Altitude Day Camp, Verbier

The day camp offers three options. Campers aged 6 to 14 choose between an English morning and a mountain adventure morning. The English option welcomes all abilities, from beginner to advanced, and works on conversational use of the language through activities rather than classroom drills, in classes of three to six campers per teacher. The mountain adventure option is open to every ability level and uses the terrain around Verbier to teach fire building, survival skills, orienteering, wood work, hiking, climbing and nature studies. Campers aged 3 to 5 join the Marmots group, a shorter morning of sports, mountain adventures, arts and baking, with no more than four children per leader.

The published rate covers the morning programme, sports and afternoon activities, lunch prepared by the camp chefs, excursions and native English-speaking staff, with a staff ratio of one adult to eight campers and an office contactable around the clock. Weeks run Monday to Friday and are booked in whole weeks; the rate per week is lower for campers booking more than one week. Optional additions are listed separately and include a return transfer from Geneva airport, private swimming, golf, tennis and language lessons charged by the hour, and a tandem paragliding flight.

This is a day programme and no accommodation is provided. Campers arrive in the morning and go home at the end of the camp day, so it suits families already staying in or near Verbier. Families who want their child to stay overnight can look at the same provider’s residential camp, which includes full-board accommodation in the camp chalets. The provider also lists separate accommodation options for families visiting the resort.

Lunch is included in the day camp rate. The camp’s chefs prepare a fresh selection each day using local ingredients and cater for dietary and religious requirements when these are flagged in advance. Campers eat together at midday, between the morning programme and the afternoon activities. On the weekly excursion day a packed lunch is provided instead so that the group can eat away from base.

Mornings are given to the chosen speciality and afternoons are shared with the residential campers. A typical week mixes tennis, hiking in the mountains above the resort, swimming, climbing and outdoor games with excursions, and the Marmots group adds arts and baking to its own schedule. One day each week is set aside for a longer excursion, for example to the Labyrinthe adventure park, with a packed lunch provided. Excursions are included in the rate.

The camp operates from its base in Verbier and uses the sports and leisure facilities in and around the resort, which include swimming pools, tennis courts, ice rinks, golf courses, riding stables, volleyball courts, climbing walls and ropes courses. The mountains start close to the village, so mountain adventure sessions and hikes begin near base rather than after a long transfer. Indoor and outdoor games space is available for quieter parts of the day.

The day camp suits families who are in Verbier for part of the summer and want their child in a structured, international group without an overnight stay. Campers mix with children of other nationalities and share the afternoon programme with the residential group, so the atmosphere is the same as the full camp. Group sizes are small, the youngest children have their own team and pace, and the daily rhythm stays the same from week to week, which makes a first camp experience easier to settle into.