# Ski instructors in Leysin

> Sunny terrace above Aigle with gentle pistes, a strong snowboard tradition, a revolving restaurant on the Berneuse and a rack railway up from the valley.

- Region: Vaud Alps
- Country: [Switzerland](https://alpinepal.com/en/ski-instructors/switzerland)
- Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Currency: EUR
- Coordinates: 46.33333, 7
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q69610

Page: https://alpinepal.com/en/resorts/leysin
Last reviewed: 13 September 2026

## About Leysin

Leysin sits on a broad terrace at 1,260 m facing south over the Rhône valley, and it was the sun that made it: a century ago this was one of the great sanatorium towns of Europe, its clinics built to catch the light, and when tuberculosis retreated the buildings became international schools and hotels. The result is a village with an unusually young, cosmopolitan population for the Vaud Alps, and an easy-going feel that has more to do with students than with chalets.

The skiing rises from the village to the Berneuse at 2,048 m, where the Kuklos revolving restaurant turns slowly through a view that takes in Mont Blanc, the Dents du Midi and Lake Geneva, and on to the Chaux de Mont a little higher. The 60 km of pistes are mostly gentle and sunny, with a snowpark that reflects Leysin's history as one of the early snowboarding centres in the Alps — it hosted World Cup events in the sport's first decades and still teaches it as naturally as skiing. The pass also covers the nearby Les Mosses plateau for cross-country and easy skiing.

It is a small, friendly, inexpensive place by Swiss standards, and it knows it is not Verbier.

## Where lessons start

There are nursery slopes on the terrace at village level, sunny and sheltered, and the blues above them are wide and unhurried — as gentle a place to learn as the Vaud Alps offer. Leysin is a natural choice for beginners, families and anyone learning to snowboard, with instructors who have been teaching boarding since before most resorts allowed it. Its limits are honest ones: the area is small and the top is only just over 2,000 m, so a strong skier will have seen it in a day and a poor winter shows on the lower slopes.

## Getting there

From Aigle, on the main railway line along the Rhône, a rack railway climbs to Leysin in about half an hour, with stops in the village itself. Aigle is around an hour from Geneva and forty minutes from Lausanne, so Geneva airport to Leysin is about two hours by train and an hour and a half by car. The village is spread along the hillside and the ski lifts leave from the upper part, so check where your accommodation is in relation to them.

## Instructors at Leysin

_No instructors have joined here yet._

## Qualifications required in Switzerland

Teaching for payment in Switzerland requires the Snowsports instructor diploma, issued by Swiss Snowsports.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is Leysin known for snowboarding?

Because it took the sport seriously early. In the late 1980s and 1990s, when several Alpine resorts still kept boarders off their lifts, Leysin welcomed them, built a park and hosted World Cup and international snowboard competitions. The park is still there, the schools still teach both, and the village's young international population keeps the culture alive — if you want to learn to ride rather than to ski, this is one of the more comfortable places in Switzerland to do it.