To understand how Crans-Montana became the highly-prized tourist destination it is today, we have to go back to 1893. When the first Hôtel du Parc opened its doors, the plateau was simply pastureland. Its magnificent location and generous sunshine led Dr Théodore Stephani to send patients suffering from tuberculosis there to breathe fresh mountain air. Those taking cures included personalities of the time such as author Katherine Mansfield of New Zealand, the first to describe the resort as the "Pearl of the Alps".  

Encouraged by this doctor in Geneva, a founding member of the "Société de Développement de Montana" from 1905, more celebrities turned up and the first infrastructures rose from the ground: the first Sanatorium in 1904, the legendary golf-course in 1906, the iconic funicular railway in 1911, and the first ski-lift in 1928. The resort then saw a real boom thanks to the organisation of the first ski and golf competitions, including the famous European Masters in 1939.

Crans-Montana today

• 400 cultural and sporting events each year 
• 280 kilometres of signposted hiking trails 
• 140 kilometres of Alpine ski slopes 
• 120 boutiques
•  90 restaurants