The Alps

The Alps work as two completely different trips: winter ski-and-après season and summer hike-and-lake season. Switzerland for the most polished version, France and Austria for slightly less expensive equivalents, Italy (the Dolomites) for the most striking scenery and the best food. Two-month dead zones in spring and fall as lifts close.

Pick a valley and stay put — base in Chamonix, Zermatt, or St Anton and the lift system does the rest. Winter days run first-lift to après; summer swaps skis for trails and cable cars, with mountain-hut lunches of rösti and radler. Trains make it easy — Geneva, Zurich, and Innsbruck all feed the resorts within a few hours. The money goes on lift passes, lessons, and on-mountain food; accommodation is the one cost you control by booking early.

It's expensive, and Switzerland is eye-wateringly so — a casual mountain lunch in Zermatt can cost what a proper dinner does elsewhere. New Year and the February school holidays mean lift queues and doubled hotel rates, while spring and autumn are dead zones with lifts shut and villages shuttered. Snow at lower resorts is no longer a sure thing, so go high in early winter. The trade-off: no other range matches this combination of terrain, lift infrastructure, and ease of access.