Summer in Verbier: art, wellness and nature at The Lodge

Verbier has built its reputation on winter. The name is most often associated with snow, the 4 Vallées and a scenic lunch at altitude. However, the summer has a great deal to offer in its own right. The same lifts turn above the village, carrying walkers and bikes instead of skis, the meadows are coloured with abundant flowers, and the temperature is perfect for a wide range of outdoor activities. 

Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

It is also a compelling art destination. The Verbier 3-D Foundation has spent fifteen years building a free open air sculpture park on the mountainside above the village, with new commissions added each summer by rotating artists in residence. The Verbier Festival brings the international classical circuit to a tent at the top of the village for three weeks every July. The PALP Festival stages unconventional events in villages, vineyards and mountain settings across the Valais from spring to autumn.

Forty minutes down the valley in Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda shows Goya, Chagall and Picasso alongside a sculpture garden of Rodin, Calder, Miró and Niki de Saint Phalle, and an hour or so beyond it, at Lens, another holds one of the most significant private collections of Aboriginal art outside of Australia.

For anyone drawn to the mountains for sport, wellness, and culture, there is The Lodge, the only Alpine address in Virgin Limited Edition, Sir Richard Branson's collection of nine private retreats. The location is ideal, the village and the lifts are mere minutes away, which puts the sculpture park, the festival and the trailheads within reach of a morning, and Martigny and the rest of the Valais are an easy drive down the valley. 

The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

There are nine bedrooms, a spa and a pool, and a private team who can help arrange activities from hiking and mountain biking to tennis, yoga on the mountain and a tandem paragliding flight over the valley. It is a true retreat from the distractions of urban life, a place to find inspiration and share dialogue, and it works equally well as a week of its own or as a welcome respite either side of a Swiss art fortnight, for anyone making the trip over for Zurich Art Weekend and Art Basel in the city where the fair began.

The Village

Verbier is at 1,500 metres in the Swiss Valais, on a south-facing terrace above the Val de Bagnes. Today it is known mainly as the gateway to the 4 Vallées, the largest linked ski area in Switzerland.

For most of its history it was farmland. At the turn of the twentieth century, Verbier was a scatter of farmers' huts and cattle pasture, and the story goes that its potential was spotted in 1925, when a group of mountain men walked up roughly 15km from Sembrancher for the pleasure of skiing back down again. Skiing took hold from 1927, the first lifts followed after the war, and the village was a notable resort within a generation.

View over Verbier. Image credit MTotoe, courtesy of FLO London.

That older Verbier has not disappeared. Walk the paths above and below the village in summer and you pass dry stone ruins, grass tracks that were once the only way up, small chapels, and abandoned huts. Most are reachable on an easy morning's walk.

Staying at The Lodge

The Lodge belongs to the Virgin Limited Edition collection of nine private retreats. The others include Necker Island and the Branson Beach Estate on Moskito Island in the British Virgin Islands, Kasbah Tamadot in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, Mahali Mzuri in the Maasai Mara, Ulusaba Private Game Reserve in South Africa and the Son Bunyola estate in Mallorca. The common thread is that each is a staffed private house rather than a hotel, fully catered and bookable in its entirety.

The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

The Lodge stands out, quite literally. Most chalets in Verbier have dark facades, made from reclaimed vieux bois or stained timber. The Lodge is built from Finnish pine, which is a pale wood, several shades lighter than anything around it. 

The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

The nine bedroom chalet sleeps up to 18 adults across seven bedrooms and two master suites, all of them looking down the valley, with a further six children in the bunk room . Each room has its own style, though all keep a traditional chalet feel with contemporary furnishings and bathrooms. The house is suitably spacious for guests to enjoy some welcome privacy.

The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

Over the summer period, booking can happen in two ways. Taken exclusively, rates start from CHF 10,500 per night. During Hotel Weeks, individual rooms are released from CHF 1,000 per room per night based on The Lodge Bedroom, so a couple can stay without taking the whole house. All rates are fully inclusive of meals and drinks, premium champagne and spirits included, all service, and a driver on call around Verbier 24 hours a day. Hotel Weeks are the sociable option, with the chance to meet and dine with other hotel guests.

The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

The real luxury is the staff. A private team handles the cooking, the drinks, the housekeeping and the activity bookings, which leaves guests with simple yet important decisions, such as whether to walk before lunch or after it. Breakfast appears. A picnic is ready for the walk. Meal planning is done daily with the team, who share the proposed three course menu ahead of time and account for all dietary requirements. Anyone who has tried to organise nine people, two restaurants and a cable car timetable will know exactly what that is worth.

Dinner at The Lodge. Image credit MTotoe. Courtesy of FLO London,

Inside, the house is arranged around spacious living areas and a long dining table, with a games and party area holding pool tables, karaoke, consoles, a bar and a disco ball overhead, a place to gather in the evenings, and for anyone who would rather not sing, a film can go on instead. Outside there is a terrace and lawn for al fresco lunches and drinks at the end of a walk, and an outdoor hot tub with a view down the valley.

The Outdoors

Verbier in summer is a paradise for cyclists, hikers and anyone who would rather be outside. Hundreds of kilometres of marked paths lead out from the village, from flat bisse walks along the old irrigation channels to full days under the Grand Combin. Easier routes drop to local vineyards and through the hamlets of the Val de Bagnes. The sculpture park walk between Les Ruinettes and La Chaux is 3km and suits almost everybody. Verbier's first chapel opened in 1686, and ruined chapels and old church sites lie along the routes, so the heritage of the valley can be built into a morning's hike.

Biking in Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

The Valais is the largest wine region in Switzerland, planted with Fendant, Petite Arvine, Cornalin and Humagne Rouge among others, most of which never leave the country and are best enjoyed in the local restaurants. Cellar visits in the valley below are less than an hour away. The Lodge keeps a cellar of Swiss and international wines and offers tastings on site, as well as cocktail-making sessions at the bar.

Wine tasting at The Lodge. Image credit, courtesy of FLO London.

The lifts carry bikes from early June to late October. The bike park has nine downhill trails over 19 kilometres, graded green to black, and the wider 4 Vallées area adds 23 enduro trails and around 500 kilometres of cross country routes. The climb to the village was a Tour de France summit finish in 2009, won by Alberto Contador. The Verbier Bike Festival takes place in mid August, with the Rando Gourmande among its rides. E-bike rides can also be arranged through The Lodge, along with bikes, kit and guides, via ferrata and guided climbing.

Paragliding in Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

Verbier is also one of the best paragliding sites in the world thanks to its microclimate, and in summer there are five take-off sites in the region, with the pilot choosing one depending on the conditions that day. Tandem flights with a certified local pilot last around 20 minutes and need no previous experience, with all the gear provided.

Wellness 

Wellness is a top priority at The Lodge. The on-site spa offers treatments designed for people who have spent the day walking or riding, from deep tissue massage to deep cleansing and boosting facials, along with combination treatments that pair a facial with a massage. These fall outside the all-inclusive rate and are booked and paid for separately.

Wellness at The Lodge, Verbier. Image courtesy of Virgin Limited Edition.

There is a 9m heated indoor pool, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, a steam room and a gym with a treadmill, bike, cross trainer, free weights and stretching mats. The excellent yoga classes are worth planning your day around and for racket sport fans, Verbier has eleven tennis courts, ten of them outdoors on synthetic clay, along with two padel courts.

The Art 

The south of France and the Vaud shore of Lake Geneva have long been a source of inspiration for artists, among them Matisse, Picasso, Courbet and Hodler. Verbier tells a different story, built not on earlier masters who passed through but on living artists responding to the Alpine ecosystem now.

Sous Vos Pieds, Melody Sky, 2025. Digital image printed on weather-proof canvas. Verbier 3-D Foundation. © Neo Wu. Image courtesy of the artist and Verbier 3-D Foundation.

The Verbier 3-D Foundation is a fitting reason to visit. Founded in 2010 by the New York-based artist Madeleine Paternot and the Verbier based artist Kiki Thompson, it is a non profit promoting contemporary art, environmentalism and education, and has supported more than thirty Swiss and international artists.

The sculpture park is a free 3km path between the La Chaux and Les Ruinettes lift stations, open year round, with sixteen works to stop and enjoy along the way. The works are made on site rather than shipped in, which is the point. Artists arrive for a research-led residency and spend the summer in dialogue with scientists, farmers and the Val de Bagnes community, and the foundation describes the result as a museum without walls. There is usually an exhibition alongside the residency, showing the research behind the artist's work, and from July to October it is staged between Croix de Cœur and Les Ruinettes.

No.1387 Fence, 2024. Rana Begum. Verbier 3-D Foundation. Image courtesy of the artist.

The artists represented include Rana Begum, Olaf Breuning, James Capper, Fragmentin, Gregory Coates, Haroon Mirza, Chloe Dewe Mathews, Tarik Hayward, Zak Ové, Karsten Födinger, Onyedika Chuke, Cannupa Hanska Luger and Josette Taramarcaz. Each piece stays in the park for at least two years.

The festivals

Verbier's cultural reputation beyond the slopes rests largely on the Verbier Festival, founded in 1994 by Martin T:son Engstroem and now one of the most significant classical events in Europe. It takes place every summer, bringing the international circuit and a serious teaching programme to the village for eighteen days. Past editions have drawn some of the biggest names in classical music, among them Martha Argerich, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Evgeny Kissin and Maria João Pires at the piano, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mstislav Rostropovich and Hilary Hahn on strings, and Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel and Barbara Hendricks among the singers. Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen have all conducted in the village.

Verbier Festival, LaChaux. ©LucienGrandjean. Image courtesy of Verbier Festival.

The 2027 edition, the 34th, will take place from 15 July to 1 August, with more than 60 concerts and around 100 masterclasses, held mainly at the Salle des Combins and in the village church. The academy opens its masterclasses and workshops to the public free of charge, taught by figures including András Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Pinchas Zukerman and Alfred Brendel, and most orchestra rehearsals are free and open as well.

The other cultural festival to note is the PALP Festival, which spreads around twenty unusual events across the Valais between April and September, among them concerts in a carnotzet and cultural detours through villages most visitors never reach.

Art in Valais 

The wider Valais has excellent cultural venues to visit, and all of the following are within easy reach of Verbier for a day out.

About forty minutes down the valley, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, is one of the most serious private art institutions in Switzerland. Founded in 1978 by Léonard Gianadda in memory of his brother Pierre, and built on the foundations of the oldest Gallo-Roman temple in the country, it has shown Goya, Modigliani, Chagall, Schiele and Picasso in full-scale exhibitions and has drawn more than ten million visitors. The ensemble takes in an art museum, an archaeology museum, a vintage car collection and a sculpture park of around forty works by Brancusi, Arp, Rodin, Calder, Miró, Dubuffet, César, Bernar Venet and Niki de Saint Phalle. The exhibitions change several times a year. Details on current temporary exhibitions can be found at gianadda.ch.

It is difficult to spend a day in Martigny without walking into Roman remains. The town was Forum Claudii Vallensium, and the amphitheatre, the Gallo Roman temple beneath the Gianadda and the collection of excavated bronzes and objects are all part of the same short walk. It makes a natural pairing with the foundation, and a good contrast with the contemporary work on the mountain.

Fondation Opale. Image courtesy of Fondation Opale

Fondation Opale, at Lens above Crans Montana, is the only art centre in Europe dedicated to contemporary Aboriginal Australian art. It opened in 2018 around the collection of Bérengère Primat, which now holds more than 1,900 works by around 440 artists. Rather than a permanent hang, the foundation runs a rotating programme of temporary exhibitions. The current one is a monographic show of the Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, curated in collaboration with Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Australia to mark thirty years since her death. It brings together more than 80 works and is on show at the foundation until 8 November 2026.

When to visit?

The case for Verbier in summer is partly the obvious one. It is cooler, quieter and considerably cheaper than the same village in February, the walking is excellent, and the art is permanently installed on a mountainside.

The better case is about timing. The Swiss art calendar concentrates almost everything into ten days in June. Zurich Art Weekend takes place from 11 to 13 June 2027, and Art Basel follows from 17 to 20 June 2027, with VIP days before it.

Sunset from The Lodge. Image credit MTotoe, courtesy of FLO London.

Verbier works at either end of that week. Arriving a few days early means landing in Switzerland without the noise, acclimatising, walking the sculpture park and reaching Basel in roughly three and a half hours by train on a proper night's sleep. Going afterwards enables you to fully decompress.

The Lodge suits either version, and a private hire for 18 people means a preferred art world group can gather without a fair imposing the schedule. It is a retreat from the distractions of urban life, a place to find inspiration and share dialogue, twenty minutes below a sculpture park made by artists working on exactly the questions the fairs often ponder.

For a longer trip, mid July to late August brings the Verbier Festival, the sculpture park's parallel exhibition of residency research from July to October, PALP events across the Valais, and reliable walking weather.

Getting there 

Getting there is straightforward. Geneva is the nearest major airport, roughly two hours by road. By train, SBB takes you from Geneva Airport to Martigny on the direct IR90 in about an hour and three quarters, where you change to the regional Saint-Bernard Express for the 25 minute climb into the Val de Bagnes to Le Châble. The cable car from the station reaches the village in eight to ten minutes and departs every 10 to 15 minutes, or a postbus covers the same stretch in about 20. The whole journey takes two and a half to three hours, and tickets for the full route, cable car included, can be booked in one go before you fly through Switzerland Travel Centre, the official tour operator for Switzerland. Zurich and Basel are both around four and a half hours by train, which is what makes the fair week pairing work.

To make enquiries for the Lodge visit Virgin Limited Edition.

By Maawura Totoe