Saas-Fee

Saas-Fee sits at about eighteen hundred metres in a cirque closed by thirteen peaks over four thousand metres, with the Feegletscher coming down almost to the village - a position that earned it the name Pearl of the Alps and makes the setting more enclosed than Zermatt's. It is car-free, with vehicles left at the entrance. The Metro Alpin, an underground funicular, climbs inside the mountain to Mittelallalin at 3,500 metres, where a revolving restaurant turns at the highest altitude of any in the world and an ice pavilion is cut into the glacier. Because the glacier holds snow all year, summer race training happens here. Old timber granaries on stone mushroom staddles stand in the village core.

What you actually see

• Thirteen four-thousanders in a ring - the cirque closing around the village.
• The Metro Alpin - a funicular inside the mountain to 3,500 metres.
• The highest revolving restaurant - turning at Mittelallalin on the glacier.
• Mushroom-staddle granaries - the old timber stores in the village core.

When to go

All year; the glacier carries summer skiing. Three days.

Honest expectations

Expensive, and the lift system in particular. The village is car-free but the car parks are large and charged. Weather in the cirque changes fast. Altitude at Mittelallalin affects some visitors.

Nearby

Saas-Grund and Saas-Almagell are down the valley; Zermatt is over the ridge.