Travel to Champery with travel insurance from Essential Travel

Champery ski resort straddles the Swiss-French border and is nestled just to the south of Lake Geneva. It is part of the Portes du Soleil ski area, which claims to be Europe’s biggest ski region. Champerys sunny slopes are ideally suited to intermediates and there is a scattering of good beginner and expert slopes.

Situated at the bottom of a valley and boasting dramatic views of the Dents du Midi, with their jagged mountain peaks, Champery is a picturesque little Alpine village with the facilities of an international resort and a great range of shops.

The region boasts an outstanding 650kms of total runs, with some 30kms of varied runs at the Champery ski resort alone. Such a vast amount of ski terrain ensures there is a perfect piste for all tastes and abilities. There are 35 local ski lifts with a capacity for 10,000 people per hour; while the 211 lifts in the region move 238,000 people per hour.

Champery ski resort alone has 630 beds in 11 hotels, and 6,100 chalet and apartment beds (totalling almost 7,000 beds), with additional lodging facilities available nearby. Most of the nightlife is hotel-based but there are plenty of cafés and shops for early après-ski, as well as some bars, nightclubs and music concerts.

Lying to the south of Champery is Martigny, nestled beneath vine-clad hills on a bend in the River Rhône, and interesting for the remains of a Roman temple and amphitheatre, as well as the 13th century Château de la Bâtiaz. To the north is Montreux, well known for its casino and well-preserved 13th century fortress, Château de Chillon.

Mid-December sees the start of Champery’s ski season, which runs through to mid-April. Special deals are offered at the beginning of the season, in mid-January, and mid-March. The most popular way to get to Champery is to fly into Geneva’s international airport, transfer to the city by train and then take a Monthey-bound train, from where buses go to the resort.

Skiing in Champery

Located south of Lake Geneva on the Franco/Swiss border, Champery is a winning combination ideal for those who want skiing facilities comparable to one of the top resorts, but also love the intimacy and more reasonable prices of a small Swiss resort. Champery ski resort has 30kms of slopes, which cater mainly to the intermediate and advanced skier, but there is also plenty of challenging skiing for experts.

Champery ski resort’s 30kms of runs are separated into 16 per cent for beginners; 35 per cent for intermediates; 40 per cent advanced; and nine per cent for expert skiers. Thirty-five lifts have a capacity for 10,000 skiers per hour. There are also 10kms of classic cross-country and skating tracks (250kms in the Portes du Soleil region) in addition to the pisted runs.

Champery is one of several Swiss resorts that link up with French villages to comprise the Portes du Soleil - one of the largest ski areas in the world. Accommodation is plentiful in hotels and chalets, with a total of 7,000 beds available..

The Champery ski season spans the December to April period and enjoys the best snow from early February to early March. Cheaper weeks are available before the Christmas holidays, after the New Year’s celebrations, and from mid-March to early April.

To get to and from Champery ski resort if you are on a budget and not on a package holiday, fly to Geneva and take a train/bus combination to the resort. If time is of the essence, hire a car and drive yourself.

Apres-ski in Champery

The village maintains its old Swiss Alpine charm and ambience, with its wooden chalets and Les Dents du Midi majestically standing watch over the valley.

Other winter activities and facilities include: a snow park, with quarter-pipe, gaps, kicks and a half-pipe at les Crosets; 30kms of winter walking trails; ice-skating (artificial); mountaineering; curling; a fitness suite; indoor swimming; and a sports centre with sauna. Folklore evenings, concerts, and hotel entertainment are all popular après-ski in Champery and there are also some great bars and discos

Transportation to Champery

Champery ski resort is located near the French border, south of Geneva, and is only accessible by road. The most practical of the numerous travel options is to fly to Geneva and take a train/bus combination transfer, or hire a car. There is also a good network of autoroutes, making self-drive a popular choice, as is travelling by long distance train.

Driving from Calais, the quickest way is the Calais-Reims-Dijon-Lausanne-Monthey-Champery route, which covers major autoroutes and takes about eight hours (815kms). From Cointrin Airport, take the Lake Geneva motorway (A-9) from the airport to Monthey and follow the signs to Champery (125kms; 1 hour, 30 minutes). The road normally has good driving conditions year round.

The train journey with a convenient departure and arrival time and the least number of connections offers a total travel time of 10 hours, 30 minutes. A Eurostar leaves London (Waterloo) at 08:12 and terminates in Paris (Nord), from where a TGV leaves Paris (gare de Lyon) at 13:04, bound for Lausanne.

An Interregional train then departs Lausanne for Aigle at 17:00, from where a regional train goes to Champery for the final leg at 18:35 (one hour). Trains from London go throughout the day and night, and there are plenty of return options.

Geneva’s Cointrin Airport is the closest international airport, and receives both scheduled and charter flights from all over the world. From here, there are two options for getting to Champery. You can take a regular scheduled train, via the city, to either Aigle or Monthey, from where a Post bus goes to the resort (three hours); alternatively, hire a car, which will halve the time taken.

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