An Ascension Weekend in the Mountains

The Ascension weekend falls at a special moment: the valley is leaving winter behind, the slopes are shedding their snow, and the air already has that softness of mountain spring. Four days are enough, in Arolla, to truly switch off — long enough to slow down, short enough to leave light. Here is how we like to spend them.

Day 1: Arrive and breathe

You come up by road or postal bus, drop your bags in a room facing the summits, and take the time to get to know the village. A walk to the first pastures, a tea in the lounge, and already the rhythm changes. In the evening, the table of L’Honorine opens the half-board on the produce of the valley.

Day 2: The Blue Lake

This is the signature walk of Arolla. The Blue Lake (2,090 m) is reached in two to three hours from the village, through the forest and then the alpage. In spring the water keeps a striking transparency. You picnic there, you linger, before coming back down the same path, in no hurry.

Day 3: Along the bisses, between the hamlets

The third day is gentler: a trail follows the bisses, those centuries-old irrigation channels that run along the hillside, linking the hamlets of Arolla and the valley. An almost level walk, full of water and shade, ideal for legs still heavy from the day before.

Day 4: The forest, then leaving

For the last morning, a loop through the larch and arolla forest, those century-old pines that give the place its name. You come back for lunch on the terrace, facing Mont-Collon, before taking the road again — with a clearer head than on arrival.

An Ascension weekend in Arolla is the art of the long weekend well spent: no rush, no crowded programme, just enough mountain to leave rested.