There’s something for every kind of winter getaway in Switzerland’s Valais region, from family ski holidays, to off-piste powder trips. And many of the region’s resorts offer a little bit of everything. In fact, there are so many brilliant resorts, and so much choice, it can be hard to know where to start. With that in mind, we decided to go straight to the source—asking locals in the Valais what they love about their home resorts.
"Leukerbad first rose to fame as a spa town in Roman times"
Here, we’re focussing on Leukerbad, which first rose to fame as a spa town in Roman times, thanks to its natural hot springs, and became an equally sought after skiing destination in the second half of the 20th century.
With a village at 1400m, and a lift system that tops out at 2,600m, Leukerbad offers plenty of variety, from high alpine terrain to tree runs. It’s ideal for family ski holidays, but also offers excellent piste and tree skiing, and even some long, off-piste and ski touring itineraries. Of course, you could learn that much from a guidebook. But if you really want to know where to ski, eat, drink, and hang out in Leukerbad, you have to ask a local—like Florent Moos.
Introducing Florent Moos
Florent Moos wasn’t born in Leukerbad, but he fell in love with the village at a young age. He grew up in Ayent, in the French speaking part of Valais, but his family visited the small spa town regularly—to take the waters, and explore the outdoors. In 2011, he moved to Leukerbad full time, taking a job in the local tourist office.
Three years ago, he left that dream job for an even dreamier one: in summer he now works as a hiking guide, while in winter he serves on the ski patrol. This allows him to spend more time in the outdoors around the town, and really appreciate the things that make this resort special.
What was it that first made you fall in love with Leukerbad?
When I visited with my family as a child, we went to the thermal baths, and I just got a really great impression of the people who live here. It's obviously a small village, with only 1,400 permanent residents, but it felt like a really strong community.
Of course, they speak German here, and in Ayent, where I come from, we speak French. But even if the German they speak here is different from what we learned at school, the community is so small and welcoming that when I moved here, I was able to integrate quite quickly.
What’s one thing you came to appreciate only after living there for a few years?
Just the range of activities—you have so many sports that you can do, and I’m really into outdoor sports. Hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and then in the winter, obviously, skiing, snowshoeing and ski touring. After work, you can step out of your front door in the village at 1,400m onto the most beautiful trails. It's a perfect place for me to live.
What is your favourite piste run in winter?
It’s called Lingelen. It’s a red slope that runs from the top of the ski area all the way down, and it's only natural snow. We don't need any artificial snow on that slope, because until midday it's mostly in shadow. It’s southwest facing, but you have high mountains shading it. It's not warm and so the snow stays good. That’s definitely my favourite.
What about your favourite off piste run? If there’s new snow and the avalanche risk is low, where would you go?
There’s an old ski slope called Tschantamaria, that they don’t piste anymore. For the last 10 years, they haven’t prepared it, but it’s still avalanche controlled so it’s safe. It’s marked on the map with yellow flags. So if you want to find powder straight from the lifts, that’s the best place to go.
I also love ski touring, and if you have skin, the Torrenthorn is the best. It's quite easy because you can start from the top of the lift at 2,600m and then you have maybe 400 metres to go to the top, and then you have a beautiful descent on the other side.
What about if the weather’s bad, where would you go?
Because our ski area is not so high, we have a lot of forest. If you ski there, you can see more if the visibility is bad. You can also find great off piste in the forest, but you need to be careful where you go—we have two areas that are protected for the wildlife. If you avoid those though you can ski in plenty of other places, and there’s really not so many people going there. If you want to try something off the mountain, you can find loads of things to do at the Sportarena in town, like ice skating, bouldering and fitness. For sightseeing, a trip up the Gemmi cable car is a must.
What’s your favourite après ski activity?
In Leukerbad, the hot springs are the most popular choice for après ski. They’ve been known about for centuries with people coming here to recover from illness and things since the Roman times. Every day, 3.9 million litres of thermal water comes out of the ground, so it's huge. It has mineral properties. You have a lot of calcium, you have magnesium, you have iron inside.
There are three public baths and several hotels have private baths. The water is so hot—it comes out of the ground at 51 degrees celsius—that we need to cool it down to bathe in it. There’s actually a plan to use it for geothermal heating in future, to heat all the buildings.
Of course if you don’t want to ski one day there are lots of other activities—snowshoeing, winter hiking, sledging for kids. And we have some of the highest cross country trails in Europe.
Where's your favourite cafe in town for a coffee in the morning?
We have an amazing tea room called zum Kehr. It’s a really small place, super local, and everything is homemade—cakes and croissants and everything. It’s run by Ornella Grichting, who is actually also a friend of mine, we used to work together at the tourist office. She’s a really good cook.
What's your favourite restaurant for lunch on the mountain, and what would you order?
I think the best is called Weidstübli. It's on the descent to go to the village, the black number 15 slope, about 100 metres above town. They have really great traditional Swiss food, but actually they change their menu every three or six months, so it’s hard to choose a favourite dish. If I had to say one, I’d say their burger—that’s always really good.
What’s the best bar for après ski, either before or after your bath?
Actually, the best bar for après ski is in the bath! [laughs] About two years ago, they built a pool bar directly in the bath, so you can swim up to it. And that’s really special, because everyone goes there after skiing, so you always run into your friends there.
This year, they also opened a cool new bar called the Waldhaus near the end point of the piste—that’s also popular for après ski. It’s like a lounge, rather than a crazy après ski bar. But in high season they’re doing a lot of different things every weekend, they have DJ sets, or cool live music, and they change the person who's playing every day.
Leukerbad in numbers:
Ski area: 55km
Altitude Range: 1,411m - 2,700m
Resort height: 1,411m
Top tip: To get the most out of winter in Leukerbad, consider buying a Winter Card. This card gives you unlimited use of the Gemmi and Torrent cable cars, as well as one three-hour session per day at the public thermal spa of your choice: Walliser Alpentherme, Leukerbad Therme, or Therme 51°. Prices start from CHF 61.00. Book early to take advantage of some earlybird prices!
Go to leukerbad.ch/en for more information about this fantastic ski area, and for great offers, visit the Valais Online Shop.
