savoleyres sector of the 4 Vallées with sunny slopes and family character. The resort sits between 1,500m-2,354m, with 9 (local) / linked to Verbier's 4 Vallées lifts serving 53km local / 410km+ 4 Vallées across 14 local runs. The vertical drop of 854m provides satisfying descents, and the season runs from mid-December to mid-April. Swiss ski resorts continue to attract UK travellers seeking quality and character.
With reliable at altitude of snowfall, La Tzoumaz provides reliable skiing. Check out La Tzoumaz ski deals to start planning your trip.
Skiing here feels unhurried. The Savoleyres sector is wide, rolling and forgiving, with long descents that let you open up without constantly checking over your shoulder. The north side above the village is the quiet one: tree-lined, shaded and usually the best bet for snow quality as the season goes on. Cross the ridge and the mood flips entirely - sun-soaked, open slopes with Verbier and the Grand Combin laid out in front of you.
Beyond the ridge, the whole 4 Vallées is yours. The new Télémixte lift has turned the link between Savoleyres and the Verbier sectors into a proper ski connection rather than a bus ride, which changes how a week here works: Mont-Fort and Tortin for the big days out, home turf for the mornings when you just want to ski without a plan.
First turns happen right by the village, on gentle ground beside the gondola with a short lift for children and plenty of room to get things wrong in private. From there it is a quick step up to the wide, rolling greens and blues off the top of Savoleyres - long enough to feel like real skiing, gentle enough that you can stop and breathe whenever you need to. Skiing the whole way back down to the village through the trees becomes a proper milestone.
What helps most is the lack of traffic. The north side is rarely busy, so nervous first-timers get to practise in their own space rather than dodging faster skiers. Throw in the Funslope obstacle course for something less serious, and confidence tends to arrive faster than expected.
WeSki insider tip: Ski the north side first thing while it is quiet and freshly groomed, then cross the ridge to the sunny south side after lunch once it has softened up. Same mountain, two completely different days.
Savoleyres is a cruiser's mountain. Most of the terrain off the ridge sits in blue and red territory, and the descents are long enough to find a rhythm rather than a series of short bursts. The north side gives you wooded reds back towards the village with around 850m of vertical to play with, while the south side is sweeping, sunny and ideal for letting the skis run.
Once you are comfortable, the rest of the area opens up. Lac des Vaux, the runs down to La Chaux and the long, quiet descents in the Nendaz and Veysonnaz sectors are all within a day's skiing, and the Télémixte brings you home on skis rather than on a bus. Build the day around the ridge and you can cover a lot of ground without ever feeling rushed.
WeSki insider tip: The timed race stadiums on Savoleyres are open to all comers. A run through the giant slalom course is the quickest, most honest way to find out whether your technique holds up when you stop thinking about it.
The home sector will not hold an expert for a full week, and nobody pretends otherwise. What it does have is the Vallon d'Arbi: a marked itinerary that peels off the Lac des Vaux piste below Attelas and runs down an undeveloped valley into La Tzoumaz, with more than 1,200m of vertical and no grooming at all. It is the classic way home from the Verbier side and, in the right conditions, one of the best descents in the 4 Vallées.
Everything else comes with the wider ski pass: the steeps off Mont-Fort, the mogul field below Tortin, the Col des Mines lines and the World Cup black at Veysonnaz. Take a guide for the bigger objectives, since parts of the terrain are glaciated and the whole area is avalanche-exposed. The north aspect above the village also keeps cold snow around longer than the busier faces across the ridge.
WeSki insider tip: Check the electronic boards before dropping into the Vallon d'Arbi. The entrance is netted and marked open or closed, and you want to know the La Tzoumaz gondola is still turning before you commit to the valley.
The north side suits boarders nicely: tree runs, natural rollers and a lift system built around a gondola and chairs rather than long, dragging T-bars. The gentle gradients that make Savoleyres such a good place to learn do create a few flat sections near the ridge, so carry speed where you can. For park riding, the snowparks in the Verbier and Nendaz sectors are a lift ride away, and both village ski schools teach snowboarding, including private sessions for riders moving off piste for the first time.
The back of the Savoleyres ridge and the open ground either side of the Vallon d'Arbi hold untracked snow well after the busier Verbier faces have been picked over, mostly because fewer people make the trip across. Lines range from short powder fields beside the pistes to committing descents that need local knowledge and a guide. The north aspect keeps the snow cold, which is the main reason regulars keep coming back here on storm days. Both ski schools arrange off-piste days with qualified instructors, and transceiver, shovel and probe are non-negotiable.
Two ski schools work in the village, both within a minute of the gondola. The École Suisse de Ski La Tzoumaz-Savoleyres runs a kindergarten, children's and adult group lessons and private tuition, while Tzoum'Evasion is a smaller independent school set up by local instructors. French is the local language, but English-speaking instructors are standard and lessons are routinely taught in English.
There is no full-scale park on the Savoleyres side. What you get instead is the Funslope, an obstacle course of banked turns, tunnels and small jumps that children and beginners lap endlessly, plus two timed race stadiums on the ridge. Freestylers with bigger ambitions head over to the snowparks in the Verbier and Nendaz sectors, all covered by the wider ski pass.
Everything a small child needs sits within a few minutes' walk. The beginner area and children's lift are right by the gondola, next to both ski schools, and the Swiss school runs a kindergarten for little ones starting from scratch. Lessons meet at the gondola station, so the morning handover takes minutes rather than becoming an expedition in itself.
Older children do well here too. There is the Funslope, the race stadiums, and a 10km toboggan run that works just as well for adults as it does for ten-year-olds. Teenagers with the wider pass can disappear into the 4 Vallées for the day and come back with stories. Off the snow, the natural ice rink hosts Eistock - a cross between curling and pétanque - and there is a pool and sauna for the late afternoon slump.
Parents get the easier end of the deal. With lessons leaving from the gondola, you can be on the ridge within ten minutes and back in time for pick-up without cutting the morning short. Restaurants are relaxed and used to children, with Les Trappeurs and the Auberge La Tzoumaz both comfortable with family tables, and self-catering apartments are the norm for groups who would rather eat in some evenings.
WeSki insider tip: There is a small, fenced toboggan run behind the village chapel for children who are not ready for the full 10km descent. It is ideal for an hour before dinner, and it costs nothing.
Non-skiers are not left stranded here. The gondola carries foot passengers up to the ridge for lunch and the views, the toboggan run needs no skiing ability whatsoever, and the valley below - Martigny, Sion and some of Switzerland's best vineyards - is a short drive away.
The village is small, but the list of things to do in the snow runs longer than its size suggests. Most of it starts from the same gondola station.
Rest days lean on the village itself and the valley below, which packs in more than most visitors expect from a half-hour drive.
Dining here is small-scale and mostly Valaisan, which is no bad thing in a canton that takes its cheese seriously. A handful of village restaurants, a couple of mountain huts and one small kitchen doing something more ambitious. Tables are limited, so book ahead at weekends and over school holidays.
WeSki insider tip: Order raclette du Valais rather than fondue at least once - it is the local dish, scraped off the half-wheel and served with potatoes and pickles. A glass of Fendant from the vineyards directly below the resort is the traditional partner.
Après here means a drink and a conversation rather than a table-top anthem. The last hour on the mountain usually finishes at Chez Simon or on the terrace at Savoleyres, and the action at the bottom amounts to a couple of friendly bars near the gondola slowly filling up with ski boots, families and dogs.
Evenings stay low-key. Le Central, directly opposite the gondola, was reopened by freeride snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue and friends and pulls in a mix of locals and visitors, while the T-Bar at the foot of the slopes is the first stop off the hill. For a late night out, Verbier is an option by road - but the lift link closes with the pistes, so plan the journey back before you go.
Here are some après-ski highlights:
Most beds in La Tzoumaz are self-catering: chalets and apartments spread along the roads above and below the centre, plus a large modern apartment residence at the gondola with a ski school and sports shop built into it. Hotels are few and small, which keeps the feel residential rather than resort-like. Staying near Rue de la Télécabine puts the lift, the shops and the restaurants within a few minutes' walk. Properties higher up towards Les Établons sit closer to the pistes and the foot of the toboggan run, with wider views over the Rhône valley, but you will want the ski bus or a car for evenings in the village.
Passes come in three useful sizes. The local La Tzoumaz and Savoleyres pass covers the home sector, the Verbier pass adds the Verbier and Bruson sectors, and the full 4 Vallées pass takes in everything through to Mont-Fort, Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon. Most people staying a week take one of the wider options, since the lift link makes the rest of the area easy to reach. Check for family and multi-day pass options when booking your La Tzoumaz ski holiday package through WeSki to find the best fit for your trip.
There is a sports shop on the main street and another at the foot of the slopes opposite the gondola, between them covering skis, snowboards, touring kit, snowshoes, sledges and avalanche safety equipment. Both fit boots properly and store skis overnight for a small daily charge, which saves hauling everything up and down the hill. Booking online before you travel is worth doing for peak weeks, when the shelves thin out quickly.
La Tzoumaz is small enough to walk end to end, though the village is built on a slope, so an uphill walk home in ski boots comes with the territory. A free ski bus runs through the winter season, linking the accommodation areas with the gondola station and the bottom of the toboggan run at Les Établons. Taxis exist but are limited, so arrange one in advance rather than expecting to find one late at night. Most visitors plan dinner within walking distance, or drive down to one of the valley restaurants. If you are heading over to Verbier, remember the connection runs on lift hours - once they stop, the way back is a long road trip via Riddes and Le Châble.
WeSki insider tip: Download the Verbier 4Vallées lift app before you arrive. It shows live status and last-ascent times for the Savoleyres link, which is the one detail that decides whether you ski home or spend an hour in a taxi.
Geneva is the main arrival airport at around 150km, with Zurich and Milan as alternatives on some routes. Sion sits much closer at roughly 30km, though scheduled flights there are limited. By rail, Riddes station on the main Rhône valley line is directly below the village, with road access from there up a series of hairpins. Driving from Geneva is motorway almost the whole way until the final climb.
WeSki offers car rentals from the airport as well as private transfers to La Tzoumaz. Add them to your La Tzoumaz ski holiday package for seamless door-to-door travel.
Yes. The nursery area sits beside the gondola with a children's lift and plenty of space to practise, and the greens and gentle blues off the Savoleyres ridge are wide and forgiving. The north side is rarely crowded, which matters a great deal when you are still working out how to stop. Both village ski schools teach in English, and most people are skiing the long run back to the village within a few days.
They share the same mountain and the same ski pass, but they feel very different. Verbier is larger and busier, with more lifts on its doorstep and a well-known nightlife scene. La Tzoumaz is a quiet chalet village on the shaded side of the ridge, with a handful of bars, a slower evening pace and far fewer people on the home runs. Skiers who want the 4 Vallées terrain without the crowds tend to prefer it.
The village itself sits at 1,500m, so village-level snow is not guaranteed at either end of the season. The skiing is better placed: the slopes above the village face north, are tree-lined and shaded, and hold snow well, with snowmaking on the key runs. Higher up, the ski area reaches 3,330m at Mont-Fort, so there is reliable cover somewhere in the 4 Vallées throughout the winter.
Yes. One gondola ride from the village puts you on the Savoleyres ridge, and from there you ski the sunny south side towards Verbier. The Télémixte lift system has completed a proper ski connection between the two sectors, so you can move between them without taking your skis off or waiting for a bus. The link runs on lift hours, so check the last ascent times before heading over for the day.
It drops 10km from the top of Savoleyres through the forest to Les Établons, with around 700m of descent, making it one of the longest runs of its kind in Switzerland. Sledges can be hired in the village or at the top station, and a shuttle brings you back to the gondola at the bottom. It opens from mid-morning, and organised evening descents run on selected dates through the season.
Yes, more than most villages of its size. Foot passengers can ride the gondola to the ridge for lunch and the views, the toboggan run needs no skiing ability at all, and marked snowshoe and winter walking trails start from the village. The natural ice rink, the pool and the Maison de la Forêt fill the gaps, and Martigny and Sion make easy day trips by road or rail.
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