Le Grand Massif

Five villages of the Faucigny linked around the Grandes Platières plateau, a stone's throw from Geneva. Flaine, a flagship resort built in the 1960s by architects Marcel Breuer and Éric Boissonnas, with its raw concrete blocks and sculptures by Picasso and Dubuffet set in the mountains — you either love it or hate it, but it's unique. Below, Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz and Sixt have kept their chalets and church spires. The area offers one of the longest runs in the Alps, the Cascades: 14 km of descent from the Grandes Platières down to Sixt, with views over the Fer-à-Cheval cirque.