Champery is a cozy village in the southwest of Switzerland, in its French-speaking part. The resort, along with 11 other resorts, is part of the grandiose Porte du Soleil ski area. Tourists love Champery for its access to 650 kilometers of diverse slopes, for its wonderful nature and for its authenticity.

This is one of the oldest ski resorts in Switzerland with a centuries-old history. The first hotel in Champery, Hotel des Dents du Midi, was opened back in 1857. The resort was revered by the aristocracy and crowned persons of the entire continent. Champery has not lost its charm to this day. Traditional chalets with carved balconies stretch along the main street, in the center – the bell tower of 1725.

Champery is located only 20 kilometers from Lake Geneva, it is the most easily accessible resort, has long become a favorite Swiss “weekend resort”. Skiers of any skill level will certainly find their ideal slopes and slopes here.

How to get there

You can get to Champery by train from Zurich (3.5 hours) or Geneva (a little over an hour) via Lausanne with a change in Monthey, from the station of which there is a bus almost every half hour (journey time – from half an hour to 40 minutes).

Skiing area

There are trails for all levels, so this resort is suitable even for those who have never skied before.

Technical specifications

Resort altitude: 1055m

Skiing area: 1055m – 2300m

Number of lifts: 51 in total

– Cabin – 9

– Chairlifts – 15

– Towbars – 27

Stable snow cover in Champer is observed at the height of the ski season, which begins in December and ends in April. The resort of Champéry is located in the upper part of the Viez River Valley, in the very center of several ridges and valleys, at an altitude of 1053 meters above sea level.

More than half of the ski slopes in Champéry fall into the category of easy and have blue and green markings. Champéry’s red ski slopes extend for 246 km and only 58 km of trails are intended for experienced skiers, as their color is black.

It is already clear from these figures that the resort is more focused on beginner skiers and amateur athletes with an average level of skiing. However, due to the large number of different slopes, you can find almost any conditions for skiing here. Within Champery itself, you can distinguish three main skiing areas, each of which has the same conditions and differs only in its exposure.

In addition to ski slopes of various levels of difficulty, Champery also has several modern snow parks with three half-pipes, four areas designed for bordercross and as many as nine fun parks. All the slopes stretch for 650 km, and the length of the ski slope of 12 km is one of the leading in terms of its scale.

Ski schools in Champery

The ski resort Champery is ideally suited for beginner skiers and those people who have never been on skis. After all, there are three ski schools on its territory: The French Ski School, Ecole de Ski et Snowboard Internationale, Ecole de Snowboard Emery. Moreover, the first of them alone employs about 120 ski instructors.

During the high season, all ski schools are full of beginners who would like to take skiing and snowboarding lessons, so it is better to sign up in advance. Not only adults, but also children can learn the basics of skiing here.

For both the younger generation and adults, the process of learning to ski can take place in a general group or individually. If you don’t want to spend all your savings on lessons, it’s better to take group lessons. For five days of such skiing lessons, you’ll have to pay 200 CHF, with each lesson lasting about two hours. An individual lesson will cost a little more – 63 CHF per hour.

Accommodation options

Today, Champery offers vacationers ten hotels from two to four stars. There are also several luxury apartments and chalets in this resort town. The modern resort infrastructure only emphasizes the classic style of this mountain Swiss village.

Chalet Les Croix 3 star hotel

Offering free WiFi and mountain views, Chalet Les Croix is located in Champery, just 400 metres from Croix de Couleurs Ski Lift and 1.3 km from Grand Paradis Ski Resort. Free private parking is available on site. The area is popular for skiing and cycling.

The apartment features 4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a dining area, a fully equipped kitchen, and a balcony with garden views.

A terrace is available for guests to use. Ski equipment hire and ski passes can be purchased at Chalet Les Croix.

Planacho is 6 km away and Marcheson Ski Lift is 10 km away.

The Lodge by Mrs Miggins 4 star hotel

Located in the Chablais Alps, Champéry by Mrs Miggins offers spacious, luxuriously furnished apartments with free Wi-Fi, wooden floors and cable and satellite TV. The main cable car is 300 metres away.

Some of the apartments at Champéry Lodge have a hot tub and barbecue facilities are available in the garden.

Champéry is also home to Le Porte du Soleil, Europe’s largest ski area, 650 km away.

Champéry Lodge is a 5-minute walk from numerous bars, shops and restaurants. The lodge is located next to the Palladium sports centre, which features a gym, swimming pools and an ice rink.

Le White 4-star hotel

Located at the entrance to the village of Champery in the heart of the vast Portes du Soleil ski resort, Le White offers tastefully decorated rooms and suites with free Wi-Fi and free private parking.

After a day in the mountains, guests can relax in the Finnish sauna with its own outdoor sensory shower.

Located in Champery in the Valais region, Le White is 100 metres from Champery Village Train Station and 800 metres from the Croix-de-Coulette cable car. In winter, a free bus stops 50 metres from the hotel.

Chalet le Petou 5 star hotel

Le Petou Chalet is located in Champery, 200 metres from the cable car and the main train station. It offers a fitness centre and barbecue facilities. The chalet offers views of the mountains and the swimming pool. Free WiFi is available.

This 3-bedroom chalet features a seating area, 7 flat-screen TVs and a fully equipped kitchen. The chalet also has 4 bathrooms, 3 with a shower and 1 with a bath.

Guests of the chalet can use the hot tub and sauna. At Chalet Le Petou guests will find a sun terrace and a garden where they can relax, as well as a ski pass sales point and ski storage space.

Lausanne is 62 km away, while Geneva International Airport is 126 km away.

How much does it cost to stay in Champéry

You can understand how much it costs to stay in Champéry if you decide on the type of accommodation you want, as well as the date of arrival in this ski area. As a rule, in the height of the season, accommodation prices in Champéry are much higher than in the summer season. This is due to the large influx of tourists who dream of skiing on the snowy slopes.

If you prefer to stay in Champéry on a budget, then you can choose a two-star economy hotel for this. The average cost of a single room there is 97 CHF, a double room is 180 CHF, and a triple room is 240 CHF per day.

A more comfortable atmosphere will be offered by the local hotel Le National. Here, in addition to a friendly informal atmosphere, guests will be able to enjoy new comfortable rooms with panoramic mountain views, as well as reasonable prices. If you book a room at this hotel for seven days or more, you will receive a 10% discount on accommodation.

When going to a ski resort with a large company or the whole family, it is best to book apartments for accommodation. They include not only rooms, but also full bathrooms and kitchens. The cost of living in such apartments in Champery will cost around 300 CHF per day.

Entertainment and active recreation

There is a modern sports center with a large indoor skating rink (60x30m), a squash hall, a large indoor swimming pool (track length 25 m), a fitness center, a solarium, a sauna and physiotherapy. Paragliding is also popular here – anyone can jump in tandem with an instructor. There are ski and snowboard schools, and there is a ski kindergarten. In Champer there are 25 restaurants and cafes, a disco, and more than 20 shops and boutiques.

SPA treatments in Champery

If there is time for rides, then you need to find time for relaxation and improving your health.

You should come to a ski resort not only to ski on snowy slopes, but also to restore your vitality. And here, in this situation, Champery SPA centers will come in handy.

The most popular spa resort in Champery is the Thermes-Parc thermal complex. In addition to several indoor pools, there is one outdoor pool on its territory, which is heated in the cold season. The peculiarity of this institution is that all the water that is on the territory of the complex is taken from the local river.

Each comfortable hotel in Champery has its own spa centers, where you can enjoy relaxing treatments. The cost of spa services in Champery depends on their type. To visit the thermal springs, an adult will need to pay 20 CHF per day, but you can also purchase a subscription. A whole day in the spa will cost everyone 130 CHF.

In the neighboring village of Val d’Illie, there is a health park. On the territory of 110,000 square meters there is a water entertainment center, outdoor and indoor pools, a steam room, a hydromassage pool, massage and beauty salons, as well as a medical center. The spa is located on three thermal springs, the waters of which reach the surface with a temperature of 20-32 ° C.

Restaurants and prices in Champery

Restaurants in Champer are represented in the amount of 25 pieces. There are also cafes, discos and more than 20 shops on the territory of the ski resort. The bulk of inexpensive restaurants in Champery are located in the center. They will give you the opportunity to try the legendary Alpine cuisine.

Lovers of refined and unconventional cuisine can visit the best restaurant in Champery – Le Centre et c21. A combined menu there will cost everyone 85 CHF, risotto costs about 26 CHF, and the price of desserts varies from 15 to 18 CHF.

In the evening, some restaurants and bars offer tourists to taste the most exquisite cuisine, traditional and in the latest fashion (molecular, on nitrogen). Naturally, the price for one such dish in Champery restaurants will be quite high.

If you prefer to dine in more inexpensive restaurants, then you should go to the Champery cafe Le Mitchell’s, where the price for a plate of soup will NOT be more than 12 CHF, and the second course will cost between 17-20 CHF.

The best cafe in Champery is considered to be the Bar des Guides, which is located at the Hotel Suisse. This place has become one of the most visited among the British, Americans, Canadians and Scandinavians. Bar Mitchell’s is no less popular.

To better navigate the local cuisine and the location of the most popular restaurants in Champery, it is better to read the reviews of those tourists who have already visited them in advance.

History and present day

The town of Champery, a classic Swiss mountain resort, is located at an altitude of 1,053 meters at the foot of the mountains of the Dents du Midi (Southern Tooth) and the Dents Blanche (White Tooth). The first hotel, Hotel des Dents du Midi, was opened here in 1857: guests have long been attracted by the beauty of the valley at the foot of the majestic mountain range. In addition, Champery is only 20 kilometers from Lake Geneva, it is the most easily accessible resort, has long become a favorite Swiss “weekend resort”. Traditional chalets with carved balconies stretch along the main street, in the center – the bell tower of 1725. It has already survived three churches (the latter is more like a huge sauna, sheathed with clapboard with a lone crucifix decorated with spruce branches), has been declared an architectural monument and flaunts on all postcards.

Especially since Champery is the only town in Switzerland where bell casting is still practiced. In the center of the town is a cemetery. At first glance, it is not a happy neighborhood, but on most tombstones there are mountains, the sun, the same Zub du Midi, ski slopes.

Eternity is turned towards the mountains, among which life passed. The cemetery here is part of the town, children play among the slabs, and on a bench near the bell tower, locals welcome the sunset. Goethe wrote that Switzerland combines “the colossal with the orderly.” Here, too, rows of tombstones and mountains in the last rays of the sun.

Містечко Шампері невелике: дві вулиці, бари-магазини, пам’ятник велосипедисту, бібліотека, лава кінця XIX століття, яка колись стояла біля Grand Hotel (її фрагмент відреставрувало сімейство Гренон і піднесло місту в дар в 2005 році), джерело з мінеральною водою і плакати в сучкуватих дерев’яних рамах, розставлені по всьому місту: «Наша історія», «Політичне життя», «Сільське господарство», «Контрабандисти», «Початок гірськолижного спорту». Саме про цей «початок» веде рахунок нова епоха Шампері: в 1939 році був побудований перший підйомник. в 1963-му – фунікулер на Planachaux (1800). Зараз наверх за п’ять хвилин доставляє великий 125-містний вагон, а кабінка старої канатки залишена на пам’ять біля високогірного готелю Plein Ciel **. Символ нової епохи – величезний спортивний комплекс з критим басейном і катком. Якщо оселитися в кращих місцевих шале The Lodge / Champery у місіс Miggins, якраз поруч зі спортивним центром, вечорами можна спостерігати у величезних вікнах хокейні змагання, як ніби це стометрова плазма. Видовище незабутнє. Особливо якщо не просто сидіти на балконі, а лежати у величезній бочці з теплою водою – вони дістаються мешканцям першого поверху.

Піднявшись до Planachaux (1800) можна вибрати безліч гірських шляхів, але найбільш вражаючий маршрут веде в Avoriaz. Непомітно для себе ви перетинаєте кордон і опиняєтеся у Франції. Над гігантським обривом встають висотні 8-12-поверхові корпуси, знизу доверху обшиті дерев’яними панелями. Вони виростають із скель, майже зливаючись з ними. Зламані фасади і дахи самі формують ландшафт. Деякі будівлі стоять на краю 700-метрової прірви, інші притиснуті до стрімкої кам’яної стіни. У цьому місті – результаті архітектурного експерименту 60-х немає машин, всі пересуваються тільки на лижах або пішки, тотальний ski out – ski in. Недарма тут кілька десятиліть відбувався знаменитий фестиваль фантастичного кіно: стилістика римувалася з архітектурою. На першому фестивалі в 1973 році Гран-прі за “Дуель” отримав нікому невідомий Стівен Спілберг. Свій тріумфальний хід почали з альпійських вершин Люк Бессон, Джеймс Кемерон, Уес Крейвен, Девід Лінч. А в 1990 році в номінації “Дивні фільми” перемогла “Дружина керосинника” Олександра Кайдановського …

Для досвідчених лижників улюблений склон Воріт сонця – Pas de Chavanette – його часто називають просто «Le Mur Suisse», ( «швейцарською стіною») – це одна з найкрутіших в світі трас. Хоча вона має довжину лише в кілометр, перепад висот становить близько 400 метрів, а ухил – до 50 градусів. Ворота сонця ведуть до нескінченних варіантів маршрутів. Хто сказав, що Швейцарія – маленька країна? Це велика країна. Просто витягнута не з боку в бік, а знизу вгору … ”