Mountains calling – we present our favourite places in the Swiss mountains

The Swiss moun­tains are home to more than 300 ski resorts. What a priv­i­lege we have to be able to choose from so many dif­fer­ent snow sports resorts. Are you one of those peo­ple who always tears up the trails in famil­iar ter­rain or are you more adven­tur­ous and pre­fer to try some­thing new? No mat­ter – you shouldn’t miss out on our tips either way!

Hip, diverse, young: Ski resort Flims Laax

There’s some­thing spe­cial about Laax! And that’s not just thanks to our fan­tas­tic wellnessHostel3000, where you can relax in the sauna after an action-packed day. Although, of course, that’s pret­ty cool. 😉 The 224 kilo­me­tres of slopes offer glac­i­er runs with fab­u­lous views as well as more leisure­ly tours. 70% of the slopes are over 2,000 metres above sea lev­el, mak­ing the resort one of the most snow-sure through­out Switzer­land.

For après-ski, stop by the Galaaxy, where you can dance to tech­no music before head­ing back down to the val­ley at the gold­en sun­set – get ready to be wowed! And if you still haven’t danced enough, you can turn night into day at the Rid­ers Club and meet cool peo­ple.

Par­tic­u­lar­ly prac­ti­cal: If you don’t have your own ski gear like me, you can hire it for a fair price direct­ly from Mei­ni Sport & Mode at the val­ley sta­tion and return it after your descent. If you book online in advance, it takes less than 5 min­utes to col­lect.

And one more tip: Make sure to book your moun­tain rail­way tick­et online in advance to save some mon­ey.

Nina, PR Spe­cial­ist

High-altitude thrill and alpine fun in the Saas-Fee ski resort

Any­one who knows me knows that Valais has been «carved into my heart» for a long time. From an ear­ly age, I trav­eled to Saas-Fee every year with my par­ents and spent my win­ter hol­i­days there. Back then, I wasn’t inter­est­ed in ski­ing or snow­board­ing. It wasn’t until about six years ago: Then I caught «slope fever». Back then, I learned to ski again in the Saas Val­ley and ever since, I can’t imag­ine my life with­out my new hob­by. In the cold­er months of the year, the win­ter sports Mec­ca with its high-alpine ski­ing resort scores points thanks to its bril­liant snow con­di­tions. So why not hit the slopes: 150 kilo­me­tres of pistes await you at an alti­tude of 1,800–3,600 metres above sea lev­el. And what’s more, it’s sur­round­ed by 18 four-thou­sand-metre peaks. It real­ly has the wow fac­tor!

After hav­ing your fun in the snow, you can store your skis in one of the many ski cel­lars close to the cable­ways and ven­ture into the «Après-Ski Mile». It’s so cool strolling from one pub to the next, i.e. from the High Life Après-Ski Club to the Old Cin­e­ma Pub. Depend­ing how long you can last. 😉 You’ll find the coolest après-ski huts in the vil­lage here.

Prac­ti­cal: wellnessHostel4000 in Saas-Fee is almost right in the mid­dle of it, with the cable­ways and numer­ous restau­rants and bars with­in walk­ing dis­tance.

Eve­lyn, Mar­ket­ing Spe­cial­ist

360 km of skiing fun in the highest ski resort in the Alps

Even if the jour­ney to Zer­matt may take a lit­tle longer depend­ing on where you live, it’s def­i­nite­ly worth it. After all, when you board the train in Täsch (Zer­matt is car-free), you’ll arrive in hol­i­day mode. The ski resort in Valais not only impress­es with a vari­ety of ski slopes to suit every taste, but also with the two longest groomed runs in Europe. And what’s also impor­tant: When it comes to food, there’s some­thing for every­one. 😊 Be it a tasty lunch in a some­what hid­den par­adise in the Find­eln area (with a per­fect view of the Mat­ter­horn, of course). Or per­haps over a sim­ple soup on the Tufter­nalp (also with a view of the Mat­ter­horn and often even with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to watch deer com­ing to the near­by feed­er🦌). And with­out exag­ger­at­ing, the Lit­tle Bar tru­ly is a small bar. All the more excit­ing, because every­one here knows each oth­er in no time at all.

Fun fact: Some of the employ­ees at the restau­rants in the Find­eln resort sledge to the val­ley after work – because the cable cars close before they fin­ish clean­ing up. If you want to enjoy the impres­sive moun­tain panora­ma again in the evening, take advan­tage of the last trips on the Gorner­grat Rail­way and enjoy the moun­tains before dark (with­out your skis or snow­board, as the ski slopes are already closed and the snow groomers are already run­ning).

By the way: You can also enjoy an unob­struct­ed view of the world-famous Mat­ter­horn from the Zer­matt Youth Hos­tel. Take in the mag­nif­i­cent view dur­ing your morn­ing break­fast.

And one more tip: The ear­li­er you book your ski pass, the more attrac­tive the price. And if the weath­er is bad (which it usu­al­ly isn’t), sim­ply use your ski pass to take a trip on the Gorner­grat Rail­way. This trip alone would nor­mal­ly cost around CHF 90!

Nicole, Sales Man­ag­er

From your bed straight onto your board: Ski in – ski out in Lenzerheide

I also liked the Val­bel­la-Lenz­er­hei­de Youth Hos­tel. Snow sports fans can get their equip­ment ready right in the hostel’s own ski cel­lar and head out to the slopes at the hostel’s doorstep. The slopes are only a few sec­onds from the hos­tel, and after just a few turns you reach the t‑bar lift, which takes you to the largest ski resort in Switzer­land: Arosa Lenz­er­hei­de. The fun begins here on more than 225 kilo­me­tres of slopes. The choice of runs is huge, so you’ll nev­er get bored.

For a pit stop near the youth hos­tel, I rec­om­mend the Kuh­stall Schamuela. Fea­tur­ing furs, the loungers are great for relax­ing. The for­mer cat­tle barn is also a hotspot for music lovers. In win­ter, there are occa­sion­al con­certs out­side where bands and DJs per­form their coolest hits.

Speak­ing of cows: If you’re still hang­ing around in Arosa after ski­ing, you should def­i­nite­ly head to one of the most leg­endary après-ski bars in Graubün­den: The Kuh­Bar Arosa is the place to be in the Arosa Lenz­er­hei­de snow sports area. Maybe even bet­ter with­out skis.

Eve­lyn, Mar­ket­ing Spe­cial­ist

Grindelwald: The gateway to the Alps

My favourite tip is the moun­tain des­ti­na­tion of Grindel­wald in the Bernese Ober­land. This small town is tru­ly ooz­ing with charm. It’s a place that enchants and trans­ports you to anoth­er world. Espe­cial­ly in win­ter, when you stroll through the streets and admire the snow-cov­ered chalets made of dark wood.

Grindel­wald offers breath­tak­ing views of the majes­tic moun­tains – includ­ing the famous trio: Jungfrau, Eiger and Mönch. These impos­ing peaks are world-famous and impres­sive. Grindel­wald is the gate­way to the Alps and a par­adise for win­ter activ­i­ties: Ski­ing, sledg­ing, snow­shoe­ing or trail run­ning – there’s some­thing for every­one here.

I’ve already explored the Männlichen ski area. It’s ide­al for snow sports enthu­si­asts of all lev­els. Descend­ing leisure­ly blue slopes or chal­leng­ing black slopes you can enjoy the impres­sive view of the Jungfrau­joch, the «Top of Europe». You can con­ve­nient­ly buy a ski pass for the Männlichen resort online.

Next up on my list? A trail run in the snow! I think that sounds like an excit­ing adven­ture, espe­cial­ly for me as a novice jog­ger. The «Dor­frunde» vil­lage round route is almost 8 kilo­me­tres long, suit­able for begin­ners and takes you back to the start­ing point as a cir­cu­lar route. Per­fect for explor­ing the snowy land­scape and get­ting in your exer­cise!

After a hard round of train­ing, treat your­self to a deli­cious din­ner in the vil­lage cen­tre at Bar­rys Restau­rant, Bar and Lounge. They serve deli­cious veg­e­tar­i­an dish­es as well as Swiss clas­sics such as rösti, cheese and meat fon­due.

You can stay overnight at our Grindel­wald Youth Hos­tel. It is locat­ed just above the vil­lage, which is sure to give you one of the most beau­ti­ful views of this win­ter won­der­land.

My per­son­al tip: If there are four of you, be sure to book the youth hostel’s charm­ing Wald­hüs­li. When it’s snowy, it looks like a lit­tle hut from a fairy­tale book. Who doesn’t want to live like a fairy­tale?

Nina, Con­tent and Social Media Spe­cial­ist 

Skiing isn’t your cup of tea?

You can also look for­ward to plen­ty of adven­tures off the slopes. 

Get explor­ing the snow