Hi all. My aunt and uncle are interested in a Swiss skiing holiday. They refuse to take a connecting flight (i know right?) so they are looking for a resort near Zurich.

I cannot help them as the resorts i know are near Geneva and completely snowless at the moment. Any ideas? The dates are not fixed but they are thinking sometime in February. They are reasonable skiers and can rent a car if there is no public transport easily nearby.

Thanks

In February is the snow hopefully ok. Bottom line: either Graubünden: Davos, Flims, Laax, Arosa, Lenzerheide... all around 1.5 hours from Zurich. Or central Switzerland: Engelberg-Titlis, Andermatt...

The lower ones like Flumserberg or Hoch Ybrig are in my opinion not worth the trip...

Take a look at the Laax webcams, looks barely adequate at the moment.
Flumserberg is miserable looking as well.

Andermatt

You don’t need to take a connecting flight. Getting the train from Zürich to for example Zermatt - takes the same time on train as from Geneva. Pick somewhere high!

There is easy public transport to every ski resort. TIS.

For this year, go as high as you can afford. February is ski holidays in most Eastern Cantons (2 weeks) so best avoided if possible as there will be more people/less availability.

We really like Arosa.

February is definitely the worst time busy wise, school holidays somewhere in Europe all month.

Go high and go late. Mid to late March in St Moritz at 1700m would be ideal.

Club Med all inclusive is cheaper then too. Includes Swiss ski school, all you can eat and drink etc. They will bus you from Zurich airport - about 2½ hours. Includes flight from the UK (obv. Extra)…

Thank you all. She told me she wants to come early April now. I told her that maybe there will be no snow left but lets see.

I've skied in early April. St Moritz is open until April 10, Easter Monday. The snow has been very good late in the season in recent years, if slushy descents at the end of the day are not a problem...

Issue with early April is some slopes lower down will be closed. So you may not have the full resort open. I think first two weeks in March is best bet

Then her chances of skiing near Zurich will be just about zero. What level of ski-slope does she need if she’s prepared to travel further? Does she need lessons?
Here’s a good article on resorts further away:

https://bellevue.nzz.ch/reisen-entde...ann-ld.1675153

We always used to come to ski with family at Easter- so often in early April. But you have to go to very high resorts for this, and none near Zurich.

It also means, most of the time, very icy slopes in the morning, and soup à la porridge end of the afternoon to go back down to resort.

Can we define "near"? Engelberg was pretty exactly one hour drive from Zurich and should be high enough with 3041 Meters at the top.

Zermatt and Verbier will both be open then, even if it's a crap year for snow.

I think we're spoilt here.

In the U.K, for me it was a ten hour drive to get to some seriously snowy mountains up North.

As you say, one hour is really nothing.

Apologies, of course. Are there any easy slopes up though there incase the visitor is a beginner?

Have not been there in some time... If I remember correctly is the top bit from the middle station to the top of titlis the advanced part and the easier ones are around the middle station. But overall is all of central Switzerland on the steeper side and less for beginners than say St Moritz with the Engadine slopes wide and smooth like highways...

As others have said - what is considered 'near' zurich ?



My suggestions would be:

Engelberg/Titlis/Brunni - we went there once for Christmas, one day was minus 18(C!) and the next it was plus 4 on the lower slopes...

Flims/Laax/Valera - we were there on Monday. people are skiing on the man-made snow (lots of snow guns) but surely there will be plenty of snow up there by end February. We had a lovely hike in 10-12 degrees (plus not minus!)...

Davos/Klosters/St Moritz - plenty of options for all levels of skiiers.

If they are serious skiiers then choosing any of those options and finding a centrally located accommodation with access to local buses systems will be fine - people move around a lot on the local buses to get to the different lifts and slopes...

I absolutely dislike Zermatt and St Moritz - way too touristy.... and expensive...and full of tourists...