All Resorts

Saas-Fee

Switzerland's car-free glacier resort at the foot of 13 4,000-meter peaks -- year-round skiing above 3,600 meters.

Our Take

Saas-Fee sits in a high glacial cirque in the Valais, surrounded by 13 peaks above 4,000 meters, and has been car-free since 1951 -- electric vehicles only within the village, the rest of the world's cars left at a parking structure at the entrance. The resulting village is quiet, compact, and dramatically scenic. The skiing reaches the Fee Glacier at 3,600 meters via an underground funicular carved through the mountain, and the year-round operation on the glacier has made Saas-Fee the summer ski training capital of Europe -- US Ski Team, European national teams, and junior race programs all use it for August and September preparation. The skiing below the glacier has 145km of varied pistes, with the best of it on the north and east-facing runs that hold cold snow in the shadow of the surrounding peaks. The drop from glacier summit to valley at 1,800 meters base is one of the great sustained descents in Switzerland. Saas-Fee has a specific character -- quieter than Zermatt, less internationally famous but among the most visually dramatic settings in the Alps. The car-free policy and the surrounding 4,000-meter peaks create a sense of remove from the world that larger resorts struggle to replicate.

Glacier skiing devoteesYear-round skiing seekersDramatic mountain sceneryCar-free village enthusiastsAdvanced and expert terrain hunters

Nerd Stats

Glacier Summit

11,811'

Piste Length

145km

Surrounding 4000m Peaks

13

Car-Free Since

1951

Fun Facts

  • Saas-Fee has been car-free since 1951 -- one of the first Alpine resorts to prohibit cars from the village center.
  • The Fee Glacier hosts year-round ski racing training. The US Ski Team uses Saas-Fee for summer and fall camp every year.
  • 13 peaks above 4,000 meters surround the Saas-Fee cirque -- the Allalinhorn, Dom, Täschhorn, and Nadelhorn among them.
  • The Allalin funicular climbs through 1,500 meters of underground tunnel to reach the glacier -- you emerge at 3,500 meters and can see into Italy.