Saas Fee is a small Swiss ski resort but has some great skiing available. The resort is around 1800 metres above sea level and it is possible to ski as high as 3600 metres. Saas Fee has an unusal transport system, normal road vehicles are not allowed in the town and there is a large car park situated outside of the town. They form of transport is the 'Electro', which are like small milk floats. If you have a ski pass the electro buses are free, this also includes the electro train which as the name suggests is an electro with carriages and resembles a toy train.
Skiing is usually an expensive holiday and visiting Switzerland adds extra expense. Here are some examples of the prices we paid when we visited Saas Fee.
- Cheese burger and chips (very good) £18
- Bowls of chips near the ski slopes £9
- 50cl glass of beer £4.50
- 50cl bottle of Swiss wine £14
- Chocolate bar from supermarket +£1.
Food generally is very expensive, even from the super market. We would recommend that if you stay at a hotel it is best to go half board. The hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Glacier, this is a great hotel with a good restaurant serving 4 course evening meals. You are also given 2 restaurant vouchers which entitles you to visit there more traditional Swiss restaurant under the hotel and one of their three restaurants at their 5 star hotel. We visited the Mandarin restaurant and the food would have cost over £100 but it was all inclusive apart from the drinks, where the wine is expensive.
One tip I would give is regarding the ski pass, we where advised by the tour operator (Inghams) that if you already ski it is best to purchase a all area ski pass not just the local Saas Fee one. We only needed the local one because the ski school does not go outside the Saas Fee area and there was enough skiing for us. So I would recommend that if you intend to have 5 days ski school a local area pass is all you need which for 2 people will save you over £40.
When it comes to tipping, it is not estential to tip, waiters and staff in Switzerland are well paid and the minimum wage is about 2000 a month. It is good to tip around 10% if you feel you have had good service.
