Alpine roses in flower below the peaks in summer
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Summer in the Alps

The other half of the Alpine year: high peaks, the great lakes, and the music festivals.

Last checked October 2026.

Alpine roses in flower below the peaks in summerPhotograph: Pexels

June

  • Haute Route with the Compagnie des Guides de ChamonixChamonix to Zermatt

    The classic glacier crossing from Chamonix to Zermatt, led as a seven-day guided trek by the Chamonix guides' company, staying in mountain huts and ending below the Matterhorn; offered in early summer, from mid-June to mid-July, for adults only. Visit website ↗

  • SchubertiadeSchwarzenberg, Austria

    Among the most important Schubert festivals in the world, it holds its June series in Schwarzenberg in the Bregenzerwald, with further series in Hohenems and a late-summer series back in Schwarzenberg. Visit website ↗

July

  • Amundi Evian ChampionshipÉvian-les-Bains, Lake Geneva, France

    One of the five majors of women's golf since 2013 and the only major played in continental Europe, held each July at the Evian Resort Golf Club above Lake Geneva.

  • Montreux Jazz FestivalMontreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

    Founded by Claude Nobs in 1967 and held each July on the shore of Lake Geneva, with concerts in the Stravinski Auditorium and the Montreux Jazz Lab. Visit website ↗

  • Verbier FestivalVerbier, Switzerland

    A classical music festival held each summer since 1994, from mid-July into early August, with more than 60 concerts and 100 masterclasses centred on the Salle des Combins. Visit website ↗

  • Gstaad Menuhin FestivalGstaad, Switzerland

    Founded in 1957 by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and running from mid-July to early September, with more than 60 concerts in the Festival Tent and the village churches of Saanen, Rougemont and Lauenen; Daniel Hope is artistic director. Visit website ↗

  • Bregenz FestivalBregenz, Lake Constance, Austria

    Opera and orchestral concerts from late July to late August on the world's largest floating stage on Lake Constance; founded in 1946. Visit website ↗

  • Salzburg FestivalSalzburg, Austria

    For six weeks from late July through August, Salzburg hosts one of the world's leading festivals of opera, theatre and classical music. Visit website ↗

  • Generali OpenKitzbühel, Austria

    An ATP 250 clay-court tournament held each July in Kitzbühel. Visit website ↗

August

  • Hublot Polo Gold Cup GstaadSaanen, Switzerland

    Held each August on the Saanen airfield near Gstaad, it is one of Switzerland's most traditional polo tournaments, with international teams.

  • St. Moritz Gourmet FestivalSt. Moritz, Switzerland

    Founded in 1994 and held for three decades in late January, it is now held in late August, bringing guest chefs to the first-class hotels of the Upper Engadine.

  • Lucerne Festival in SummerLucerne, Switzerland

    Since 1938 the summer festival has brought leading orchestras, conductors and soloists to Lucerne, now at the KKL Luzern on the lake, from mid-August to mid-September. Visit website ↗

  • Locarno Film FestivalLocarno, Lake Maggiore, Switzerland

    One of Europe's leading international film festivals, held each August on the shore of Lake Maggiore. Visit website ↗

September

  • Omega European MastersCrans-Montana, Switzerland

    A DP World Tour event first played in 1923 as the Swiss Open and held since 1939 at Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre, where it is played each September on the Severiano Ballesteros course. Visit website ↗

  • Wine harvest in LavauxLake Geneva, Switzerland

    September and early autumn bring the harvest to the Lavaux terraces, about 30 km of stone-walled vineyards above Lake Geneva, first laid out by Benedictine and Cistercian monks in the 11th century and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007; Lavaux Vinorama in Rivaz presents more than 250 of the region's wines.

All summer long

France

  • Aiguille du MidiChamonix-Mont-Blanc, France

    A 20-minute cable car ride from Chamonix to 3,842 metres in the Mont Blanc massif, with a summit terrace looking over the French, Swiss and Italian Alps, the world's highest museum of mountaineering, and Step into the Void, a glass box above a drop of more than 1,000 metres.

Switzerland

  • Jungfraujoch – Top of EuropeBernese Oberland, Switzerland

    Europe's highest railway station, at 3,454 metres, reached by the Jungfrau Railway, with snow and ice every day of the year, the Ice Palace, and the Sphinx terrace above the Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the Alps at about 20 km, in a UNESCO World Heritage area. Visit website ↗

  • Gornergrat BahnZermatt, Switzerland

    Opened in 1898 as Switzerland's first electric cog railway, it climbs 9.3 km from Zermatt to 3,089 metres, among 29 peaks above 4,000 metres, with one of the finest views of the Matterhorn. Visit website ↗

  • Summer skiing on the Matterhorn Glacier ParadiseZermatt, Switzerland

    The glacier ski area above Zermatt is now the only one in the Alps that sets out to open for lift-served skiing every day of the year, with lifts reaching 3,899 metres, the highest in Europe; snow is best early in the morning before the glacier softens. Visit website ↗

  • Belle Époque paddle steamersLake Geneva, Switzerland

    CGN keeps a celebrated Belle Époque fleet in service on Lake Geneva, eight historic paddle steamers including La Suisse, Savoie and the Rhône of 1927, the last paddle steamer built entirely in Switzerland. Visit website ↗

  • Clinique La PrairieMontreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

    A longevity clinic on the shore of Lake Geneva offering personalised diagnostics, nutrition, movement and treatment programmes. Visit website ↗

  • Chenot Palace WeggisWeggis, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

    The Chenot group's five-star, adults-only medical wellness hotel on Lake Lucerne, with 97 rooms and suites, a 5,000-square-metre medical spa and lake access; rated 98 points in Falstaff's Spa Guide. Visit website ↗

  • Golf Club Crans-sur-SierreCrans-Montana, Switzerland

    Golf has been played on this plateau at 1,500 metres since 1906; the Severiano Ballesteros course hosts the Omega European Masters and the Jack Nicklaus nine-hole course is a second option; open from May to the end of October. Visit website ↗

  • Engadine Golf ClubSamedan and Zuoz, Switzerland

    Switzerland's oldest golf club, founded in 1893 near St. Moritz, with the Samedan course on the valley floor among larch trees and the Zuoz-Madulain course, opened in 2003, among the highest courses in the country. Visit website ↗

Italy

  • Villa del BalbianelloTremezzina, Lake Como, Italy

    An 18th-century villa on a wooded point of Lake Como, best reached by boat, with gardens kept by the FAI, Italy's national heritage trust, as its last owner, the explorer Guido Monzino, left them; the FAI also leads guided walks from the villa in September. Visit website ↗

Germany (Bavaria) and Austria

  • ZugspitzeGarmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (Bavaria)

    Germany's highest mountain, at 2,962 metres, reached by the cable car from the Eibsee or by the cogwheel railway from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in service since 1930, which climbs to the Zugspitzplatt glacier; the Gletscherbahn links the glacier with the summit.

  • LanserhofTegernsee (Germany, Bavaria) and Lans (Austria)

    A medical health group that for decades has combined modern medicine with naturopathy, nutrition, psychology and movement, with resorts at Lake Tegernsee in the Bavarian Alps and at Lans above Innsbruck. Visit website ↗

That makes 27 entries in all.

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