Ski and Snowboard Switzerland from Basel

Basel is a great city if you enjoy winter sports, and I hope this site helps you. I have lived in Basel for many years and got to visit all of the resorts listed here, frequently on day outings, from Basel.

I developed this web site because I found that most ski websites assume you are a package holidaymaker and they don't provide any guidance on how to actually get to the resorts, or how to weigh up transport options.

The nearest resort to Basel is actually in the Black Forest, in Germany, at Feldberg, a short train or car ride away. Basel also lies in the mountain range known as the Jura, after which the Jurassic age is named, and for some of the season there are various winter sports you can indulge in here, with the closest resort to Basel in Switzerland at Langenbruck, in Baselland. I have to tell you it is rather underwhelming.

The Alpine resorts all lie at least an hour or more from Basel, but getting to the resorts is easy with an efficient road network and public transport system. I sometimes take the car, but usually I have relied upon public transport. Despite the sometimes multiple connections, I have only ever missed one connection in almost 20 years. Furthermore the getting there, and back, has been for me a large part of the enjoyment of a day out in the mountains using public transport. There is no stress, indeed the trip out there is therapeutic and the journey back is a great opportunity to enjoy some apres ski beers as a most amazing backdrop passes by. For one, two and six day outings, Swiss Rail runs the outstanding Snow'n'Rail scheme with significant discounts on both public transport and lift passes.

Incidentally, whether you use public transport or not, A Swisspass can be used as a ski pass at most resorts. You go online to the resort website, enter the Swisspass card number and then you can get straight onto the lifts. If you don't have a SwissPass, you can get one for free from the SBB station if you take along a passport photo. There are photo booths in the station.

If you are flying into Basel, the airport is 23 minutes by bus from the Basel SBB railway station (with a tram connection under construction), and there are several timetabled buses an hour. Car hire is available from the airport from all the usual suspects. The motorway network effectively begins with the Basel ring road, 5 minutes drive from the airport and Basel is as well situated as Geneva or Zurich for getting to many Swiss ski resorts.

I am not going too much into the ins and outs of travelling within Switzerland - individual resort pages provide more detail for each resort - but below you will find a summary of information on significant resorts, sortable by column. Just click on a column heading to sort or reverse the listings, e.g. by least travel time.

For families who want to make the most of other winter activities closer to Basel than the Alps, please check out the Tips for Families in the Basel Area.

As an alternative to public transport or private car, there is the option of using one of the many tour operators who run bus trips to and from selected resorts. Usually these operators advertise in the local papers, and they offer great value - Erich Saner runs day trips at weekends from various stops in the Basel area to places like Sorenberg, Gstaad Mountain Rides and Meiringen-Hasliberg for around SFr 65 inclusive of lift pass. For parties, there are also operators who can provide minbus or coach transport with or without drivers from Basel or the airport, e.g. Busmiete.ch.