Snoozing quietly in its peaceful backwater valley, Les Diablerets really deserves to be left alone. It’s so tranquil that it’s almost a shame to mark it on a map – in fact, less than a century ago, it couldn’t be found on any maps. It wasn’t until the arrival of the railway in 1914 that outsiders noticed this charming and beautiful place. These days Les Diablerets has a small but loyal band of guests, who return each year to enjoy the valley’s charm. Located about an hour away from Geneva by motorway, Les Diablerets can easily be reached by car or by train. A safe, well-maintained secondary road leads up the valley from the small town of Aigle up to the village of Les Diablerets.

Today Les Diablerets is a little known resort outside of the major European ski fraternities. The rest of the skiing world is a lot worse off for it. Although a smallish entry, Les Diablerets has everything you would find within the borders of bigger and better known destinations, but with small town prices to boot. Plus it does have a dynamite glacier, which guarantees good skiing if not for 365 days a year, then pretty darn close to it.

Les Diablerets, with its superb location and its strong retention of unique Swiss flavor, in addition to some pretty formidable skiing, might be just what the doctor ordered. If you are looking for a combination of that real Swiss mountain atmosphere, a good place to learn French, and good skiing, this area is perfect.

On the skiing scene, Diablerets has a variety of terrain and challenge. Nursery to nerve racking is probably how you would best describe the ski action. There is truly something for everybody. New facilities on the glacier have greatly improved the skiing terrain making it bigger and better.

Better skiers will enjoy the steep and deep runs back to the village from the Isneau area. On a good day these runs can provide thrills and pleasures equal to anywhere in the Alps. Toward the village centre are the pistes of Meillert and Les Mazots. Lifts right from the town centre will transport you to these slopes, which in turn have a network of higher lifts to whisk you around once you are in the system. Les Mazots, with its wooded runs, provides a good bit of challenge, and Isneau is best suited to the talents of the recreational skier. Good skiers should take the run to Villars at least once.

It is most stimulating. Cross-country skiers will find good possibilities in Diablerets, and non-skiers will find just about any diversion that comes to mind. Les Diablerets is one of the best value ski resorts in the Swiss Alps.

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