Where to Go in Switzerland for Winter Sports

A huge range of activities and resorts to choose from

There are more easily accessible winter sports destinations in Switzerland than anywhere else in the world. Skiing and snowboarding are the most popular activities, but there are many others you can enjoy during the winter season. Here I hope to give you an overview of the best resorts, with links to pages which have more detailed information.

Stunning Views across the Pennine Alps

Bernese Oberland

The Bernese Oberland is the most convenient destination for Basel or Bern. It includes some of the most beautiful resorts in the world. Under the peaks of the Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and Schilthorn, the stunning Jungfrau resorts include Wengen, Mürren and Grindelwald. Gstaad, together with the surrounding villages in beautiful Saanenland, and Adelboden-Lenk are also important Winter Sports resorts. On the whole the pistes of the Bernese Oberland do not get too crowded in peak season or at weekends and (apart from Mürren) make a good choice for intermediates. The snow record for most Bernese resorts is good, but Gstaad suffers if Spring comes early.

Valais

Dotted above the Rhône valley, the Valais features some of the most iconic and snow-sure resorts in the world, notably Verbier, Zermatt and Saas-Fee. Zermatt shares slopes with Cervinia in Italy whilst Verbier provides access to some of the toughest lift-served off-piste in the world. Saas-Fee and the huge Swiss/French cross-border Portes du Soleil are excellent for intermediate skiers and snowboarders. However Valais features a host of delightful gems that are little known outside Switzerland and offer queue-free lifts at almost any time in the season. Personal favourites are the Aletsch Arena and the villages of Val D'Anniviers (Saint Luc, Chandolin, Zinal and Grimentz). Small, but perfectly formed is enchanting Lauchernalp in the remote Lötschental valley and Belalp near the Aletsch Glacier. On the whole, you will get the most out of Valais if you are at least intermediate standard.

Graubünden/Grisons

The canton of Graubünden has both the Rhine and the En (or Inn) rivers flow through it. It is best known as the birthplace of Alpine winter holidays and home to some of the longest established and most distinguished resorts. Famous destinations include the significant, bustling towns of St Moritz and Davos, but there are many little known villages that deserve more international recognition and a host of small, beautiful valleys with a good range of family-oriented facilities. Flims and Laax in particular are outstanding, especially for snowboarders. The linked resorts of Arosa and Lenzerheide are virtually unknown to the package tour industry, but have extensive slopes and facilities. Celerina and Silvaplana/Surlej are excellent (and cheaper) alternatives to St Moritz to enjoy the Upper Engadine, whilst Scuol is a small but outstanding medium-sized resort in the Lower Engadine.

Vaud

The Alps in French-speaking Vaud are convenient for day trips from around Lake Geneva. I particularly like Les Diablerets, which shares one set of pistes with Villars, and also provides easy access to Glacier3000. Leysin is popular with boarders. There are also some small resorts in the Jura in Canton Vaud and in the neighbouring Fribourg Region which are the closest places to Lausanne and Geneva to ski or snowboard.

Central & Eastern Switzerland

From Toggenburg in the North, to Italian-speaking Airolo in the South, Central and Eastern Switzerland includes a number of excellent small and medium-sized resorts together with the huge Andermatt ski area. Some of the resorts convenient for Zürich, include Hoch Ybrig, Braunwald and Flumserberg. Although this part of Switzerland lacks the famous names of Valais, Graubünden and the Bernese Oberland, there are some good destinations for families and beginners, and plenty to keep experienced riders happy.

Lift Pass Discounts

Swiss Rail run the Snow'n'Rail scheme scheme which provides substantial discounts on lift passes together with an associated ticket for rail and bus transport. The main multi-resort area season passes offer tremendous value for money and allow you to visit multiple resorts, summer and winter. They include: Magic Pass (which covers 40 resorts in the West of Switzerland), Central Switzerland Snow Pass and Swiss Knife Snow Pass (which covers some small resorts in or around canton Schwyz). Many resorts will also allow children to use the lifts for free, provide discounts for residents, seniors and younger people, and may even include lift passes as part of the price of your accomodation. Season tickets clearly provide the best value, and one of the best is the Topcard, which covers Davos Klosters, Flims Laax Falera and Lenzerheide for a season.

Ecological Footprint

The Ski Club of Great Britain has assessed a number of resorts for their green rating. Saas-Fee comes top, but on the whole Swiss resorts do well with their ecological policies1.

Snow-sure Resorts

All year round there is somewhere to ski or snowboard in Switzerland. It has the highest resorts in the Alps and some mountains that get good big dumps right through the winter. Zermatt and Saas-Fee have the longest seasons, but many of the resorts with glaciers are open from December, or earlier, through late April. However in January and February some of these resorts can be quite bleak, and the lower South-facing resorts like Crans-Montana and Leukerbad come into their own. Some resorts such as Braunwald and Andermatt are renowned for the high annual snowfall. As a general rule though, resorts with top stations above 2500m will have good snow from Christmas until late March, and if the resort is at 1000m or higher the chances are at least one resort run will be kept open throughout this period. Without regular snowfall, South-facing resorts at the same altitude will tend to have shorter seasons than ones with North-facing slopes. Most of the significant resorts in Graubünden, the Bernese Oberland, Uri and those South of the Rhone valley in Valais have largely North-facing slopes.

Off-piste

Switzerland is one of the best places in the world to find lift-served off-piste with most resorts having relatively safe off-piste areas, sometimes as designated freeride areas, sometimes marked as unprepared trails (yellow routes on piste maps) and often between and alongside pistes. Be aware that these areas are not usually patrolled and can be prone to avalanches if they are roped off, steep or bounded by areas with severe gradients uphill of where you are riding.

Belalp and Zinal are two of my favourite resorts for sheltered freeride areas. Of course, if there is not fresh snow many of these off-piste slopes get tracked out quickly, and it is tempting to be more adventurous. Resorts like Verbier, Davos, Engelberg and Andermatt have some excellent off-piste that is relatively accessible, where you can lay fresh tracks even when there is no new snow - although these slopes should only be attempted with someone who knows the area and with appropriate safety gear. In my experience most Swiss resorts have some fabulous off-piste of varying difficulty if you invest in using a guide to help you find them - often the ski schools will do ski guiding, but you usually have plenty of choice of professional guides throughout Switzerland. One of the reasons for this is the popularity of back-country skiing in Switzerland.

Back-Country

Back-country skiing takes you away from the pistes across some of the most beautiful Alpine scenery. People usually try and begin a day back-country by using resort lifts then walking away from the resorts to find unprepared snow outside the boundaries of the ski resort. A lot of the best of back-country skiing and snowboarding happens in the late season, and is generally high, so Valais and Graubünden are particularly popular. The level of difficulty varies, although as a minimum you should feel confident off-piste. There is some excellent back-country ski and snowboarding you can do without skins or snowshoes (e.g. the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix), but the best of it usually requires you to walk some distance uphill and some requires ski mountaineering skills. It is possible to stay high for several days, for example following one or other variation of the "Haute Route" between Chamonix (or Verbier) and Zermatt, staying overnight in the 153 all-year ski huts dotted around the Swiss Alps. Incidentally the ski huts are not always staffed even if they are open. Those on the Haute Route are fully staffed from around the third week of March until the mid-May, the high season for this route, obviating the need to take food and wine with you.

Snowboarding

I usually ski, but I do snowboard and often ski with friends who snowboard, and the main differences I guess in terrain are that surface lifts and flat spots, where you need to unclip and walk, seem to be the biggest turn-offs. The presence of good parks and lift-served off-piste are probably the biggest turn-ons. The resorts I mentioned above regarding off-piste are all good for boarders, and to that list I would add Flims Laax Falera, Saas-Fee, Samnaun/Ishgl, Zermatt and Adelboden. For day trips out of Basel I reckon the slopes around Gstaad are very under-rated, with almost no surface lifts and no flat spots - particularly the runs accessible out of Zweisimmen. From Zurich Braunwald is a small but convenient destination for boarders and not usually as busy as some of the better known destinations. In fact, all round, Switzerland probably caters for boarders better than anywhere else in the world, and woke up to the snowboard revolution whilst other countries sniffed at the thought of sharing their mountains with the newcomers.

Snowparks

Of the parks that also include half-pipes, Flims Laax Falera is the resort of choice for Swiss boarders and freestylers, but Saas-Fee has the highest half-pipes in Europe, open long after most have turned to mush. The First area at Grindelwald has a useful park and a good half-pipe if conditions allow. The park at Adelboden is highly regarded even if the apres ski is more muted. Amongst the clutch of mountains around Davos the Jakobshorn is the mountain where the main park and half-pipes are to be found. Leysin also has a park and a half-pipe, and has established a reputation as the best place for boarders and freestyle in Romandie. Even smaller resorts in Switzerland usually have a park, although many of these tend to be served by surface lifts. The park with the most enormous series of jumps I know of is Hoch-Ybrig, the park with the most rails would probably be Melchsee-Frutt - both of these parks are served by chair-lifts.

Après Ski

Although Switzerland has a host more winter sports activities and more rustic Alpine charm than anywhere else, the nightlife rarely matches that of the best Austrian resorts and a big session out can easily slim your wallet very quickly. However, if you want to party hard Verbier and Zermatt, the latter rated as having the best après ski in the world at the 2012 World Snow Awards, should press all the right buttons. Flims/Laax, Davos, Saas-Fee, Villars, Grindelwald, and Engelberg can also get very lively. Depending on your taste, you can usually find, in most resorts, a scenic terrace for a reflective glass of Fendant or Dole on your last run down, or a busy bar with beer, schnapps and loud music. A lot of the après later on is based in hotels, with non-residents welcome.

Families

Swizerland caters well for families, beginners and people who don't want to do downhill sports. The winter tourist industry was established in Switzerland long before other countries and is more varied than just downhill sports with extensive cross-country facilities, toboggan runs, winter walks and ice-skating facilities, as well as numerous other diversions such as sightseeing, shopping and fine dining. The fact that most resorts are traditional mountain communities means there is always a host of things to do and see. The geology, flora and fauna and history of many of the mountain valleys is fascinating.

Beginners

For beginners, virtually every resort has adequate facilities, but my overall recommendation would be to avoid Zermatt, Engelberg, Verbier (although Nendaz in the Four Valleys is family-friendly and has a good nursery area), Murren and Andermatt. That is not to say you cannot learn at these resorts, but the expense does not justify the relatively limited facilities for beginners compared to other resorts. Even in small resorts ski instructors generally speak English, or you will be assigned one who does. If your resort is not on the package tour circuit you may find yourself in a class with other people who do not speak English though. I recall my kids in a ski class where the instructor was speaking Swiss German, High German, French, Italian and English to cater for all the people in the group!

Further Afield...

Switzerland is a small country, so it is also possible to access ski areas in neighbouring countries. From Geneva Airport, Chamonix(Mont Blanc) and many other French ski areas are relatively easy to get to. From Zürich it is feasible to access the Austrian resorts of St Anton and Ischgl by car (the latter of which shares the Silvretta Arena with Samnaun in Switzerland). From Basel and Zürich it is also possible to ski or snowboard tiny Liechenstein from Malbun. Basel also makes a good base for the Black Forest resort of Feldberg, the largest German winter sports destination outside the Alps.

Cross-Country, Winter Walking, Snowshoe Walking and Tobogganing

I've tried them, but admit that downhill is my preference. However, travelling around on trains and buses and meeting people in resorts, I've learnt a lot about where to go to pursue other winter sports. I have listed on my resort finder a rating of resorts for other winter sports, based largely on extent and reputation, and on each resort page there is a summary of the length of the trails available based on information from the resorts themselves, and any tips I have gleaned. I am always keen to hear recommendations on good family-friendly winter walks too.

Short Breaks

Switzerland is a perfect getaway for short breaks. There are many snowsure resorts and the efficient transport systems ensure the door-to-door journey is hassle free, at least once you arrive in Switzerland! There are airports in Berne and Sion, plus private airports near Gstaad and St Moritz, but the chances are you that if you fly, you will fly into Basel, Zurich or Geneva. Follow the links to see transfer times - the Geneva page also covers Lausanne.

Summer Snow

Saas-Fee has summer skiing, although the slopes do close for a few weeks. Zermatt, however, is open all season long and for the summer season (from May until October) there is approximately 20km piste, a snowpark and 7 lifts. Ski and snowboard lessons are also available. Unfortunately the lift passes for summer skiing are almost the same price as the winter passes, but the lifts do start earlier, as early as 7am - which is good, as even at 3000m the snow gets heavy in the afternoon and is at its best early. Several resorts do open their winter season as early as late October, but the runs tend to very limited until December.