Area Information
Les Collons faces South East and is built on 3 parallel terraces of pine and larch forests at elevations of 1800m, 1850m and 1900m in the Valais region of Switzerland. Below Les Collons is Les Masses at 1500m with a chairlift into the resort, and above is Thyon, a purpose built resort at 2000m.
Each of these villages and the terraces of Les Collons are linked into one of largest and highest skiing areas in Europe and the largest in Switzerland, the 4 Valleys - over 400km of slopes, access to 92 lifts and skiing up to 3300m.
With downhill and cross country skiing, the slopes here are wide, open, sunny and very quiet with no queues and suitable for beginners and intermediates. There is an award winning snow park for the more adventurous. From sunny Les Collons you can see the world famous Matterhorn as well as being able to take in the spectacular array of peaks at your finger tips.
The village is 15km (20 mins) from the historic town of Sion, under 2 hours from Geneva Airport, and less than a one hour ski to the slopes above Verbier. The quiet snow-sure village gives you all the skiing advantages of the 4 Valleys without the expense, clamour and crowding of Verbier.
Les Collons is pleasantly quiet but is self-contained with the usual facilities of a ski resort, including sports shops (ski equipment, rental), ski school, restaurants, bars and supermarkets. A swimming pool and other facilities can be found just 10 minutes away in Thyon on the free ski bus, as well as kids club and creche.
In the summer, there is access to 10 golf courses located in 8 resorts, all within an hour's drive from the village, the most exciting being the championship course at Crans Montana, home of the European Masters and frequently included in lists of the most beautiful courses in the world with it views of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.
A particular feature of the Valais region is the network of walks that are provided along the routes of the ancient bisses. Les bisses are channels that were originally built as an irrigation mechanism for the farmers of the Valais, to get water from the melting snows to the rich agricultural land below. Today, les bisses provide relatively easy mountain walking through a variety of picturesque landscapes along the valleys feeding into the Rhone. Walkable from May through to October, les bisses are between 800m and 2,200m above sea level, and the valleys between Les Collons and Nendaz provide the largest network in Europe.
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