Villars-sur-Ollon

Villars Railway Station

Villars Snow-Park

Telecabine Roc d'Orsay

Villars sur Ollon, commonly referred to as Villars, is a village in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, part of the municipality of Ollon. It is a ski resort and tourism is prominent. Accommodation consists largely of chalets. Its international inhabitants are some of the wealthiest of the planet.

Villars is served by the Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye railway, featuring a Abt rack system leading from the town center to a ski piste network.

The Village of Villars overlooks the Rhône Valley and views of Mont Blanc are clearly visible from parts of the village and the local ski area of Bretaye. Bretaye is linked to Villars by the BVB railway, there is also a gondola lift connecting the village to Roc d'Orsay, 200 metres above Bretaye.

There are around 100 km of pistes for all skiing and snowboarding abilities that link over to the slopes of Gryon and to the next resort of Les Diablerets, Isenau and Glacier 3000. There is also a snow park called '1984' that allows freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

Villars is also home to the English boarding school Aiglon College and the private international school Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil; respectively ranked as Europe's 3rd and 2nd most expensive boarding school. Also, there is an international primary school (from 4 to 14 years of age), La Garenne School near Aiglon College.

The village has previously hosted the Snowbombing electronic dance music and snowboarding spring festival.

Villars-sur-Ollon is also the home of the once well known Ollon-Villars hillclimb. Racing drivers from all over the world would come to participate in this internationally renowned event. Starting in the small town of Ollon, at the base of the mountain, and covering 8 km of mountain road, arriving at the top of the mountain, in Villars. The event was popular in the fifties and early sixties, before laws were passed banning motor racing in Switzerland. In recent years a revival of the hillclimb has begun to gain a certain notoriety as collectors and enthusiasts have the chance to enjoy the rare occasion of the closed mountain road.

Notable people

• Béatrix Beck
• David Coulthard
• Timothy Leary
• Vladimir Putin
• Georg Solti
• Jacques Villeneuve
• Lorenzo Bandini
• Jim Clark
• George Bastl

External links

Mountains_panorama from Villars

• Official tourist office
• Wikitravel article
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