Please sign in to post.

Alps ski towns with easy train access, small village, high elevation

A couple winters ago, my son and I spent 9 or 10 days skiing in Europe and stayed half the time in Zermatt and the other half in Chamonix. We'd like to take a similar trip to the European Alps in 2019, somewhere in France, Switzerland, Austria or Italy, but need a little help in deciding where.

What we loved about Zermatt and Chamonix was the small, authentic village feel with nearby attractions, restaurants, and shopping. These villages were easily walkable from the apartments we stayed at, which also happened to be near the train station. Convenient train access is also desired. We also liked that the skiing in these areas is at a higher elevation, which is important with the weather being unpredictable.

Please chime in with your suggestions that meet these criteria. Would love to visit two different places like last time, but that's not a requirement. Our trip will likely be late February/early March. Thanks for your help.

Posted by
437 posts

There are many choices!

A good resource is the website Where to Ski and Snowboard which shows many stats for each ski area. For example, check out St. Anton, Austria which shows the elevation as 1075-2650 m, and is a great area, linked to several excellent areas including Lech. Easy train access.

Also you might enjoy Val d'Isere in France. Although Les Arcs is closer to the train.

I've skied at these and would return in a heartbeat!

Another good website is j2ski which has current snow reports.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

Posted by
21104 posts

The Berner Oberland is also a great place with terrific infrastructure. Stay in Wengen or Muerren. Both are car free villages. Skiing is better from Wengen, but Muerren is postcard perfect. A Berner Oberland ski pass covers all 3 areas, including trains between them and to Interlaken.
https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/jungfrau-ski-region/

The Dolomite areas of Italy are my favorite, although it does require a 1 hour bus ride from Bolzano train station to Selva di Gardena, best place to base in my opinion. Huge extent of the lift connected ski areas boggles the mind. Take the Sellaronda, an all day ski tour around the Sella Massif, passing through 4 valleys and towns and ending up back where you started. Do it clockwise or counterclockwise.
http://www.dolomitisuperski.com/en/ski-area/ski-map

Posted by
5837 posts

We were Klosters for 10 days this past winter. Klosters is marketed jointly with Davos and while different valleys, linked by train. We were given a Davos-Klosters card that included train travel from Klosters to Davos and points in between.
http://www.davos.ch/en/html-content/footer-content-right-en/davos-klosters-card/
Davos is big and Klosters is small.

Davos has a population (as of December 2016) of 11,060. As of 2014,
27.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In 2015 7.3% of the population was born in Germany and 6.9% of the population was
born in Portugal

Klosters-Serneus has a population (as of December 2016) of 4,476. As
of 2015, 19.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals.

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Klosters

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Davos

https://www.onthesnow.com/graubunden/davos-klosters/ski-resort.html

Nestling in a unique mountain scenery, Davos is the highest town in
Europe and also one of its largest winter sports areas.
The ski
resort offers varied slopes ranging from an altitude of 1,560 to 2,844m (5118 to 9330 ft).

Davos Platz Train Station:
http://elevationmap.net/talstrasse-4-7270-davos-platz-switzerland?latlngs=(46.79165681368316,9.820876121520996)

Altitude: 1542m/5059ft

Klosters Platz Train Station:
http://elevationmap.net/bahnhofstrasse-2-7250-klosters-serneus-switzerland?latlngs=(46.869441133414945,9.88094687461853)

Altitude: 1192m/3912ft

On our rest day we took the Bernina Express to Italy for lunch.

Posted by
21104 posts

Actually, the all area lift pass at Davos-Klosters includes the trains from Kueblis, which is at the end of a very long ski run, to Filisur where it connects to trains running between Chur and St Moritz and Tirano. The hotel card also is good to Filisur,

Posted by
3398 posts

We really like Verbier in Switzerland. It's part of the "4 Valees" ski area...hundreds of kilometers of skiing connecting six different resorts. Verbier is one of the six and has a feel that is similar to Zermatt or Chamonix. Really nice downtown area that is classic Switzerland in feel with great restaurants and shops. Prices are definitely more in line with Zermatt than Chamonix! The views from the top of some of the runs here are amazing on a clear day. You can see all the way to the French and Italian alps - Mont Fort is the highest peak in this part of Switzerland. Your only challenge here is train access...there is no rail line into Verbier but there are several shuttle services that will run you up there from Martigny. The town is totally walkable so you don't need a car while there.

Posted by
21104 posts

The train will get you to Le Chable in the valley below, then a 15 minute post bus ride up to Verbier.

Posted by
19 posts

This summer I made the drive from Cortina past Alta Badia through Val Gardena to Bolzano. I picked up the local tourist magazine in Val Gardena and read an article about the old wartime railway and how they are in the very early stages of planning the feasibility of a new rail line from Bolzano, through these areas, and to Cortina. I know this is many years away, if at all, but wow that would be amazing! I know this area doesn't tick all my boxes, but I would love to revisit this area in the winter.

So many possibilities and so much to research! Last time our trip was very planned out in advance, but maybe this time we'll book flights to somewhere central and follow the snow. My only concern is lodging availability and if prices would be very high booking last-minute.

On a slightly related note, I thought I'd share this: https://marmotamaps.com/en/
Looking forward to ordering the updated version of the 633 map for my office.

Thanks everyone.