Our favourite cars for traversing the Alps this winter

The Alps, with their glassy lakes, hairpin passes and spectacular vistas, form the ultimate playground for the perfect automobile. Whether it's an all family Christmas in Gstaad, or New Year's debauchery in Verbier, these are the best cars to get you up the mountains and to fit in with the crowd, this winter.

Best for Verbier — Porsche Cayenne GTS (the hill climber)

Verbier has always attracted a similar but different scene to Saint Moritz — less fur coats, more cashmere and down gilets. It’s the domain of serious skiers and seasoned freeriders, those who care more about fresh powder than wine lists. For them, the GTS is the ideal accoutrement: discreet, capable, and devastatingly quick when the road opens up. With 500 PS from its biturbo V8, adaptive suspension, and rear axle steering, it attacks the winding climb from Le Châble to Place Centrale with the aggression of a rally car. And when the tarmac gives way to ice and snow, its all-wheel drive digs in with the same confidence as a Swiss local dropping into an off-piste chute down the back of Tortin. It’s power dressed in restraint, built for those who’d rather let their line, not their label, do the talking.

Top speed: 171 mph | 0–62 mph: 4.4 sec | Power: 500 PS | Starting price: £107,600

Best for Klosters — Ineos Grenadier (the off-roader)

Klosters, with its Royal association, has long blended rugged discretion with aristocratic understatement. King Charles first stayed at the Walserhof Hotel in the 70s, favouring its Alpine charm over the flashiness of places like Courchevel. While the Royal carriage of choice might still be a Land Rover, we think it's ein volltreffer for the noble Grenadier. Born from hard-nosed British engineering and tested on Austria’s Schöckl mountain, it’s a machine built for purpose, not posing. Its BMW straight-six, triple locking diffs and hose-out floors make it unstoppable on the snowy trails up to the Wolfgang Pass or over to Davos. Honest, mechanical and endlessly capable, it’s the car for those who prefer adventure to attention.

Top speed: 99 mph | 0–60 mph: 8.6 sec | Power: 282 hp | Starting price: £64,500

Best for Kitzbühel — Aston Martin DBX707 (the snow performer)

Amongst the refined chaos of Kitzbühel's eccentric old-money Euro crowd, prestigious racing heritage and après-ski hedonism, the Aston Martin DBX is perfectly at home. It’s a 697 bhp piste-basher in Savile Row tailoring. The climb up to the Kitzbüheler Horn rewards its split personality — composed GT one moment, feral super-SUV the next. Carbon-ceramic brakes diminish any brake fade, its quad exhaust echoes across the mountains, and you arrive at the Hahnenkamm with a smile as wide as the Streif itself. A car for those who like their Kümmel shaken, not stirred.

Top speed: 193 mph | 0–60 mph: 3.1 sec | Power: 697 hp | Starting price: £196,000

Best for Gstaad — Mercedes-AMG G 580 (the transporter)

Opulent, immovable, and unmistakable, the G-Wagen, with its retro military styling and off-roading capability, is often the car of choice when an un-announced swift get-away could be on the cards. Responsible for ushering dignitaries, business moguls and VIPs across the continent, it earns its reputation as slightly mysterious yet somewhat attention seeking. With 587 electric horses under the bonnet, its 4matic all-wheel drive system, and e-motor torque vectoring, you'd be hard pushed to find a machine that could keep up on rock, snow and ice. Inside, it’s all quilted leather, heated everything and Burmester bliss. Take it up the winding road to Lauenen, where pine forests close in and the valley hushes — the perfect backdrop for a car that’s as much about silent presence as off-road performance.

Top speed: 112 mph | 0–62 mph: 4.7 sec | Power: 587 hp | Starting price: £154,870

Best for Saint Moritz — Bentley Bentayga (the showpiece)

Nowhere suits the Bentayga quite like Saint Moritz — a town where two species coexist in perfect absurdity. On one side, you have the aristocratic, Cresta Run die-hards in battered Loden coats and clapped out Range Rovers, relatively unchanged since the 1950s. On the other, the new-money circus of Moncler jackets and bootie-wearing Pomeranians, who have thier own net worths. This is where the Euro-elite come to parade their prosperity at 1,800 metres, gliding between Badrutt’s Palace and Dracula, as if on an eternal catwalk. And the Bentayga fits right in. With its shimmering chrome, vast grille and imperious stance, perfect for those who consider the Via Serlas their natural habitat. On heated tarmac it’s sublime, gliding with the silkiness of a Loro Piana pashmina, the 4.0-litre V8 humming with effortless disdain for anything as vulgar as effort. Yes, it'll handle light snow, but really it’s here to be admired rather than tested. A status symbol with a ski rack, ready to transport its passengers from champagne at Suvretta to caviar on the Kulm Terrace. Marvellous!

Top speed: 180 mph | 0–62 mph: 4.5 sec | Power: 542 hp | Starting price: £172,600