European families will be able to enjoy, from July to September 2009, a wonderful holiday in the Swiss Alps thanks to a new revolutionary product, The Free Access Card or The Freedom Pass, with which users only pay for meals and accommodation.
The Alps are a great alternative for the holidays, far from the overcrowded European beaches. Visitors will find themselves in a dramatic and healthy natural setting in which to inhale pure fresh air, away from the city traffic, pollution and noise. Villars-Gryon and Les Diablerets are in the western part of Switzerland, just 120 kilometres from the Geneva airport.
From day one
Villars-Gryon is a tourist complex that blends tradition with modernity in its infrastructure. It is built on a natural balcony facing the Alps, exhibiting a spectacular horizon, from Lake Geneva to the Mont-Blanc, bathed by the shining southern light. In the heart of the Vaudoise Alps is a typical little mountain village impassive to time: Les Diablerets. An impressive glacier covers this mountain range, which reaches up to 3000 metres. These two wonderful lodgings are open to the whole family with the Free Access Card, with it you can travel from one to the other and take advantage of all the numerous permanent activities during your stay. From the first to the last day of your holidays.
How to get it?
It is a treasure for tourists and we have the map for finding it. In order to obtain The Free Access Card all you have to do is choose on the web your accommodation from the three beautiful Alpine villas www.villars-gryon.ch y www.diablerets.ch. Reserve the option you prefer (hotel, apartment, apart-hotel) and you will automatically have a free access card for all the members of your family. This card will allow you to use up to 20 local mountain transports (3 gondolas, 2 Alpine trains and 7 mountain trains) without limits. The car stays in the garage during your holidays, and so you help preserve the natural beauty of the Alps.
Likewise, all of the leisure and sports installations: swimming pools, tennis courts, archery, ice-skating, guided excursions and the amazing golf course with views to the Mont-Blanc. An adventure trek and a miniature train for the kids are a fun way to acquaint yourself with the surroundings.
Plan your perfect day
The Free Access Card allows you to change your plans and programme next day’s family schedule taking into account the weather as well as everyone’s energy and wishes. For example, the day could begin with an excursion to the top of one of the mountain ranges, taking the gondola up to about 2000 metres above sea level, from the villa. You can return strolling through a pathway winding between cows, flowers and mountain lakes. It takes no longer than an hour and is recommended for the whole family. To get everyone’s strength back we recommend you have lunch when you return, at home or on a terrace at one of the restaurants. While you enjoy the typical Swiss cuisine (don’t miss their cheeses and their chocolates) this is the ideal time to plan the afternoon with the family. A dip in the swimming pool, where the kids will have a blast on the slide, a game of tennis or mini-golf, or a ride on the miniature train, after which the moon announces the end of the day, and all you have paid for was the food. This and the sunshine over the Alps is all that remains the next day, because then you can enjoy it in a totally different way. Something for everyone’s taste.
For nature enthusiasts
The area offers 300 kilometres of well-conditioned trails that will allow you to discover all the beauty of the Alps, far from the noise and pollution of the big cities. Mountain bike enthusiasts have 100 kilometres of perfectly signposted paths that are free from danger. One way or the other, you will explore Alpine meadows that trace an intensely green landscape, lush forests and wild summits. The mountain train and the gondola cable cars complete the combination for reaching the summit with the whole family.
The Free Access Card is your key to a world where Nature shows both a kind and wild face. Open the door and enter the Alps with your whole family, you will not regret it.
Money matters
When you plan your holiday in the Alps, just think of the accommodation, food and drinks, and the three Euros that the Free Access Card costs. All of the activities and transports are totally free. The price of a hotel for a week for two adults and two children is around 170 Euros per person and day, including breakfast and taxes. An apartment for the same number of people, for a week, costs around 600 Euros. Check the web for special offers.
Both in Villars-Gryon and Les Diablerets the Tourism Offices offer help in finding the accommodation best suited to your needs. They will also inform you on all of the events and activities available in the region.
Specialists in family tourism
The Swiss Tourism Board named Villars-Gryon and Les Diablerets places where the whole family is always welcome. This means a full commitment to reasonable prices, special services and programmes to satisfy families’ requirements. For example, the Tourism Office offers a series of low-cost family programmes, restaurants with children’s menus, establishments where waiting is not a problem and play areas for the little ones. All this every week.
