At the great risk of being beaten up here for using this site in lue of a travel agency i must ask the question here for real native info-

My hubby and I want to ski in the Alps but want to go up for just the day. Is it easier to do this staying in Bern, Zurich, Lucerne ? He gave up trying to plan because he couldnt decide on what town to stay in so i thought i'd ask you all. We dont have a real preference in what city although he had his heart set on Zurich but the others would be fine if skiing from there would be easier and take less time to get to a resort.

last question... is there public transportation to the skiing areas since we wont have a car and are only traveling by trains through Europe.

Any practical advice would be much appreciated

thank you

-Sandra

You can go skiing for a day pretty much from anywhere in CH. I wouldn't stay in a city though. If you are in just for a day, go to a resort or something of that sort the night before and enjoy the first runs the next morning. You will enjoy the day a lot more when you don't have to travel in the morning and organise the skis etc. (I suppose you are not bringing them with you for one day.)

Enjoy your trip!

please do use search through the day-trip forum; I am sure your husband got some answers on one of his threads but you can get to many ski resorts on the train. You can even buy the ski pass with your rail ticket (www.rail.ch)

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/home/wintervacation is another good place to start.

we actually will be in the area 2 nights and 3 days. we want to stay in one city to experience it and then on one of the days go skiing. is there public transportation to the local ski resorts?

Yes. You. Can.

Hey there,

I had the same questions as you and will try to give a more useful answer than "yes.you.can", even if it does get me banned once more, right, Rob Lockster?

Resorts in Switzerland are typically arranged by town. There are no real individual resorts like you would find in, say, the US at Lake Tahoe, where there is one city with many resorts nearby. Here it is one tiny city at the foot of the mountain, and then you go up to the mountain. So what you need to do is basically catch the train to the nearest ski-town, and at the train station of said ski town there are always busses that take you right to the bottom of the ski lift.

When you arrive to (insert name of preferred skitown here), ask at the train station info desk how to get to (insert name of preferred resort here). You can buy your day pass (lift and bus) right at the train station. Then getting on the bus is easy matter.

In terms of resorts, I was just in Frutigen yesterday, which is a 45 min train ride from Bern, but it is smallish and best for beginners (though it is open already). The bernese oberland is quite famous for good resorts (Gstaad, Grindelwald, etc), but Valais is also really nice. For maps and up-to-date weather reports you may want to check out:
http://www.soulrider.com

Hope this helps!

Check out the Snow'n'Rail day pass, which includes public transport to the resort and the ski pass for the day, available from any rail station.

http://www.railaway.ch/Deutsch/snowandrail/index.html (Only in german)

For the towns you mentioned you'll want "Zentralschweiz".

I live in Luzern and there are many great resorts a mere hour or so away by public transport.

Hi,

public transport is rarely a problem in Switzerland but as there are so many resorts of varying size it's difficult to know which would suit you best.

This website will tell you a bit more about some of the larger (and well renowned) resorts in Switzerland and the rest of the world, and should give you a greater clue which will cater best to your expectations and requirements

http://www.welove2ski.com