Snoozing quietly in its peaceful backwater valley, LES DIABLERETS really deserves to be left well alone. It’s so tranquil that it’s almost a shame to mark it on a map – indeed, less than a century ago, it wasn’t on any maps, and it was only with the arrival of the railway in 1914 that outsiders noticed the place. These days Les Diablerets has a small but loyal band of guests, who return each year to enjoy the valley’s charm.

The skiing is good, marked out by close access to the Col de Pillon gondola serving the Diablerets Glacier, which slides down from the peaks of Scex Rouge (2970m) and Les Diablerets itself (3209m). Most of the pistes up here are blue and red, even way on top around the Quille du Diable – a jutting natural obelisk up at 3000m. A single hair-raising black run plunges beneath the gondola cables from Pierres-Pointes (2217m) down to the Col du Pillon. From the village itself, another gondola serves the slopes of Isenau to the north, laced with blue and red runs, while a third rises to Les Mazots, in the direction of Villars. Les Diablerets prides itself on its summer skiing, with good snow assured year-round on the glacier.