The Ski Resort
Constructed in 1965, the development of ANZERE was based on well-studied planning and designed layout. The heart of the resort is called ANZERE VILLAGE is a pedestrian zone, a rather nouvel concept dating back to the 60s.
Large wooden chalets surrounding a pedestrian square. A choice of shops, boutiques in a continuous gallery, with restaurants, café terraces, and playground for children with public benches. Visitors will appreciate this car free open space, safe for children and favoured by parents.
ANZERE is a medium size resort, cosy and friendly. The style of constructions blends well with the mountain environment. Situated on a high plateau facing south, ANZERE overlooking down the Rhone Valley, with a sweeping panoramic view of the Valaisan Alps where 12 peaks over 4´000m. high, extending from Bitschhorn to Mont-Blanc.
Interesting facts
- Offering 58 km of slopes and terrain, Anzere is among the 10 largest Ski Resorts in the Valais.
- The vertical drop from summit to base is 920 m. The average difference in altitude between base and summit of Ski Resorts in Switzerland is 871 m. The ski resort takes you to an elevation of 2,420 m.
- Average snow depth during the season is 155 cm at summit elevation and 36 cm at base elevation. Snow coverage is usually best during February, offering an average snow depth of 175 cm at summit elevation and 41 cm at the base.
- Anzere features 63 sunny days on average per season. The average for all ski Resorts in Switzerland is 53 sunny days. February is the sunniest month with an average of 22 sunny days.
I went with Alison and would add the following comments. Children refers to under 10's, as teenagers should have no more problems than adults with the tbars and the walking around the resort/slopes. The bus service is also relatively poor compared to my experience in other resorts (eg Val D'Isere, Grindewald, Davos, Verbier, Trois Vallees) as it only ran from 0830 to 1830 and took a break for lunch. It wasn't frequent enough, was always packed full, and was definitely needed due to the steep slopes in the village up to the lift. Very little of the accomodation wouldn't need to walk up to the lift station.One particular gripe was the main 'missing' red piste back from the sloipes to the village centre; clearly on the map but clearly not existing. This meant returning to the village in the day (eg for lunch) wasn't practical at all, especially given the remaining choice of slopes back for children(long black or difficult red path to the bottom of the village), especially with and the lack of the bus service at that time!However, on the plus side there did seem to be some well organised family type events in the village centre each day, though we didn't partcipate and of course you couldn't ski back to that point easily with children.