Davos and Klosters, an Alpine Resort
Davos-Klosters is a destination you would visit for winter activities, such as tobogganing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter fat biking, and of course skiing and snowboarding. They also have plenty of warm weather activities too, such as paragliding/hang gliding, mountain climbing, hiking, river rafting, and golf. These aren’t extensive lists, but you get the idea. There are six different mountain peaks in this area, and it is absolutely stunning.
How to Get to Davos-Klosters
Davos-Klosters is a beautiful drive from Zurich, which is about an hour and a half drive or a two-hour train ride. This area is located in the Eastern part of Switzerland, very close to the borders of Germany. Fun Fact, Davos is where they hold the World Economic Forum each year. This event was scheduled to take place the week following our time in the area, but due to COVID, it was postponed to May 2022.
Where to Stay in Davos-Klosters
Selecting where you want to stay is going to be based on where you will be spending most of your time (Davos or Klosters) and your budget. There are many options for hotels, vacation rentals, mountain huts, farmhouses, or even camping (if that's your thing). Since we were visiting for a ski trip, we decided to stay at a vacation rental in Klosters, so we would have more room for our gear and be able to spread out and relax in the evenings.
What We Did in Davos-Klosters
After checking into our rental apartment, we went to downtown Klosters. It was near the end of the day, and we were hoping to find some Après-ski activity, have a bite to eat, and relax with a cold drink. We didn’t see anybody else wandering the streets, it was strangely quiet. We walked by a few restaurants, but there wasn’t any Après-ski vibe. Eventually, we found Grastochni Klosters, which was full of people. This was near one of the ticket windows for the Parsenn mountain, and the Klosters-Platz train station, across a bridge to this place.
We later learned that this place is at the bottom of a ski piste, (A piste is a marked ski run. I’ve always called it a ski run, so although it’s a piste in Switzerland, I’m going to refer to it as a ski run), making it a popular spot at the end of the day. There are other bars and restaurants higher up on this run. A lot different than skiing in Colorado where all Après-ski seems to happen off the ski resort and in the town or village. Here in Klosters, the Apres ski takes place on the way down the mountain. Many skiers who stopped for Apres ski higher up on the mountain headed the rest of the way down after dark, using headlamps to get to the bottom of the run.
We did our first day of skiing here at Parsenn (Davos-Klosters). The cost for a 1-day lift ticket was 80 Swiss Francs ($87 USD. Vail Resorts, you hear that, $87/day?) We began the day in Klosters, but this ski area is so vast that it stretches all the way to Davos. It is the largest ski area in the Davos-Klosters area, and has the longest downhill run, at 12 kilometers (almost 7.5 miles). By the way, parking here was about 30 yards from the tram station and cost 5 Swiss Francs (less than $5.50 USD. Vail Resorts, are you listening, $5 parking that is close to the lifts?) After skiing, we hung out at Grastochni Klosters again for a couple of drinks, then, with no nightlife to speak of and not many open restaurants, we went back to the apartment for dinner.
We also skied at Jakobshorn in Davos. The cost for a 1-day lift ticket was 77 Swiss Francs ($84 USD. Vail Resorts, are you listening?) There is parking right underneath the tram station (again, 5 Swiss Francs. Vail Resorts, stop charging $25 for parking half a mile away from the lift). Jakobshorn is a smaller ski area than Parsenn but has some great runs and fantastic views. Especially the views of the town of Davos as we made our way to the bottom.
After skiing, we walked around Davos, stopping in some shops and sampling some chocolates. Just like in Klosters, it still seemed a little strange to us how empty the streets were. We hadn’t expected empty streets in these ski towns during January and thought it would be more crowded. Evidently, school break ended the previous week and this was a slow period for the region
We did stumble across a small casino in Davos called Casio 777. It was the most unusual casino I’ve ever seen. It took about 10 minutes for us to get cleared for entry. Then, we joined the two other patrons inside the casino. The place was very small but did have two bars, some slot machines, 2 virtual roulette machines, 2 unmanned craps tables, and 2 blackjack tables. We didn’t stay long, but it could be fun if there were more people there.
Where we ate in Davos
Pulsa Restaurant - We usually don’t like to go to restaurants in hotels, but this one was really good. Their menu had a bunch of variety; including Italian, Thai, and Swiss eats. We each ordered something completely different, and, despite the variety in our meals, everything was delicious.
Cioccolino Cafe Restaurant Bar - Anyway, near the casino was this bar we went to. Then we noticed the Cioccolino Restaurant attached to the bar. We had dinner here and it was very good. Pizza and calzones filled the menu.
Grastochni Klosters - Fun bar for Apres ski at the end of a ski run.
CACAO Schneider’s - Need something sweet, stop here for artisanal swiss chocolate.
Driving in Switzerland
Road signs and speed limits are clearly posted, including in English. You will need to be able to convert kilometers per hour to miles per hour in your head, but that’s the biggest driving challenge. The roads are amazing. We drove over 900 kilometers, 560 miles, without hitting a single pothole. There wasn't any road construction or other traffic delays. We enjoyed nice drives through valleys with mountains on each side.
Instead of going up and down on mountains, the Swiss just dug tunnels through the mountains (many of the tunnels were longer than the Eisenhauer tunnel in Colorado). The roads are a bit narrower than in the US. You won’t see a Yukon, Escalade, or Suburban here. The roads can handle a nice mid-size SUV. If you think you’re going to get 4 or more people and luggage in an SUV, you may need to look at getting two rental vehicles. However, if you can travel by train, do that! So efficient. And easy. We didn’t travel by train due to the five pieces of luggage, including skis and snowboard, we were traveling with.
Skiing in Switzerland
We clearly aren’t in Colorado or Utah, or Wyoming, or Nevada, or New Mexico, or California, etc. Skiing in Switzerland is different. The tree line is much lower in Switzerland. Maybe around 6,000 feet? In the US, riding a lift./tram/gondola, etc., you can see the white areas between the trees and know that's where the runs are. In Switzerland (and our few runs in Italy), you don’t see any trees. Everything is white. You know you’re on a ski run when you see stakes in the ground on your left and your right and there’s a nylon thread connecting these stakes. In the US, you can see from hundreds of yards away signs that show the names of which runs go to your left, which runs go to your right, and what run is straight ahead of you. These run signs are big. These signs also show the US designation of easy, hard, and difficult runs (Green, blue, black) Easy to see and decide your path.
At the four different places we skied in Switzerland, there are very few of these signs. The runs don’t have a name, but rather a number. It's like mass transit in a big city. (you take the number 7 to the number 16, then look for the number 27. Get off at the number 30, go left and look for the 88) Plus, unlike the large signs in the US, the run markers in Europe are about the size of a tennis ball. In addition to showing the run number, these small signs indicate the degree of difficulty. Blue is easy, red is medium, and black is difficult. Good luck reading that from 100 yards away going 40 mph. It’s a bit to process while heading down the mountain. Nothing wrong with this, it was just a different style of skiing and navigating than we were used to.
Final Thoughts on Switzerland
Amazing! We just spent multiple days skiing the Swiss and Italian Alps. So. Freaking. Cool. The people of Switzerland seemed to be genuinely friendly. They seemed happy to be receiving tourists. However, Switzerland is expensive. Very expensive. But, lift tickets are cheap (compared to a Vail pass). Like a sucker, we are used to paying $200/day to ski at a Vail resort (plus parking) the value of an $80 daily lift ticket is pretty strong.