How to Switzerland
Michael and I ventured to Switzerland (Jan 2019) for a ski weekend. I had never skied before. Here’s a little insight on how to plan a totally random and amazing winter weekend.
On our way down from Tracouet
Step 1: Pick a weekend
We settled on the weekend before Michael went back to school. When debating what we should do (since he really doesn’t help me plan at all), I decided that we should embrace the cold. Should we go to Finland? Norway? London? Since I’ve been with Michael, he’s been wanting to go skiing for a weekend. We never got the chance - that’s when it hit me. Let’s go to the Alps and go ski!
Step 2: Look up flights
I know nothing about skiing. I know nothing about the Alps. So, I just started looking at the cheapest flights for that weekend to places around Switzerland and Austria. Simultaneously, I was searching things like “best places to go for a weekend ski trip in Europe,” and “best places for beginners skiing” -- you get the picture. With a huuuuuge variety of places to go for a ski weekend and looking at some more affordable flight options, I chose to fly into Geneva.
** The mistake I made during this step was not considering the transportation options to our final destination. I realized after booking our flights that we landed like half an hour before our last possible transfer to get to our final destination via public transportation. The trains didn’t stop, but we wouldn’t be able to get the bus we needed. Not the end of the world, we rented a car instead, but it would have been more affordable if we went with the train to bus route.
Step 3: Actually decide where you’re going
How did I choose Nendaz? I have no idea. But that’s where we went and it was AMAZING.
Step 4: Accommodations
This is typically my favorite part of trip planning - finding accommodations. I love picking places with character, navigating the different options and amenities and locations. Especially when I have never been somewhere before. It’s like solving a problem that is not at all a problem.
I found Hotel Edelweiss on Booking.com. We got a superior double room with a balcony - it was the same price as the rooms without a balcony. I couldn’t find a website (I didn’t try that hard), so I didn’t have any idea what the room would really look like, but the reviews online said it was one of the best bars for apres ski and had music. It also looked pretty close to the lift.
Guys. I cannot say enough good things about Hotel Edelweiss. Our room was so cozy. The balcony wrapped around the whole building so that it wrapped around both outward facing sides of our room. Sara and Philippe (I hope I’m spelling their names right) were the sweetest and coolest and we definitely annoyed the shit out of them. They manage the hotel and the restaurant. You can access the hotel section through the side door (which is on the same level as the room where you can leave your ski gear) or through the door at the back of the restaurant. The restaurant serves food all day - where most of the restaurants in Nendaz stop serving from 2pm until 6pm or 7pm. We had delicious burgers, my first ever taste of raclette, fondue, hot chocolate, and lots of wine and beer. The room also included breakfast so we got ready for our days of skiing by eating crusty bread and hard boiled eggs. There were cereals and yogurts and jams and make your own pancakes, too. But I’m not a breakfast eater. Oh - and we got a discount on ski rentals across the street through the hotel.
Step 5: Learn how to ski
Prior to January 11, 2019 I had never ever even put a pair of ski boots on, let alone actually attempt skiing. Again, I don’t know how I found them (except for just searching ski schools in Nendaz on the internets), but I’m so glad we went with Montagne Magique.
Richard was so helpful and communicative leading up to our trip. He even offered to lend me ski pants since I didn’t have any! (I bought my own before we arrived, though.) We booked him as our private instructor for a four hour session on Friday. He was patient and funny and really helpful. Don’t forget that I was such a beginner that I didn’t understand how to walk in my boots. I was pretty sure after those first two hours that I was going to end this trip with the world’s most sculpted legs.
We had a two hour break for lunch. Richard suggested we just eat in the little igloo that was where we were. I think that’s because I had so much trouble walking down the stairs to get to this location, that it would have been way too much effort to go anywhere else. The food was not great. We got goulash and it was not even warm. I was cranky AF. Until I got myself a hot chocolate with Bailey’s. Ahhh. So worth it. We made fast friends with the girl working at the igloo, despite the language barrier. She gave us a tasting of each flavor of Eau de Vie. And I was happily buzzed for the second half of our ski lesson. Which I crushed.
After skiing, we went to the Cheers bar and had beers with Richard and his business partner.
Step 6: Eat.
In my searches on the world wide web, I stumbled across a handful of mentions and reviews of a restaurant called Le Vieux Chalet. Prior to flying out, I made a reservation for their first table at 7:00pm. Michael and I got wonderfully lost and wound up knocking on a person’s door asking for directions. Once we got there, we ate gravlax, pigeon, and cheese and had wonderful wines paired with it. It was a lovely meal!
Dinner Saturday night was at La Cabane - we had our second serving of fondue in a day (Lactaid was working overtime this weekend), this time of the tomato variety. It was served with boiled potatoes and it was delish. I don’t think you’d get a bad meal anywhere you go in Nendaz.
Step 7. Try to Ski Without Richard.
Big mistake. Huge. I completely wiped out on our first run down the hill to get to the rest of the runs. With adrenaline pumping, we spent some time on the beginner slope warming up and decided I could maaayyybe try a blue. My god were we wrong. After wiping out HARD twice and twisting my knee, I called it. Next time, we’ll go for a week and get lessons all week.
Step 8. Relax.
Now that we were done skiing much earlier than we had anticipated, we had time to go to the hot baths. The plan in my head was to go to Le Bains de Saillon which would be like a twenty minute drive and cost 25CHF per person. Philippe urged us to just go to Hotel Nendaz, a quick walk. Even though it’s more expensive (I think i twas 45CHF per person), he explained, the drive and the amount of children at Le Bains were not going to be how we wanted to spend our afternoon.
All I can say about our time at the Spa at Hotel Nendaz is wow. I’ve never been to a spa before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But the views in the hot bath, nestled in the Alps - just incredible. I’m sad I didn’t take a picture, but I didn’t trust myself with water and phone. The saunas and steam rooms were also very cool. If you’re feeling fancy, def give it a try!
Step 9. Drink.
Apres ski, am I right? We did our own little bar crawl after the spa. It was too early (since we hadn’t spent the whole day skiing like everyone else), so there were no other people at most of the bars we stopped in to. First was Le Cabanon where we had some hot drinks with rum. Next was Tchin Tchin, where we were disappointed to find out that there was, in fact, no piano. We did have some wine and shared a cigar. We walked around the town a little bit, and I wanted to go to Bar 7A, which I never saw (Michael told me later that we passed it). So our bar crawl ended with dinner. Then we went back to Hotel Edelweiss, but had to stop into the disco igloo that was set up in the parking lot across the street. People were raging. We ended the night with boozy hot chocolates in our room. We are nerds.
We had an incredible time in Nendaz. We were in awe of the Alps and the remarkable scenery. And the people we met made our time so much more enjoyable. Happy skiing!
** Something else I didn’t consider - Switzerland is not in the EU. Our Irish cell phones did not have any service at all from touchdown in Geneva until we got back to Dublin. Whoops.
