Nendaz

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Nendaz lies on a sunny terrace above the Rhone Valley near Sitten (Sion), the capital of the Valais. In winter it has everything a winter sports enthusiast could want, being at the heart of the ‘Four Valleys’ ski region with its 92 transport facilities. During the warmer seasons, it is a holiday resort popular with bikers and hikers.

The terrace of Nendaz, stretching from 1300 m to 1400 m in altitude, commands a fantastic view of the Bernese, Valais and Vaud Alps. A modern holiday resort has grown up all around the centre of this delightful old Valais village with its traditional timber houses, barns and grain stores. Siviez, eight kilometres to the south in the Nendaz valley, also belongs to this community. It is sometimes also called ‘Super Nendaz’ and cableways run from here to Mont Fort, at 3330 m the highest peak of the ‘Les 4 Vallées’ (Four Valleys) ski resort.

Nendaz offers a richly varied children’s programme and has been awarded the ‘Families Welcome’ seal of quality. There are child-minding facilities for toddlers; toy hire; craft programmes; footpaths suitable for pushchairs; and playgrounds: absolutely everything for our smaller visitors.

Summer in Nendaz

Around Nendaz there are approximately 250 kilometres of hiking trails, a network of paths running from the orchards in the valley up to the high alps. A particular highlight is the excursion by cableway or mountain bike to the glacier terrain on Mont Fort, with its expansive view of 20 four-thousand-metre peaks, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.

Owing to the dry climate of the Valais, farmers built a system of irrigation channels across the region centuries ago. Nendaz has the biggest network of these ‘suonen’, some of which are still used, and 98 km of footpath now run along 8 of them. As one of the biggest raspberry and apricot growing areas in Switzerland, Nendaz has dedicated one of the local themed trails to fruit growing. There is also a hike to some of the biggest larch trees in Europe on the Balavaux Alp (Isérables) or, if you have a taste for the exotic, take a stroll through the Japanese Garden.

Skiing in Nedaz

Nendaz lies in the broad ‘Four Valleys’ ski region (Verbier, Veysonnaz, Nendaz, La Tsoumaz & Thyon) with 92 transport facilities and 412 km of pistes. The best access to the railways is from Siviez. There are also off-piste activities with 12 km of cross-country ski trails, 100 km of winter hiking trails and 40 km of showshoe tracks.

Highlights

• Suonen trails: gentle walks along 98 kilometres of Nendaz irrigation channels accompanied by the sound of the babbling waters.

• Grande Dixence Reservoir: at 285 metres, the highest reservoir in the world in the Hérémence Valley (visits to view the inner workings from mid June to the end of September).

• Sitten (Sion): capital of the Canton of Valais with its historic townscape dominated by the imposing fortified hill castle of Valère which commands a stunning view.

• Saillon-les-Bains: a little town of Neolithic and Roman origins with a variety of attractions including thermal baths and Farinet’s Trail, a symbolic walk which depicts the history of the big-hearted forger.

• Grottensee near St-Léonard: from March to November there are boat trips across this underground lake between Sion und Sierre.

Top Events

• International Alpine Horn-Festival: the biggest event of its kind in Switzerland with more than 100 players of all nationalities and lots of events and activities (July).

• Grand Raid: the longest and hardest mountain bike race in the world in which 4000 competitors attempt a course 131 km long from Verbier via Nendaz to Grimentz with a 4600 m difference in altitude (August).

• Guitar Festival: concerts for lovers of classical music with works from the baroque and contributions from South America and Russia (July and August).

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