Zermatt

Zermatt is car-free and sits at 1,600 metres, with lift-served terrain reaching above 3,800. That altitude is the practical point: it holds snow when everywhere else has lost it, and summer skiing on the Theodul glacier is genuinely reliable rather than a marketing claim.

The Matterhorn dominates everything, including the hiking. Trails here are high, exposed and serious, and conditions change fast — which is exactly the situation where a guide stops being a luxury. Book winter well ahead; the village fills months in advance.