Like Wengen, but in France: the quiet travels, the car free village does not
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
You love Wengen for what is not there. It is a car free balcony village under the Jungfrau, peaceful by our read, and the three things on our list of what it does best are no cars, the scenery and families. We tag it quiet, car free and good for families.
The mountain is kinder than the view above it suggests. Thirty nine percent of the piste we measure around Wengen is gentler than 15 percent, the joint seventh largest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and only 20 percent is steeper than one in four. Yet there are 20 kilometres of black, the second most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and the split between easy, red and black is the most even of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover.
The honest headline: the car free village does not travel. Wengen and Zermatt are the only resorts of the 55 we cover that we tag car free, so none of the 17 French resorts we cover can give you that. What France can give you is the quiet or the family week, on gentle ground. Serre Chevalier keeps the quiet, and Les Gets and Châtel the family week. Samoëns and Le Grand-Bornand carry both our quiet and family tags, but our matching puts three others closer to Wengen, and those three are the ones measured here.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing | Piste we measure around the village | Steeper than one in four | Gentler than 15% | Black | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkWengen | 1,274 m | 2,320 m, the top lift | 125 km | 20% | 39% | 20 km | 66% |
| Serre Chevalier | 1,350 m | 2,751 m, measured | 153 km | 27% | 38% | 16.7 km | 72% |
| Les Gets | 1,172 m | 1,965 m, measured | 99 km | 23% | 34% | 9.6 km | 1% |
| Châtel | 1,200 m | 2,084 m, measured | 82 km | 26% | 35% | 5.4 km | 23% |
Steepness is measured from the gradient, because the colours do not cross the border well: across the resorts we cover, a French red averages 24.3 percent and a Swiss red 19.9. Those are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but they are fairer than the map. Wengen's reds average 20.1, so a French red will usually feel steeper than the ones you know.
Serre Chevalier: the closest on the quiet and the gentle ground
- VillageVillage
- 1,350 m 76 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,830 m 510 m higher
Serre Chevalier: 153 km of piste we measure. 91 km green and blue 60%45 km red 29%17 km black 11%
Our matching puts Serre Chevalier closer to Wengen than any other French resort we cover, and it keeps the part of Wengen's character that does not depend on the cars: the quiet. We tag it quiet. Our read is relaxed and sunny, sun, trees and a string of old villages, with tree skiing, sunshine and value on its list.
It starts at nearly the same height. Our figure for its villages is 1,350 metres, 76 above Wengen's. The gentle share is all but level, 38 percent against your 39, the joint fourth largest of the 17 French resorts we cover. And of the three French picks it keeps the most black, 16.7 kilometres against your 20.
Above the village it goes much further. The skiing reaches 2,751 metres by our measurement, 431 above Wengen's top lift. One is our measure and the other a lift height, so read the gap as wide rather than exact. Seventy two percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, which makes Serre Chevalier snow sure on our measure. We measure 153 kilometres around it, 27 more than around Wengen, with 91.4 kilometres of green and blue, 60 percent of the piste, and 40.8 of that reliably mapped green.
What you give up is the car free village, the family tag and some of the gentleness in the middle. Twenty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, and the reds average 24.9 percent, the tenth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. A nervous improver has the green to stay on.
Les Gets: the closest on the family week
- VillageVillage
- 1,172 m 102 m lower
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,466 m 146 m higher
Les Gets: 99 km of piste we measure. 55 km green and blue 56%35 km red 35%10 km black 10%
If the family week is what you would miss most, Les Gets keeps it. We tag it traditional and good for families, families head its list along with tree skiing and a charming village, and our read is warm and traditional, a pretty village at the gateway to the Portes du Soleil. At 1,172 metres, the village is 102 below Wengen's.
On the steep share it is the nearest of the three to Wengen. Twenty three percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, and its blues average 15.0 percent, against 13.9 at Wengen. There are 55 kilometres of green and blue, 7.7 of it green, against Wengen's 51 of blue and easier, and we measure 99 kilometres around the village. Beyond that, the Portes du Soleil is twelve villages across two countries on one genuinely linked circuit. It measures 580 kilometres, the official figure is 600, and an independent measurement puts it nearer 426. The Les Gets and Morzine sector alone is 117.
The trade is the height, the black and the quiet. The skiing tops out at 1,965 metres by our measurement, the lowest of the 17 French resorts we cover, and 1 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against 66 percent of what we map around Wengen. There are 9.6 kilometres of black against your 20, steep when you find them: they average 33.2 percent, the third steepest blacks of the 17 French resorts we cover. And we do not tag Les Gets quiet.
If you want the family village with a little more height, Châtel is on the same circuit. We tag it traditional and family as well, our read is rustic and friendly, farm village character on the Swiss border, and value heads its list. The village is at 1,200 metres, 74 below Wengen's, the skiing reaches 2,084 metres by our measurement, and 23 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800. Its own sector, the Espace Liberté, shared with Torgon and Morgins, is 120 kilometres. The black is thin: 5.4 kilometres, the least of the 17 French resorts we cover.
Take away the car free village, which no French resort we cover can give you, and what Wengen still offers is a quiet week on a gentle mountain with real black on it. Serre Chevalier is quiet on our tags, starts within 76 metres of Wengen's village, has all but the same gentle share and the most black of the three, and it is snow sure on our measure. Go knowing the middle of the mountain is steeper, and that we do not tag it a family resort. If the family week comes first, Les Gets, and go knowing that it is low.