Cool people vacation in Verbier

The snow dorados lure the wealthy and famous to the Swiss mountains. Instead of
champagne climate in St. Moritz or Caviar pistes in Gstaad, the young stars rather prefer to
own their own ski lift in Verbier.

Especially young, cool stars are attracted to the Valais village of barely 2,000 inhabitants. For
example, the English singer James Blunt has already relocated to the community and wants
to have a chalet built. As a welcome present, the famed British pop star could baptize a chair
lift in his name. Not long ago, Pierre Casiraghi (21), son of princess Caroline of Monaco spent
a few hot days in the snow-covered mountain world of Verbier.

Three years ago Victoria Beckham (34) celebrated with the whole family her 30th birthday in
the Valais resort. Quite often seen on the pistes of Verbier is actor Hughes Grant (48). Last
year, the hot-swarmed Briton really enjoyed the good snow conditions in the Valais
mountains. A huge fan of this fine resort and of Switzerland in general is actrice Juliette
Binoche (44). The elegant French woman likes the largest ski resort in Europe because it is
close to the Swiss Riviera and of course France, her native country. To the regular guests
belong Sarah Ferguson (48), Duchess of York, alias Fergie, with her daughters Beatrice (19)
and Eugenie (17).

So why is Verbier so attractive? One reason is that the community is very discreet. The
guests come to spend their vacation in privacy and the locals of the village respect that. They
want tranquility and restraint in one of the most beautiful ski resort of Switzerland.
And what is the wealthy doing during the day when also Heli-skiing has become boring? He is
training Polo. I don't think that a more expensive sport was discovered yet. However, the
tournaments played there are not as exclusive as is the case in St. Moritz. Anybody can
participate if you can ride a horse, says Yves Luginbühl.

Later, usually after midnight the people visit the luxury clubs. In the "Farm Club", a beer costs
about 20 Swiss francs (US$ 16). A little more freely is the Coco-Club where you see at times
multibillionaire Richard Branson. He usually orders a specially prepared cocktail served in a
unusually made ice culture in the form of a Swiss chalet. The price is only 10,000 Swiss
francs. A bit cheaper is a bottle of champagne of the brand "Dom Perignon" (from 1995) for
about 2,000 Swiss francs.

It is somewhat incredible to see all the action in a small village with over a 100 bars and
restaurants. It may not be like downtown London, but is most certainly boring either. Simply
said: Verbier is hip and cool! While the super wealthy are walking on the frozen lake of St.
Moritz, (GR) and the old stars are skiing slowly and prudently over the pistes of Gstaad (BE)
the guests in Verbier are taking everything a bit more relaxing.


Ted Grischuna is a freelance writer and journalist. To find out more about where the wealthy and famous vacation and where they live in Switzerland visit http://www.high-end-travel-switzerland.com