Villars-sur-Ollon Has Been Quietly Educating Europe's Old Money for Over a Century

Villars-sur-Ollon sits on a sunny plateau above the Rhône valley in the canton of Vaud, a ski resort that has never chased the nightlife reputation of Verbier or the royal cachet of Gstaad, and has instead built a quieter kind of prestige around education. The town is home to two of the most established international boarding schools in Switzerland, and it's largely through them, rather than through hotels or celebrity sightings, that Villars has become known among a certain kind of well-travelled European family.

Two schools, eighty years apart

Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil, founded in 1910, was among the first of Switzerland's international boarding schools and predates its better-known neighbour by nearly four decades. Aiglon College, founded in 1949 by former Gordonstoun teacher John Corlette in the nearby hamlet of Chesières, built its reputation on the outdoor-education philosophy of Kurt Hahn, opening with just six pupils before growing into one of the most recognised names in international schooling.

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A resort shaped by term time, not just ski season

Because two boarding schools draw families to visit throughout the academic year, Villars has a rhythm most ski resorts don't: quieter midweek periods built around term dates, and a small but steady flow of international parents who return each year for sports days, half-terms and speech days rather than purely for snow. That steady, low-key traffic has kept the resort's development more restrained than some of its Alpine neighbours, with fewer large hotel chains and more long-standing family chalets.

Skiing without the see-and-be-seen crowd

Villars sits within the Villars-Gryon-Les Diablerets-Glacier 3000 ski area, offering a broad range of terrain without the dense apres-ski scene of Verbier or St Moritz, which suits a clientele generally more interested in discretion than visibility. The Bretaye plateau above the town serves as the main lift base, with the Glacier 3000 cable car reaching some of the highest skiable terrain in the region.

A genuine four-season resort

Unlike many Alpine towns that empty out once the snow melts, Villars keeps a summer season going through its 18-hole golf course, extensive hiking trails and the schools' own summer camp programmes, which bring a fresh wave of international families even outside term time. That year-round infrastructure, built originally to serve resident school families, is part of what makes the town function differently from a typical seasonal ski destination.

Traveller tips

• Villars is roughly an hour and a half from Geneva by train, changing at Aigle onto the narrow-gauge line up to the resort.
• The Glacier 3000 cable car from nearby Col du Pillon reaches over 3,000 metres and is open to day visitors, not just skiers with area passes.
• Summer is a genuine second season here, with golf, hiking and mountain-bike trails largely uncrowded compared with better-known Alpine resorts.
• Villars' bars and restaurants lean toward quiet and family-oriented rather than nightlife-driven, in keeping with the town's character.