Gstaad

The biggest area is Rinderberg, bolstered in 2018/19 by an impressive new valley to summit gondola at Saanerslochgrat. Catch the train or bus to Schönreid to access the slopes. This sector is home to 90km of slopes that are best suited to intermediate skiers, but there is good beginner terrain and several wide sweeping blues. This area comes into its own when the clouds are down as the tree-lined slopes provide valuable definition in a whiteout.

Two small ski areas lie on the southern fringes of Gstaad – Wasserngrat and Wispile – but both will only keep you occupied for a few hours. Much larger is the Eggli ski area, accessed from the edge of Gstaad by a gondola and from Saanen by a quad chairlift. 58km of mostly blue slopes await, including an epic 1150 vertical metre descent into the town of Rougemont from the summit at La Videmanette.

The final area is the highest, most snowsure and one of a handful of remaining glacier ski areas in Switzerland – Glacier 3000. Cable cars whisk you up from the valley to the Scex Rouge at 2971m, from which point several drags access gentle blues on the glacier, where snow conditions are always excellent. The valley return run is arguably the best in the entire area – depending on your choice of route you’ll ski a long winding black behind Oldenalp or an impressive newly built red to Oldenegg, before the final descent down to the valley on piste 100.

Gstaad is easily accessed from both Zürich and Basel airports, with the drive from both taking around 2.5 hours, whilst travelling by train is only slightly longer – the journey comes in at around three hours.

• Zürich airport: 2.5 hours (driving) or 3 hours (train)
• Basel airport: 2.5 hours (driving) or 3 hours (train)
• Calais: approximately 10 hours driving (521 miles)