By late August the Crans-Montana plateau settles into its finest register. The valley heat softens at 1,500 metres, the larches hold their green a little longer, and the Rhône Valley opens beneath the terraces in a long, clear line toward the Weisshorn. This is the quiet season that regulars keep to themselves.
It is also the busiest stretch of the calendar. Between mid-August and the close of the green season, the resort moves from chamber music on the Fondation Opale lawns to one of the oldest tournaments in European golf, then to 8,000 trail runners crossing the Wildstrubel massif. There is a reason to come now, and a specific week for almost every kind of traveller.
Late Summer · Why Now
The Plateau at Its Clearest
Crans-Montana sits on a south-facing shelf above Sierre, which is what gives it more sunshine hours than almost any resort in the Alps and the long, dry light that defines September here. The season stays open well into autumn: the Crans-sur-Sierre courses run their programme to late October, and the high country above Cry d’Er and Plaine Morte holds its walking conditions until the first snows.
What follows is a working calendar of the strongest fixtures from mid-August to the end of the green season, arranged in the order you would actually plan a stay around them.
The Season Ahead · What to Book
A Calendar Worth Travelling For
16 August 2026
Michael Guttman Tango Quintet
Part of the Crans-Montana Classics season, violinist Michael Guttman and his ensemble reshape iconic classical pieces into tango arrangements. An intimate, adult evening rather than a festival crowd.
21 August 2026
Colombire 30th Anniversary Concert
Violinist Barthélémy Deslarzes, two musicians and a DJ mark thirty years of the Colombire mountain hamlet with a concert that runs from acoustic strings into an electronic set.
22 August 2026
Water Ski Festival · 27th Edition
The Beach Club and the Crans-Montana Water Ski Club stage their annual festival on Lake Moubra, one of the last high-summer gatherings on the water before the season turns.
3–6 September 2026
Omega European Masters
The centrepiece of the year. First played here in 1939, it is the oldest European tournament held on the same course annually, and it draws some 50,000 spectators to the Severiano Ballesteros course each edition.
- Opens with the Pro-Am, amateurs and professionals sharing the same fairway.
- VIP hospitality with course views, gourmet catering and open bar.
- The "Mont-Blanc" village anchors the social side of the week.
10–13 September 2026
Wildstrubel by UTMB®
In only four editions the Wildstrubel has become a fixture on the international trail-running calendar, bringing roughly 8,000 runners across the massif over a range of race formats.
19 September 2026
Le Temps du Cornalin
The Valais celebrates its oldest and most prestigious red, the Cornalin, in a tasting-led afternoon that pairs the region’s flagship grape with its late-summer table.
20 September 2026
Déli’Cima
A culinary gathering that brings six of the destination’s most recognised chefs together for a single day — the most concentrated tasting the plateau offers all season.
26–27 September 2026
Jeep-Heep-Heep
A gathering of American Jeeps of every make and model, with entertainment on site — an easy, family-friendly note to close the green-season calendar.
Gastronomy · Valais on the Table
Eating Through the Season
Autumn is the honest season for Valais cooking. Cornalin and Cornalin-adjacent reds come into focus around Le Temps du Cornalin, while Déli’Cima puts six of the plateau’s leading kitchens side by side in a single sitting.
Between the set events, the resort’s tables keep their own rhythm: alpine cheese tastings, tea time at the starred houses, and long terrace lunches while the weather holds. It is a good window to book a starred dinner without the winter wait.
Outdoors · Golf, Trails, Water
The Green Season in Full
Golf defines the plateau: the Severiano Ballesteros 18-hole and Jack Nicklaus 9-hole courses run their programme to late October, and the week around the Omega European Masters is the one to plan a playing trip around.
Beyond the fairways, the high walking above Cry d’Er and toward the Plaine Morte glacier stays open through the early autumn, and the Wildstrubel by UTMB® turns the same terrain into a racecourse in mid-September.
Practical · Planning the Stay
Before You Come
- The green season runs to late October; the golf courses close for the season around that point before the winter change-over.
- The Omega European Masters week (3–6 September) is the highest-demand period — hotels and chalets should be secured well ahead.
- Sierre-to-Crans transfers and the funicular make arrival straightforward from the Rhône Valley rail line.
From the tango quintet in August to the Jeep gathering that closes September, Crans-Montana gives the late-summer traveller a rare thing: a plateau that is busy with real events yet never crowded, and a clear run of blue days before the mountains turn.
Enjoy Ski · Crans-Montana
Plan Your Late-Summer Stay
We match the season’s strongest weeks — the Omega European Masters, the Wildstrubel by UTMB®, the Valais table — with the right hotel or private chalet on the plateau, and handle every transfer and reservation around it.
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