Up, and then down

Snow and mountains

Chosen by our editors: destinations where the mountains are the point — a lift or a rack railway out of town, and a season that delivers snow rather than merely cold.

12 destinations

The Matterhorn mirrored in a still alpine lake surrounded by golden autumn larches

SwitzerlandCar-free, under the Matterhorn

The gilded copper canopy of Innsbruck's Goldenes Dachl glowing above its frescoed oriel balcony on the pale Neuhof facade, with the snow-covered crags of the Nordkette rising directly behind the roofline under a blue sky.

AustriaA city with a cable car to the ridge

A stack of pancakes at a Queenstown cafe under a spoonful of plum compote and crushed nuts, with coconut yoghurt, a slice of orange, a small jug of syrup and an iced coffee on the scrubbed wooden table.

New ZealandSouthern-hemisphere season, June to September

A bowl of Sapporo miso ramen with chashu pork, soft egg, nori and greens

JapanSome of the most reliable snow in Asia

Close-up of broken chunks and shards of dark chocolate piled on a white surface

SwitzerlandRack railways up Pilatus and Rigi

Hohensalzburg Fortress above Salzburg's old town at sunset, with the Alps on the horizon

AustriaThe Alps begin at the end of the street

Bled Island with the Church of the Assumption and its bell tower, Bled Castle on the cliff behind and the snow-capped Karavanke range reflected in Lake Bled, Slovenia

SloveniaThe Julian Alps around a single lake

Strings of colourful prayer flags fluttering before the snow-capped fishtail summit of Machhapuchhre in the Annapurna range

NepalThe Annapurnas from a lakeside town

The white dome and painted Buddha eyes of Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu, strung with colourful prayer flags at dusk

NepalThe way in to the Himalaya

The colourful pointed wooden facades of Bryggen wharf in Bergen glowing at dusk, reflected in the harbour beneath mist-covered mountains.

NorwayFjords, and a funicular from the fish market

A timber chalet perched among firs on a deep-snow slope at Shymbulak above Almaty, with the jagged, snow-loaded peaks of the Trans-Ili Alatau rising behind it under a hard blue winter sky.

KazakhstanA ski resort forty minutes above the city

The stone terraces and ruins of Machu Picchu with Huayna Picchu peak rising behind, wisps of cloud drifting across the surrounding Andes

PeruThe Andes at three and a half thousand metres

Every destination here qualifies on the basis stated above, and each one is somewhere we have published guides for. Back to the full atlas.