Switzerland
Top holiday offers
05/Jan/13 , Gatwick
Conveniently located in the centre of Davos Platz, the Central Sport is a comfortable hotel which has a reputation for excellence in cuisine and service.
| Resort | Date | From | Basis | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davos | 05/Jan/13 | Gatwick | HB | £ 954 |
|
| Grindelwald | 24/Mar | Stansted | HB | £ 685 |
|
| Klosters | 16/Mar/13 | Gatwick | HB | £ 810 |
|
| Saas Fee | 19/Feb | Gatwick | Cater | £ 409 |
|
| St Moritz | 17/Mar | Gatwick | HB | £ 865 |
|
| Verbier | 06/Jan/13 | Southampton | Cater | £ 509 |
|
| Villars | 18/Feb | Birmingham | SC | £ 277 |
|
| Wengen | 17/Mar | Birmingham | SC | £ 519 |
|
| Zermatt | 25/Feb | Manchester | SC | £ 505 |
|
Switzerland Introduction
The Swiss have gained their riches by shrewdness and getting in on the act early. So it's no wonder their resorts have been welcoming snowboarders for some time and providing them with a huge variety of services. It's never been a big deal for Swiss areas to build halfpipes and fun parks.
What you find in Switzerland is a decent mixture of the old and new. Many resorts are made up of old chalets that look the part, while others are sprawling modern affairs. Verbier is a huge and very impressive place, spoilt only by the fact that it’s damn expensive and that it attracts Royalty and idiots on Big Foot skis.
Travelling
Flying
Flying options are excellent in Switzerland, with most resorts reachable within a 3 hour transfer from the main gateway airports.
Timetable
Trains
For such a small country with so many high mountainous areas, it's amazing how good and how many direct train routes there are to resorts. Trains wind their way up to some of the smallest places, travelling up such steep inclines that you're left wondering just how good the brakes are! Few resorts don't have their own train station, or one more than 15 km from away. Visit SBB for the Swiss train timetable.
Bus services
Bus services are also good, especially from airports, but although they're cheaper than the trains, the buses are slower and less frequent.
Driving
Driving around the country is made easy with a good road network that links up well with the rest of Europe. To drive on Swiss motorways you need to buy a road tax called the Vignette, which costs around Sfr 30 and can be purchased from Automobile Associations or at border crossings. The tax disc must be shown in the window and fines are payable if you are caught without it.
Plan ahead
If you have a good idea of your travel plans and you are looking at using public transport, then it is very worthwhile booking your tickets in advace through the Switzerland Travel Centre. You can save up to 50% in some cases compared to the turn-up price and order multiple-day, discounted and a very useful transfer ticket which gets you a return from the airport to the resort. You pay a fixed price for these products so compare against the prices on the SBB website to see if you'll save money.
SBB offer a special Snow & Rail ticket which combines your rail journey with your rail ticket funnily enough. This works out very good value and you can buy it either from the ticket desks or machines in the train station. Not only do you get a discounted rail fair but also money off for all the days you buy a lift pass for. You get a coupon for the lift pass that you exchange at the lift station.
Visa requirements & Working
Switzerland is not a member of the EU, so all foreign nationals need a passport. However, visas are not required for many nationals, but you must obtain proper permits if you want to work, even as a kitchen porter. You can get cash in hand work with no questions asked, so long as you don't draw attention to yourself.
Costs
When it comes to money, Switzerland is costly - budget riders be warned nothing is cheap, and this is not a country where you can scam your way around easily, although thankfully a lot of resorts have bunk houses and youth hostels that help to keep costs down.
6-day weather forecast
| Tue 7th | 6-day forecasted snowfall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | Afternoon | Night | Lower Mountain | Mid Mountain | Top Mountain | |
| Davos |  some clouds |
some clouds |
 some clouds |
3cm | 2cm | 2cm |
| Laax | some clouds |
some clouds |
 clear |
4cm | 3cm | 2cm |
| Verbier | clear |
 clear |
clear |
2cm | 2cm | 1cm |
| Powered by Snow-forecast.com | ||||||
| Last 24hrs (cm) | Upper depth(cm) |
|||||||||
| Temp | Upper | lower | resort | Last snowed | Pistes | Off-piste | area open | |||
| Adelboden |  |
-7°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 210 | powder | hard | 184KM |
| Andermatt | |
-8°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 350 | powder | powder | 59KM |
| Anzere | |
-7°C | - | - | - | 9 days ago | 325 | powder | powder | 35KM |
| Arosa |  |
-9°C | - | - | - | 6 days ago | 210 | powder | powder | 70KM |
| Champery | |
-15°C | - | - | - | 7 days ago | 200 | powder | powder | 630KM |
| Crans Montana |  |
-13°C | - | - | - | 35- Wed 04 Jan 2012 | 390 | powder | powder | 109KM |
| Davos | |
-9°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 215 | powder | powder | 304.7KM |
| Engelberg | |
-12°C | - | - | - | 11- Sat 28 Jan 2012 | 470 | powder | powder | 82KM |
| Flims |  |
-5°C | - | - | - | 10 days ago | 390 | powder | powder | 213KM |
| Flumserberg | |
-13°C | - | - | - | 4 days ago | 190 | powder | powder | 65KM |
| Gstaad | |
-11°C | - | - | - | 8 days ago | 220 | powder | powder | 49KM |
| Laax | |
-5°C | - | - | - | 10 days ago | 390 | powder | powder | 213KM |
| Lenzerheide | |
-7°C | - | - | - | 6 days ago | 225 | powder | hard | 152KM |
| Leysin | |
-15°C | - | - | - | 8 days ago | 295 | powder | powder | 60KM |
| Nendaz | |
-5°C | - | - | - | 7 days ago | 280 | powder | hard | 151KM |
| Saas Fee | |
1°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 342 | powder | hard | 96KM |
| Savognin | |
-7°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 130 | powder | hard | 67KM |
| St Moritz | |
-2°C | - | - | - | 7 days ago | 118 | powder | powder | 152KM |
| Villars | |
-9°C | - | - | - | 5 days ago | 230 | powder | powder | 89KM |
| Zermatt | |
-17°C | - | - | - | 8 days ago | 170 | no info | 162KM | |
Crans-Montana under heavy snow!
Tue 20 December 11The snow has continued to fall in Crans Montana Switzerland.
Crans Montana
Junior Open Laax 2011 Postponed
Sat 10 December 11Due to current weather and snow conditions, Zimtstern and Laax decided to postpone the Junior Open Laax 2011.
Europe Finally Gets It!
Tue 06 December 11After weeks of been stuck in a dry spell the snow finally arrived at many resorts across Europe yesterday with more snowfall planned for the coming days.
Laax Burton European Open 2012 postponed
Wed 16 November 11Innsbruck (AUT) 15.11.2011 - Burton Snowboards and LAAX have decided to postpone the Burton European Open from January 2012 to the end of February due to the current weather conditions.
New 6 Seater Chairlift For Verbier 2011-2012
Wed 09 November 11Verbier is set to open a New 6 seater chair lift in Mayentset! To replace the two chair lifts at Mayentzet and La Combe.
British Snow Tour dates announced
Wed 06 July 11The British Snow Tour is back for its tenth year with a new format that will consolidate this seasons action into a three event tour, kicking off with the British Indoor Championships at SNO!zone Castleford in September.
Zoe Gillings comes 3rd in Arosa
Sun 27 March 11Britains Zoe Gillings re-affirmed herself as one of the best snowboard cross athletes in the World when she finished on the podium in 3rd place at the World Cup Snowboard cross finals in Arosa, Switzerland.
Busy week at the Brits in Laax
Sat 26 March 11Laax in Switzerland was once again the location for the biggest week in British snowboarding, the Brits 2011. Snowboardcross, Big Air, Halfpipe and Slopestyle competitions as well as plenty of messy parties completed the week.
Xavier de Le Rue wins the Xtreme Verbier 2011
Sun 20 March 11The Nissan Xtreme Verbier was the last event in the 2011 Freeride World Tour for the year, and it was Frenchman Xavier De Le Rue who took the final honours, Britains James Stentiford was once again on the podium. In the womens event Anne-Flore Marxer took both the event and the tour title.
Snow in Europe!
Thu 24 February 11After jeleously looking over the pond at the epic snowfalls that have hit N.America, Europe finally decides to get with the program and receives its first significant snowfalls in months.
Useful information
Population:7.45 million
Capital City: Bern
Language: German/French/Italian
Currency: Swiss Franc
Highest Peak: Mont Rosa 4634m
Drugs Information: Cannabis is illegal but laws are slack
Alcohol Drinking 16
Electricity Supply: 240 Volts AC 2 Pin plugs
Driving: Drive on the right hand side
Speed Limits
d
Motorways-120kph (74mph)
Highways-80kph (50mph)
Towns-50kph (31mph)
International Phone Code: +41
Further Information:
Swiss Snowboard Association
Webereistrasse 47,
Postfach 8134
Adliswil 1
Switzerland
Tel: +41 1 711 82 82
Web: www.swisssnowboard.ch
Email: info@swisssnowboard.ch
Donate to Snow-camp
We've put a team together for the Everest Challenge on the 25th January in Morzine this year. Support team WSG by making a donation, and help us raise lots of money for Snow-camp
MORE INFORMATIONMAKE DONATION NOW!
Resorts
Linked areas
In this section
- Rail travel deals
- » Switzerland
- Best places to snowboard in Switzerland
2* FWQ Morgins, Switzerland 2012
18-20 February
February 18th to 20th: T-Bar Free-Session powered by DaKine in Morgins, Switzerland.
Join us on Facebook
Image Gallery
WSG Online Shop
OUT NOW! Snow-search Japan - Our award winning guidebook for all those powder hounds thinking of heading to Japan. Covers over 70 resorts, as well as all the travel and cultural information to make sure you make the best of your trip.
“Travel book of the year” Gold Medal winner, 2010 IPPY Awards.
“we can't recommend it enough” Cooler Magazine, Feb 2010
£14.95 BUY NOW!
Free UK P&P, £2 Europe, £5 World
World Snowboard Guide 
- The 11th edition of our critically acclaimed guide book features over 500 resorts across 63 countries
“easy to use and comprehensive” Transworld Snowboarding Magazine
“best snowboard guidebook money can buy” Document Snowboard Magazine
SPECIAL OFFER - was £15.95 and now £9.95 BUY NOW!
Free UK P&P, £2 Europe, £5 World
Partner links
