As with the Hiking in Switzerland section, the following reports are mainly based around day trips from Zurich.
For neighbouring countries see Snowboarding in Italy, Snowboarding in Germany and Snowboarding in Austria.
Here's a map of Switzerland (thanks, Openstreetmap) showing where all the resorts are. Click on the numbers, or use the summary below.
This small file (8kb), when opened in Google Earth, shows all these resorts in lovely 3d. So you can fly over the Alps and check out the resorts and where they are. You can even play a tour and fly from one resort to the next! Each resort has a pushpin with a little info bubble, and these contain links back to the resort guide here at Activity Workshop.
Note that the journey times given here are generally journey times from Zurich using public transport (trains and buses). Travelling by car can often save quite a bit of time, at least on the journey there. The ratings take into account the quality and variety of the slopes, efficiency of the lifts, the cost of a day trip, and the ease of public transport from Zurich. They don't take any account of hotel or restaurant quality, nightlife, village atmosphere etc, which will be additional factors when choosing a holiday destination.
Most resort guides now include a "slope orientation diagram", showing which directions most of the runs face. North-facing slopes are likely to receive less sunshine (perhaps holding their snow longer during sunny spells), east- and southeast-facing slopes get morning sunshine, west- and southwest-facing slopes get theirs later in the day. All of this is approximate, but can be a useful indication.
Day trips from Zurich |
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1
|
Fairly low, and lots of drag lifts, but a nice, open resort. |
950m to 1450m |
About 1h30 by car |
reasonable | |
2
|
Ebenalp (new) |
Very small area with a few draglifts and awkward train connections. |
820m to 1640m |
2h to lifts |
very limited |
3
|
Reasonable size, but quite a few drag lifts, and a bit fiddly to get to. |
900m to 2260m |
1h45 to lifts |
reasonable | |
4
|
Quick to get to, popular but smallish area. Watch the return bus times. |
1000m to 1840m |
1h35 to lifts |
reasonable | |
5
|
Convenient and good value for money, good for beginners. |
1090m to 1510m |
1h20 to lifts |
limited | |
6
|
Convenient to get to, large area with good variety, good views |
1220m to 2220m |
1h10 to cable car |
excellent | |
7
|
Limited network but good vertical and spectacular off-piste |
530m to 2220m |
1h30 to lifts |
good | |
8
|
Small resort, limited but beginner-friendly and lots of off-piste |
1270m to 1910m |
between 1h30 and 1h50 |
limited | |
9
|
Compact resort, ideal for beginners |
1250m to 1900m |
1h50 to lifts |
good | |
10
|
Good piste network, but queues can be long |
1000m to 2100m |
2h to lifts |
good | |
11
|
Enormous area, large vertical drop, and amusing Romansch names. Unfriendly resort though, with ticket scam and monster queues. |
1100m to 3020m |
Between 2h and 3h30 |
rip off | |
12
|
Very large area in total, over several mountains, very popular |
800m to 2840m |
2h to Klosters, |
very good | |
13
|
Spectacular scenery, wide mix of runs and good off-piste |
1250m to 2780m |
2h40 to Scuol |
good but far | |
14
|
Spectacular on the Rothorn, flatter in the main area. Lack of queues a bonus. |
1160m to 2310m |
1h50 to lifts |
good | |
15
|
Wide area, spectacular views, some flat bits |
1060m to 2250m |
2h20 to lifts |
good | |
16
|
Not too big but lots of off-piste |
1080m to 2250m |
2h20 to lifts |
reasonable | |
17
|
Very high and snow-sure, steep runs for experts, area not very linked |
1000m to 3000m |
2h30 to lifts |
reasonable | |
18
|
Two large areas, high on the Rothorn or spread out along the Stätzerhorn ridge |
1270m to 2860m |
2h to 2h20 |
good | |
19
|
Big area, lots to explore but suffers from flat bits |
1750m to 2650m |
2h30 |
good | |
20
|
Awesome motorway racing, high and snow-sure; lifts old and cable car presents bottleneck |
1450m to 2960m |
2h to village |
good | |
26
|
Small resort but nice mix of reds |
1180m to 2250m |
1h40 to station |
limited | |
Weekend trips from Zurich |
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21
|
Small resort with easy runs and dramatic scenery |
1000m to 2150m |
3h by rail |
reasonable | |
22
|
Interesting mix of blues and reds, but fairly low |
950m to 2010m |
2h30 by rail |
good | |
23
|
Varied resort with great views and big vertical difference |
1640m to 2970m |
3 hours+ by rail |
good | |
24
|
Large area with constant Eiger views, easy slopes |
940m to 2470m |
3 hours+ by rail |
good | |
25
|
Wide sunny slopes with great panoramas, but expensive |
1050m to 2500m |
3 hours+ by rail |
reasonable | |
27
|
Not one resort, but many resorts calling themselves the same name, choose carefully! Car useful |
1000m to 3840m |
4h40 to Argentière |
average to | |
28
|
Huge and high resort with stunning Matterhorn views, and connections to Italy |
1600m to 3900m (!) |
3h15 by train |
excellent | |
Some other resorts which the ActivityWorkshop hasn't been lucky enough to review yet:
Resort |
Location |
Altitude |
Time from Zurich |
Disentis-Sedrun |
In the Rhine valley east of Andermatt (website, piste maps) |
1240m to 2830m |
3h by train |
Klewenalp |
On the edge of the Vierwaldstättersee, above Beckenried (website, piste map) |
1280m to 2000m |
2h by train & bus |
Lungern Schönbüel |
South of Luzern, on the way to the Brünig pass (website, piste map) |
1600m to 2000m |
1h40 by train |
Ibergeregg |
1100m to 1600m |
1h15 by train & bus |
|
Verbier |
1500m to 3330m |
4h by train & bus |
|
Les Diablerets |
1150m to 3000m |
3h45 by train |
|
Saas Fee |
In southern Valais, south of Visp and east of Zermatt (website, piste map) |
1800m to 3500m (!) |
3h by train & bus |
Crans-Montana |
Northeast of Martigny and south of Lenk (website, piste map, piste map) |
1900m to 3000m |
4h15 by train & bus |
St Moritz |
In the Oberengadin valley in Graubünden, south of Davos (website) |
1700m to 3300m |
3h30 by train |
Throughout the season, you can check to see the current snow conditions at various resorts online.
For overviews of recent and cummulative snowfall in Switzerland, see the "Snow Information" at slf.ch, in particular their "2000m snow depth chart". Also see snow-forecast.com for in-depth forecasts and resort conditions.
There's an excellent site devoted to Swiss resorts at http://wispo.stnet.ch/, and also
the reports at skiclub.co.uk are well worth a look, too.
At j2ski.com they have a list of resorts near Zurich
- although it doesn't give much info about each one, it's an interesting start point.
The worldsnowboardguide.com site has lots of resort reviews, facts and figures. And skimap.org they have collected various piste maps (with questionable copyright status) and their own rendered maps using openstreetmap data.
Information about the special "Snow and Rail" tickets is available at sbb.ch (this link unfortunately changes often), giving the resorts offered, and prices (you used to be able to use Snow and Rail tickets even if you have a GA, I'm not sure whether this is still true or not). You'll need to check separately at sbb.ch for the train and bus times.
It might be a good idea to try and buy your Snow'n'Rail ticket in advance from the ticket machines, just make sure to enter the date you want it to be valid for. This may help avoid the last-minute panics when the ticket machines don't work and there's a monster queue at the Zürich HB ticket counters (as there pretty much always is).
