Switzerland as a ski destination
Switzerland skis high and sells it to the world. Its 2,389 cableway and lift installations carry 26.3 million first entries a season — sixth globally by skier days — and just over a third of those guests come from abroad, the highest foreign share of any major Alpine nation.1
- Cableway installations
- 2,389
- First entries a season
- 26.3 million
- Guests from abroad
- 37%
- World rank by skier days
- 6
What it is known for
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Altitude and glaciers
The highest lift-served point among the Swiss areas in the app reaches 3,872 m. Glacier terrain keeps several resorts skiing far outside the normal season.1
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Rail-served resorts
Several major Swiss ski villages are reached by mountain railway rather than road, and a few are car-free entirely — a pattern that barely exists elsewhere in the Alps.1
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An international clientele
Around 37% of guests at Swiss ski areas come from abroad, and roughly 70% of cableway transport revenue is earned in winter.1
Where the resorts are
122 of the 1,311 ski areas mapped in the SkiAllDay app are in Switzerland, together 4,247 km of downhill terrain and 1,663 lifts. A cross-border area counts in every country it touches. The guides below are the ones written up so far.
122 ski areas in Switzerland are mapped in the app, each a faint dot. The 20 marked resorts have a guide: point at one for its figures, click it to open. Drag to pan, use the buttons or pinch to zoom.
Resort guides
| Resort | Pistes | Vertical | Lifts | Piste / lift km | Lift min / ski hr | North-facing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Vallées (Verbier) Valais | 410 km | 1,930 m | 82 | 1.07 | 76 | 54% |
| Adelboden-Lenk Bernese Oberland (canton Bern) | 86 km | 1,125 m | 17 | 1.98 | 58 | 49% |
| Aletsch Arena Valais (Upper Valais) | 104 km | 944 m | 35 | 1.29 | 70 | 9% |
| Andermatt–Sedrun Uri / Graubünden | 120 km | 1,517 m | 22 | 1.46 | 43 | 37% |
| Arosa Lenzerheide Graubünden | 225 km | 1,636 m | 43 | 1.67 | 63 | 38% |
| Crans-Montana Valais | 140 km | 1,372 m | 24 | 1.57 | 54 | 4% |
| Davos Klosters (Parsenn) Graubünden | 97 km | 2,034 m | 18 | 1.37 | 119 | 45% |
| Flumserberg St. Gallen (Heidiland, above the Walensee) | 65 km | 1,557 m | 17 | 1.42 | 47 | 71% |
| Grimentz-Zinal Valais (Val d'Anniviers) | 115 km | 1,330 m | 21 | 1.47 | 48 | 37% |
| Grindelwald–Wengen Bernese Oberland (Canton Bern) | 101 km | 1,456 m | 23 | 1.60 | 45 | 52% |
| Gstaad – Saanenmöser, Schönried & Zweisimmen Bernese Oberland (canton Bern) | 105 km | 1,063 m | 15 | 1.34 | 79 | 67% |
| LAAX Graubünden | 216 km | 1,918 m | 30 | 1.25 | 61 | 9% |
| Meiringen-Hasliberg Bernese Oberland (Haslital, canton of Bern) | 60 km | 1,368 m | 13 | 1.38 | 88 | 19% |
| Obersaxen Mundaun Graubünden | — | 1,023 m | 15 | 2.96 | 42 | 54% |
| Saas-Fee Valais (Saastal) | 100 km | 1,773 m | 22 | 0.81 | 105 | 73% |
| Savognin Graubünden (Surses) | 74 km | 1,513 m | 12 | 1.78 | 59 | 49% |
| St-Luc/Chandolin Valais (Val d'Anniviers) | 60 km | 1,320 m | 15 | 1.66 | 61 | 21% |
| St. Moritz – Corviglia Graubünden | 155 km | 1,304 m | 24 | 1.27 | 81 | 20% |
| Villars-Gryon-Les Diablerets Vaud (Alpes Vaudoises) | 104 km | 913 m | 31 | 1.13 | 85 | 31% |
| Zermatt Valais | 360 km | 2,263 m | 52 | 1.37 | 60 | 45% |
Piste, vertical and lift counts are the operators' own figures. The last three columns are measured from each resort's lift and piste network — see any resort page for how. Piste per lift km describes how sparse a lift network is, not how good it is: sort on it to find long runs off few lifts, or on lift minutes per ski hour to find quick laps.
Elsewhere
References
- 1. ^ a b c d Bedeutung der Seilbahnbranche