Saas-Fee Village (Car-free Hamlet)

Saas-Fee sits on a terrace at about 1,800 metres in the Saas valley of the canton of Valais, in the south of Switzerland, with the glaciers and peaks of the Pennine Alps rising directly above it. The village is known as the Pearl of the Alps, and it has been car-free for decades. Vehicles stop at the edge of the village, and visitors walk or use small electric buses and taxis, so the streets are quiet and the air is clean. The first road reached the village in 1951, and the community chose to keep cars out of the centre rather than let them take over, a decision that has become part of its identity.

The setting is dramatic. A ring of more than a dozen four-thousand-metre peaks stands around the basin, among them the Dom, which at 4,545 metres is the highest mountain entirely in Switzerland. The Fee Glacier, a tongue of ice, hangs on the slopes above the village. Because the village is at the end of the valley and surrounded by mountains, it feels remote and protected, and in winter the snow is reliable. Another entry covers the surrounding peaks in more detail, so this one concentrates on the village itself.

The old centre keeps the look of a Valais mountain village. Dark timber houses and barns stand on stone bases, many of them raised on stilts topped with flat stone plates to keep mice out of the grain stores, and narrow lanes run between them. Small chapels dot the slopes above the village, linked by a path lined with small chapels that climbs to the chapel of the Hohe Stiege, a favourite walk with fine views. The parish church and the old stores give a sense of the farming community that lived here before tourism arrived in the 19th century. Today the village has hotels, restaurants, shops and a lively après-ski scene in winter, and it keeps a more traditional feel than some larger resorts.

Skiing is the focus in winter, and the glaciers allow skiing all year round at the top of the Metro Alpin funicular, one of the highest underground railways in the world. In summer the village is a base for hiking, mountaineering, mountain biking and spa visits, and the high lifts take walkers to viewpoints and glacier edges. In 1984 the music video for the Wham! song Last Christmas was filmed here, which adds a bit of pop culture to the resort’s reputation.

Reaching Saas-Fee takes a train to Visp in the Rhone valley followed by a postal bus up the Saas valley, with a final stretch to the car park or the bus terminal at the village. The village suits families, skiers, hikers and anyone who wants a quiet Alpine setting without traffic, in the best tradition of a Swiss mountain village. Book accommodation early for winter and for the peak of summer.