Your Autumn in Arolla

Autumn in the Valais has something of an Indian summer about it, without having to cross the Atlantic for it. When the first flakes dust the summits and the sky clears at 2,000 metres, Arolla enters its gentlest season. Here is what an autumn day looks like, seen from the hotel.

Morning: the forest catches fire

You set off early, when the light grazes the slopes. Little by little, the forest of stone pines and larches transforms: the larch, the only conifer to shed its needles, turns orange-gold against snow-dusted peaks and glaciers. The bilberry shrubs redden before your eyes. It is a display of colour you do not forget — and the thin crowds of the off-season make it more intimate still.

Midday: the flavours of the land

Autumn is the season of taste. The Hérens cows come down from the high pastures, and the summer’s cheeses reach their maturity. At the table, brisolée — roasted chestnuts, cheese, cured meats and new wine — sits alongside raclette by the wood fire and the first game dishes. At the L’Honorine restaurant, the kitchen follows the valley’s rhythm: this is the Valais terroir at its most honest.

Afternoon: the rut and the silence

Down in the valley, the stag’s bellow echoes: it is the rutting season. A shorter walk, a bench in the sun, a marmot’s whistle before hibernation. Autumn in Arolla invites you to slow down — to look rather than to rush.

Evening: back to the hotel

You return at dusk, cheeks cool, for tea in the lounge or dinner by the fire. It is perhaps the finest way to understand Arolla: a season when you come as much for the light as for the silence, right up to mid-November.

Colours and flavours: reason enough for a getaway to Arolla. Autumn here is short — all the more reason not to miss it.