Booking Haus Opal
www.belvilla.co.uk

Alpine Guiding, mountaineering & walking holidays in the Alps
www.mountainvision.co.uk

Guiding & walking/scrambling holidays in Scotland & especially Skye!
www.skyeguide.co.uk

The Swiss Tourist Office, general information & events
 

Swiss railways, book tickets & check prices & time

News & Information about Switzerland
www.swissinfo.org   very good site, in English
www.comparis.ch   buying a property in Switzerland, or a car, insurance, phone contract etc.

Webcams    
www.topin.ch    Has cameras showing views all over Switzerland; look at the 'Gornergrat' for the Matterhorn
www.zermatt.ch  Views of the town & onto the Matterhorn
Saas Grund & Saas Fee livecams

The Railways - book your train ticket & 'Swiss Card' online.
www.sbb.ch
www.swisstravelcentre.co.uk

A 'Swiss Card' allows you a return train ticket from a border crossing - Geneva Airport for example - to your resort. As well as this it gives you half price on all railways, buses, and mountain railways & lifts in Switzerland. The Pass lasts for a month, and can booked online valid for 6 months. The cost is £76 per person. So for example this pays for a return rail ticket from Geneva Airport to Visp, the nearest railway station to Saas Grund, then half price on all the mountain lifts for the rest of your holiday. This just about makes it cheaper for a 5 day stay, but definitely worth it for any longer.

A 'Half Fare' card does what it says on the tin - provides half fare on all trains, buses, boats & mountain lifts for one month, at a cost of £44. More details on both these offers can be found on the website below.

Swiss Card & Half Fare
www.swisstravelsystem.co.uk
www.swisstravelcentre.co.uk

Tourism Offices
www.matterhornstate.ch 
www.switzerlandtourism.ch
www.saastal.ch 
www.zermatt.ch
www.chamonix.com
www.sees-fee.ch  the local tourist office to Saas Grund

Hotels
www.ferienhaus-schoenblick.ch the Hotel I use for my Alpine climbing clients in Saas Grund.
www.roby.ch  
www.gaillands.com the Hotel I use for Alpine climbing clients in Chamonix.

Healthcare & the EHIC
Switzerland: As a result of an agreement with the EU, which came into force on 1 June 2002, the E111 (old) or the EHIC arrangements (from 1st January 2006) also cover Switzerland.
Healthcare arrangements for UK visitors in Switzerland & EHIC countries. A EUROPEAN HEALTH INSURANCE CARD (EHIC) must be produced whenever any treatment or service is requested. You will normally have to pay the full costs and claim a refund afterwards. You will have to pay a fixed charge for each 30-day period of treatment. This is known as the ‘excess charge’ or ‘franchise’ and is not refunded. You can normally claim back 90% of the treatment costs exceeding the excess charge. It is recommended that all visitors take out adequate private travel insurance AS WELL. More details can be found at (below), then navigate through 'Policy and Advice' & 'Getting Treatment inside the EAA' to the page covering Switzerland
www.dh.gov.uk
 

Alpine Mountaineering Insurance
www.thebmc.co.uk
www.snowcard.co.uk

Alpine Weather
www.chamonix.com  then click on 'weather'!
www.meteoswiss.ch  official Swiss weather site.
www.wetter.ch  for Zermatt & other resorts in Switzerland, in German but with good graphics.
www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Zermatt  gives good forecast for Zermatt valley.
www.rro.ch  for Oberwallis (the Valais Alps) in german again but with good graphics.  
Saas Grund weather good three day forecast for Saas Grund & the valley.
www.sfdrs.ch  local TV company, but one of the best weather forecasts. Bit like the BBC service.

Maps of Switzerland
www.swisstopo.ch  The Federal Office of Topography, an interesting site.
www.cordee.co.uk  Full range of Swiss maps.

Alpine clubs, associations & huts
www.sac-cas.ch  the Swiss Alpine Club, details on huts etc.
www.clubalpin.com  the French Alpine Club.
www.uiaa.ch  very comprehensive & informative site, with lots of information & links to other climbing & Alpine sites all over the world. In English, so very useful!