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Champéry Resort Reviews

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Visitor reviews for Champéry Ski Resort

Champéry Ratings

Overall: 4.1. Based on 20 votes and 12 reviews. Vote

Snowsure: 4.2

(1) Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing, (2) is often closed due to a lack of snow, (3) occasionally suffers from a lack of snow, (4) rarely suffers from a lack of snow, (5) Champéry is snowsure even in the poorest seasons.

Variety of pistes: 4.9

(1) The ski runs are featureless and unvaried, (3) the ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week, (5) Champéry has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain.

Off-piste: 4.0

(1) No off-piste worth mentioning, (2) off piste is out-of-bounds, (3) some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days, (5) a vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days.

Scenery: 5.0

(1) An ugly resort in a bland setting, (3) average mountain views and resort, (5) a spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town.

Access: 4.3

(1) At least one overnight stop, (2) requires a whole day, (3) requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns (4) arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon, (5) there is a main airport within an hour of Champéry.

Public Transport: 4.8

(1) There are no buses or taxis to Champéry, (3) there are slow or infrequent buses / trains available, (5) getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections.

Accommodation: 4.2

(1) No places to stay in/near Champéry, (3) a few places to stay in the resort, (5) a wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets.

Cheap Rooms: 3.5

(1) No budget accommodation available, (3) just one or two hostels so book ahead, (5) several cheap hostels and pensions available.

Luxury Hotels: 3.3

(1) No luxury accommodation available, (3) just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead, (5) several up-market hotels in Champéry.

Ski in/Ski out: 3.7

(1) The ski area is located far from any accommodation, (3) a free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip, (5) Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available.

Childcare: 3.6

(1) There are no child care facilities at Champéry, (5) the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche.

Snowmaking: 4.2

(1) Champéry relies entirely on natural snow, (3) there are just a few snow cannons, (5) there are snowmaking facilities on all pistes.

Snow Grooming: 4.9

(1) There are no snow groomers at Champéry, (3) occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state, (5) all the runs at Champéry are groomed daily.

Shelter: 3.6

(1) there is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut, (3) there are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close, (5) Champéry is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close.

Nearby options: 4.4

(1) If snow conditions are poor at Champéry, it will be poor everywhere nearby, (3) there are good alternatives within an hours drive, (5) other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions.

Regional rating: 4.1

(1) Champéry usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region, (3) has average conditions for the region, (5) usually has the best snow conditions in the region.

Lift Staff: 4.5

(1) The staff at Champéry are rude or unhelpful, (5) lift staff at Champéry are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help.

Crowds/Queues: 3.8

(1) the resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues, (3) it is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays, (5) it is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare.

Ski Schools: 4.7

(1) No ski schools available, (2) one or two ski schools but local language only, (3) a few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors, (4) plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available, (5) excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors.

Hire and Repairs: 4.9

(1) Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex. (3) there are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance, (5) good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible.

Beginners: 3.4

(1) Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard, (3) a few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week, (3) Vast areas of gentle terrain.

Intermediates: 4.6

(1) No intermediate terrain at Champéry, (3) intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days, (5) vast areas of cruising runs.

Advanced: 4.8

(1) Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders, (3) enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste, (5) Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week.

Snow Park: 4.5

(1) Not even a kicker at Champéry, (3) average sized park quite well looked after, (5) huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails.

Cross-country: 3.4

(1) There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Champéry, (3) there are some cross country trails available, (5) the area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails.

Luge/Toboggan: 2.2

(1) No designated luge or toboggan runs, (3) there are toboggan runs that open quite often, (5) Champéry has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages.

Mountain Dining: 4.5

(1) Nowhere to buy food by the pistes, (3) some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive, (5) there is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets.

Eating: 4.3

(1) Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop. (5) A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants.

Apres-Ski: 3.6

(1) Nothing to do, not even a bar, (3) there are a few bars in the resort but nothing special, (5) clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere.

Other Sports: 4.5

(1) No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts, (3) resort has just a small public swimming pool, (5) resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool.

Entertainment: 4.2

(1) Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here, (3) the non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week, (5) the resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports.

Winter Walks: 4.4

(1) Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails, (3) a couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails, (5) extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities.

Ski Pass Value: 4.2

(1) A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available, (3) the ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts, (5) ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area.

Value (National): 3.9

(1) Overall, Champéry is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money, (3) overall represents average value for money, (5) overall offers the best value resort in the country.

Value (Global): 3.7

(1) Overall, Champéry is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world, (3) overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries, (5) internationally the resort offers excellent value for money.

Show all 35 ratings

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March 02, 2019
Ross from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Champery is one of the best places from which to ski the Portes du Soleil ski area with masses of fast lifts and over 600km of well-treated pistes. It's easy to get right over to Les Gets, Avoriaz, Morzine, Chatel and Morgins. There is masses of new accommodation to rent from Avanthay or MDK immobiliers, (we stayed at Chamath with four bedrooms and sleeps 8 from Avanthays). Champery has become much livelier in the past few years with great restaurants and enough night-life and bars but without losing its village charm and beauty. It was just about the first ski village to be established over a century ago. If you only want to ski for 5 hours or half a day you can buy a 'Swiss side only' pass which covers Champery, Crozets, Champoussin, Morgins and right over to Torgon which overlooks Lake Geneva. And don't forget the famous Swiss Wall, one of the toughest black runs in Europe; not to be attempted after a long liquid lunch in one of the many restaurants on the pistes!. There are, of course, plenty of blues and reds with a few blacks to test you. Good luck and happy skiing.
December 30, 2017
Jelena from Ski Switzerland Switzerland
I stayed in Champery from 23 to 30th December. It was a great holiday in Le Chalet de l'Atelier. But we were disappointed when we rented skis and snowboard in Borgeat Sports. When we weren't agreed on our invoice the man who takes money was very angry and did not explain how he counted our ski and snowboard rent. We don't recommend to use this ski rent company.
November 23, 2013
Ben Amos, bedfordshire from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Have been to Champery over the last six years or so and have never skied such a large linked resort. You can spend most of a week there and hardly ski the same run twice. The village itself is quiet, even in high season; it feels fairly empty and you don't see many youngsters about 'till gone midnight. That said, there is plenty of places to get a few beers! You can get two types of lift passes, Swiss side or the Porters de Soleil pass which covers the French resorts which are a little higher with the snow being better if the season is not very snowy. All in all, if you like skiing more than nightlife this is a great place to ski, and if you get the train from Genova, like we do, it follows lake Carman then takes you up the mountains. The scenery is beautiful; no better way to start a ski break.
April 20, 2012
Gavin Morris from Ski Switzerland Switzerland
Champery is one of the best access points to the massive Portes du soleil on the circuit!! Just two lifts and you're smack in the middle of this vast winter playground. The Swiss side has lots of new high speed lifts and is all south facing so pistes are sun drenched most of the day making the skiing awesome. Champery Les Corsets also has one of the biggest snowparks in Europe and it is big!! If you're looking for 24 hours party place then Champery is not for you but if you're looking for some of the best on and off-piste skiing, breathtaking views and a traditional chocolate box village then Champery ticks all the boxes. We stayed at chalet Les Cascades; a luxury chalet in Champery. We were dropped of every morning by landrover and picked up at the end of the day. It was great, no walking needed?. Check out the chalet, absolutely stunning with great hosts who cannot do enough for you, WWW.ALPINEDESCENTS.COM
March 15, 2011
Gary Benson from Ski Ireland Ireland
It's been a while since a review of Champéry was posted to this website so here's my experience after having just come back from a week's skiing there. There were 10 of us (all 30-something lads) staying in Chalet Barnard on the Route des Rumières on the northern edge of the village. The chalet was of a good standard with decent-sized bedrooms, an outdoor hot tub, a TV room with X-Box on the ground floor and a large flatscreen TV & DVD player in the main lounge on the first floor. It was only a 6-7 min walk down to the village centre and a 10-15 min walk down to the Champéry Télépherique cable car, although it's quite a steep walk back uphill to the chalet! Thankfully, our chalet operator provided minibus lifts to and from the cable car station. The village itself is a beautiful, picture-postcard Swiss Alpine village, with traditional wooden chalets that look even better in person than they do in the photographs. We mainly stayed in our chalet in the evenings as a 3-course dinner with wine was provided, although we did spend an afternoon in Mitchell's watching the football and even though it's quite pricey (CHF 8.50 for a pint of Kronenboug 1664) the bar staff are really friendly so we went back on a Friday night when the atmosphere was great. We also went to Champéry's main nightclub, La Crevasse, on the Friday night, which is your typical ski resort nightclub: small and hot with questionable music and extortionate prices (CHF 36 for 3 vodka & cokes). Access to the massive Portes du Soleil ski area is via the Champéry Télépherique cable car, which only takes about 5-6 minutes to whisk you all the way up to the Planachaux at 2000m, ears popping all the way! There had been a 20-30cm dump of snow in the PdS a week before we arrived (in an otherwise relatively poor snow season) so most of the pistes were in reasonably good condition, although there were large patches of bare ground in places. We had a glorious week of warm spring sunshine, which tended to make the south-facing slopes rather slushy by the afternoon and skiing back to Les Crosets from the Pointe de Mossette was heavy going, especially at the end of a long day’s skiing. However, as long as we stayed on the higher pistes around Le Fornet, Avoriaz and Arare, the skiing was good. All in all, I would thoroughly recommend staying in Champéry if you plan to ski the Portes du Soleil. However, the main drawback I found was the fact that because the village lies on the far eastern edge of the ski area, it is a bit of a trek to try to explore the whole PdS. Perhaps staying somewhere more central, such as Avoriaz or Morzine, would make it easier to explore more of the PdS ski area.
December 14, 2007
Sandra Loveday from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Visited Champery Christmas 2006/2007. Fantastic, but very little snow. Beautiful village with very friendly locals. Liked it so much we are going back for Christmas and New Year 2007/2008.
December 05, 2007
Guy Walker from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
I have to say that this resort is rubbish...otherwise the rest of you may decide to start going there and ruin it for the rest of us. Awesome skiing in The Portes Du Soleil. Fantastic views with the breathtaking Dents Du Midi mountain range looking down on you. Also, despite other reports, the after hours is great if you know where to go. Early evening in Mitchells (they serve Guinness!!) and later on get into La Crevasse...just a door on the high street and down the stairs but once you're in it'll be hard to get out...bit like a crevasse really!
November 29, 2007
chris from Ski United States United States
Have been visiting Champery and skiing the Portes du Soleil since '89. Never have I found a more beautiful village, quick access to amazing pistes and wonderful atmosphere. It's not the place for mad apres-ski but there's plenty of fun to be had at night. Good food, nice people, old world or modern lodging, incredible skiing. Quite accessible from Geneva, which makes London or JFK a certain bet. Do it before you die.
April 13, 2007
alun evans from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
visited Champery for a day this Easter..lovely little resort.the skiing looked good but unfortunatly we ended up in Champery hospital after 2 hours..my mate fell from the top of the run called the Swiss Wall and because the mountain was so icy, he tumbled 800 metres down the mountain from top to bottom and was lucky to be alive. Don't let this put you off as the run was absolutely bonkers and icy and also my mate his crazy too. So just beware of skiing the Swiss Wall in icy conditions because if you do tumble there's only 1 way down,THAT BEING DOWN FAST WITH ALOT OF BUMPS. All jokes aside he was very lucky and I would like to warn the rest of you. Apart from that, Champery looked ok and I would visit there when passing through again.
January 14, 2006
tony melia from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Our 3rd Christmas/New Year in Champery - each year it seems to get better. Great skiing in the huge Portes De Soleil area and based in a very friendly and charming Swiss village with good access from Geneva (weekend trips very possible). Good choice of quality restaurants but limited apres ski. A real gem !

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