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 | £ 914 |
|
| Grindelwald | 30/Mar/13 | Gatwick | HB | £ 719 |
|
| Klosters | 16/Mar/13 | Gatwick | HB | £ 790 |
|
| Nendaz | 05/Jan/13 | Gatwick | Cater | £ 799 |
|
| Saas Fee | 15/Dec | Exeter | SC | £ 518 |
|
| St Moritz | 16/Mar/13 | Gatwick | HB | £ 870 |
|
| Verbier | 17/Mar/13 | Southampton | Cater | £ 645 |
|
| Wengen | 09/Mar/13 | Exeter | HB | £ 638 |
|
| Zermatt | 05/Jan/13 | Manchester | SC | £ 603 |
|
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
| Fri 18th | 6-day forecasted snowfall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | Afternoon | Night | Lower Mountain | Mid Mountain | Top Mountain | |
| Davos |  clear |
 clear |
clear |
0cm | 5cm | 21cm |
| Laax | clear |
 rain shwrs |
 rain shwrs |
0cm | 0cm | 12cm |
| Verbier |  light snow |
 light snow |
light snow |
0cm | 14cm | 29cm |
| Powered by Snow-forecast.com | ||||||
| Last 24hrs (cm) | Upper depth(cm) |
|||||||||
| Temp | Upper | lower | resort | Last snowed | Pistes | Off-piste | area open | |||
| Davos |  |
3°C | 6 | 6 | 1 | 29- Sun 22 Apr 2012 | 249 | powder | hard | 27.16KM |
Jamie Nicholls and Katie Ormerod win slopestyle!
Mon 26 March 12The fourth and final day of competition at the BRITS 2012 saw Jamie Nicholls and Katie Ormerod destroy the perfectly shaped Laax park to take home the gold in the Protest Snowboard Slopestyle Championships.
The Brits
Shackleton and Foster take gold in Brits Halfpipe
Thu 22 March 12Day two of The BRITS saw the best of British pipe riders go head to head in the Dare2b Snowboard Halfpipe Championships.
Turnball and Ormerod victorious at Brits Big Air!
Thu 22 March 12For a third day running the BRITS was treated to scorching weather and sick riding as Katie Ormerod and Sam Turnbull took home the gold in the Snowboard Big Air Championships.
Tom Bankes and Maisie Potter get gold at the Brits
Wed 21 March 12The BRITS 2012 kicked off in style with the Trespass Snowboardcross Championships today. The competitors were greeted with blue skies, warm weather, loads of snow and a perfectly shaped course.
KELLY CLARK & IPOD WIN BURTON OPEN HALFPIPE 2012
Sun 04 March 12The Burton European Open 2012 presented by MINI wrapped up today with the highlight of the week, the Halfpipe finals up on Crap Sogn Gion.
JAMIE ANDERSON WINS BURTON SLOPESTYLE
Fri 02 March 12Another bluebird day, spring temperatures and an epic Slopestyle course laid the groundwork for one of the Burton European Open’s most memorable slopestyle competitions earlier today.
BURTON OPEN SLOPESTYLE SEMI FINAL RESULTS 2012
Thu 01 March 12The 13th Burton European Open presented by MINI continued today with Women’s Slopestyle Qualifications in the morning, followed by Men’s and Women’s Semi-Finals in the afternoon
Katie Ormerod 2nd at Burton Open Junior Halfpipe
Wed 29 February 12Laax saw the the full pallet of weather for the Burton Open Junior Halfpipe including sunshine, clouds, wind and snow.
13th Annual Burton Europe Open Live on Redbull.tv
Wed 29 February 12Watch the 13th Annual Burton European Open on Redbull.tv Starting Today
BURTON EUROPEAN OPEN HALFPIPE QUALIFICATION RESULT
Wed 29 February 12The 4th day of the Burton European Open presented by MINI was dedicated to Men’s and Women’s Halfpipe Qualifications.
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
Resorts
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- Best places to snowboard in Switzerland
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