Davos - Alps (Swiss) - Switzerland

Truly a great place for skiing

The twin resorts of Davos Platz and Davos Dorf have been popular with English-speaking visitors since the days when sanatoriums and excellent medical facilities, rather than ski slopes, were the main attraction. Today, Davos is a mega resort with a population of nearly 12,000, and the area's economy is based largely on tourism with an emphasis on winter sports. A capacity of more than 22,000 visitors in hotels, chalets, pensions, a hostel, and private rooms, an annual snow fall of 539 inches and more than 320 km (nearly 200 miles) of ski runs in the Davos-Klosters region, make this one of the largest ski areas in the world. Davos is roughly 2 hours drive from Zurich and about an hour from St. Moritz if the Fluelapass is open.

Davos has extensive slopes and a wide variety of runs spread over 5 or 6 essentially separate areas. Davos has a 4 huge plus-points that make visitors come back year after year: the distinctive, long intermediate runs of the Parsenn area; being able to visit a different sector every day; considerable off-slope potential and some captivating mountain restaurants. On the down side, it can be said that Davos is a huge, city-like resort, with daunting traffic and lacking an authentic Alpine atmosphere. The block-style buildings tend to spoil the views, but the nearby attractive village of Klosters provides an attractive alternative base with exceptionally welcoming places to stay.

Restaurants, nightlife, museums, and a good range of shopping add to the area's attractions. Unfortunately, all this activity has a negative side: Davos lacks the village charm of a Wengen or a Zermatt. However, it is a fantastic area for skiing, and it beats quieter venues like Mürren or Arosa if you are a city person at heart.

Located only a stone’s throw from Klosters, these two resorts share a huge, well-marked piste network with superb skiing for all levels. Davos has some excellent long and mostly easy runs away from the lifts; lots of off-slope, with a great number of marked itineraries and some short tours; good cross-country trails and plenty to do off slopes. The excellent non-alpine sports activities include snowboarding, sledding, tobogganing, paragliding, curling, winter hiking on cleared paths, indoor swimming, and ice skating at a three-rink Eisstadion that has hosted the World Figure Skating Championships and professional hockey teams.