Autumn in La Tzoumaz: soft light, wisps of cloud caught on the mountainside, larches turning gold and copper
Between last summer cyclists and the season's first snowfall, La Tzoumaz moves through a season its regulars quietly treasure: the woods blaze with colour, chestnuts fall, mushrooms push up, and hunters return with game..
Undergrowth and Foraging
Mushroom season brings the village to life from mid-September: the woods around La Tzoumaz are among the most sought-after foraging grounds in central Valais. The local tourist office runs guided outings to help visitors learn to identify the right species, on 12 and 26 September, then 7 and 14 October — a fitting way to reconnect with the forest before it turns white.
La Brisolée, just down the road
No Valais autumn is complete without a brisolée: roasted chestnuts, alpine cheese, dried meats and seasonal fruit, shared unhurriedly among good company — a tradition as alive today as it was a century ago. Fully, home to one of Switzerland's finest chestnut groves, is only minutes from La Tzoumaz, and its Fête de la Chataigne - Chestnut Festival, held on 17 and 18 October, brings together a lively market, street music, folk groups and more contemporary acts around the brisolée tables.
Village gatherings
Autumn's calendar in La Tzoumaz keeps its deliberately local charm: an exhibition of Elise Rabaet's watercolours, an acrylic painting workshop for children at the Maison de la Forêt, a beginner's course in dowsing, a Sunday brunch built around local produce, and a cyanotype workshop introducing this early photographic technique that needs no darkroom. Nothing spectacular — just everything needed to spend time with the people who matter and reconnect with nature.
Vineyards and one last round of golf
Autumn is also the best time for a wine tasting in the Valais vineyards, right at harvest time — Valentine Schuwey-Luyet, a local oenologist, offers private tastings that pair particularly well with a stay at the chalet. Golfers make the most of the last fine days on the courses at Verbier (two 18-hole courses at 1,600m) or Sion, set right among the vines.
A day out in Sion or Martigny
Half an hour from La Tzoumaz, Sion is well worth a full day of wandering. A guided tour of the historic centre (from CHF 150 for one guide, up to an hour; CHF 180 for two hours and three monuments) takes in the Witches' Tower, St Théodule's church with its Roman baths, the Town Hall and Notre-Dame Cathedral. Also not to be missed: the hill of Valère, with its 12th-century fortified basilica — one of the highest in Europe still reachable on foot — whose thirty-five-year restoration was recently completed.
In Martigny, the Fondation Pierre Gianadda keeps its exhibitions running through November: Rodin selon Rilke and Léonard Gianadda, photoreporter are open daily from 10am to 6pm — an easy outing to pair with a visit to the fantastic chocolate maker, Rafin, Rue de la gare 20, before heading back to the chalet.
Back at the chalet
After a day outdoors, the chalet's sauna and living room — with its Pleyel grand piano for those who like to end the evening with music — offer exactly the contrast this in-between season calls for: fresh air by day, a cocoon by night. And why not close the evening with a film, projected large across one of the living room walls — intimate or spectacular, depending on the mood
