Haute Nendaz

Due to providence, it looks like I could well be visiting Haute Nendaz for three days at some point this season. -)

I know nothing about this resort so would be grateful for any dos, don'ts, must do, tips etc.

Thank you.

Never been to the village itself but I know that it's close to Sion. As for skiing terrain is shared with Verbier so pretty much snow-sure.

[Use a map of the 4 Valleys to make sense fo the following] e.g. http://www.piste-maps.co.uk/Piste-Maps/Switzerland/4-Vallees-Piste-Map.jpg

Nendaz is above the valley town of Sion, on the Rhône. Some of the package operators run charter flights into Sion, and you can sometimes get 'flight only' onto one of these. We've flown Inghams Gatwick<->Sion previous years. Otherwise nearest is Geneva. Connections by public transport are quite good, but aim to get into GVA before 12:30 to give yourself a reasonable margin for delays. The www.sbb.ch site can give you integrated connections: it takes between 2:43 and 3:04 h:mm this way (put in Genève-Aéroport to Haute-Nendaz TDN). The drive is about 2:15 from GVA, with all but the last half hour on autoroute.

Nendaz is a part of the Quatre Vallées (4 valleys) connected to Veysonnaz, Verbier, La Tzoumaz and distant Bruson. Of itself, it has quite a high ratio of accommodation to ski area, so can get busy, but is very lively with a lot of choice for eating out and drinking. It is connected to the 4 Valleys via a relatively old and low-capacity draglift and télécabine (Prarion->Plan du Fou). So if you want to ski further afield, it makes sense to exit Nendaz as soon as possible, first thing. The higher reaches of Verbier to the east and Veysonnaz to the north are accessible comfortably the same day, but you will probably not venture to La Tzoumaz, Bruson or Les Collons if you want to avoid clock-watching. To return you catch the new gondola in Siviez up to Plan du Fou, where you can either get the gondola down or ski a fairly steep black, depending on your skill/stamina.

The key thing if you're out of the Nendaz area is to leave plenty of time for your return trip back to Siviez, up to Plan du Fou, and ski (black) or gondola down from Plan du Fou ->Prarion, and back up Prarion->Tracouet, at the summit of Nendaz.

The higher reaches of Verbier to the east of Siviez are reached by getting a long chair, Siviez->Tortin and then either a gondola Tortin-> Lac de Vaux (Chassoure) or large telecabine Tortin-> Col de Gentianes.

I'll leave it to other people to cover the Verbier skiing .....

Thanks; travelling on a Monday so a charter seat to Sion doesn't come into play. We arrive in Geneva at 09:10 so plenty of rail/bus connections to get us there in decent order. The 9:54 Inter-regio gets us to Sion railway station and then onto the Nendaz for 12.45. Time for a cheeky afternoon on the local slopes.

Most useful tips on the connections with the rest of the 4 Vallees, thank you.

One thing I forgot - I believe there may be a snow bus that shuttles between Nendaz and Siviez. This could be easier and quicker than queuing for the Tracouet gondola; skiing down to Prarion; and taking the drag then gondola to Plan du Fou; skiing to Siviez. Check on the Nendaz website or when you arrive.

Yep, there is a bus shuttle between Siviez and Nendaz leaving every 30 minutes, the last one at 6pm, Which basically means that you don't need to watch the clock so much skiing on Verbier side. As long as you are on last jumbo to take you up to Col de Gentianes or last chair up to Chaussure you have plenty time to ski down and catch the bus.