Skiing in Switzerland: the places Swiss locals keep recommending

Every winter I watch Swiss children climb aboard trains in miniature ski suits, and every summer I watch half of Basel float down the Rhine on nothing more than a waterproof bag. Hiking, river swimming, skiing and snowboarding are simply part of growing up here. Some of my friends are qualified ski instructors because they have never known a winter without snow under their boots.

Tourists see the same country and book a week of winter sports, which raises an obvious question: where do the people who live here actually go? I spent about a year finding out. I asked friends, neighbours, colleagues, acquaintances, people I met on trains, and friends of friends, and wrote the answers into my phone as soon as each conversation ended. The same names kept returning, though people's choices usually reflected the valley they grew up in. Here are the places that came up most often, with rough costs, train routes and, for anyone travelling with non-skiers, other ways to spend the day. The list is not a ranking. It reflects who I happened to talk to, and the absence of a name says more about my circle of acquaintances than about the slopes.

1. Davos Klosters, Graubünden

The most frequent answer was Davos, in the far east of the country in the canton of Graubünden (Grisons). You may know the name from the World Economic Forum, which meets there each year. Skiers can buy passes for half a day, a full day or several days, and prices vary accordingly. Beginners can join group courses at one of the ski schools or book private lessons; five days in a group costs roughly 330 CHF. Most of my friends stay in hostels, but the Davos website was running an offer for November and December 2016: a free ski pass for anyone staying in a participating hotel. Graubünden holds far more resorts than I can list here, and several people mentioned others in the same canton before returning to Davos.

Getting there: trains from Zurich reach Landquart in about 1.5 to 2 hours (check sbb.ch), then a bus covers the last stretch.

Without skis: sailing, swimming, cycling, tobogganing and sledging are all possible. The "Inside" programme lets guests at selected hotels choose from about 20 complimentary experiences, from watching sunrise over the mountains to spotting ibex, sledging, or visiting places associated with celebrities and members of the Royal Family.

2. Arosa and Lenzerheide, Graubünden

A double-track cable car now links the two towns, which has opened up a great deal more terrain on both sides. The region keeps busy all year, with winter sports, ballooning and even water-sport competitions on the calendar. This season it was offering free ski lessons to anyone under 18 to bring more young people into the sport; beginners have four ski schools to choose from. A friend recommended Lenzerheide for students watching their budget, though she insisted two other places in the region were better value, and I will come to those. Equipment can be rented if you prefer to ski independently. One clever detail is the Arosa Lenzerheide Card, which you top up and then use at partner cable cars and restaurants; it stays valid for five years.

Getting there: Zurich to Chur takes about 1.5 hours by train, and from Chur you continue to Arosa or Lenzerheide.

Without skis: ride the cable car, ice skate, Nordic walk or hike, or time a visit for the Arosa Humor Festival or the waterslide contest.

3. Engelberg, Obwalden

Engelberg sits in Central Switzerland, in the canton of Obwalden, and draws visitors for more than its slopes; Mount Titlis is right there. Spring skiing was possible until 22 May 2016. The views are among the finest in the country and the resort stays busy with tourists and walkers all year. I have still never skied, though I had every intention of joining a beginner group trip organised by my university that would have gone there. The mountain is the reason many people come at all, and the village has grown around that traffic.

Getting there: the Lucerne–Engelberg Express takes about 45 minutes; Zurich is under two hours away. Hotels run free buses to the cable car station.

Without skis: take the cable car up Titlis, visit the Titlis Glacier cave (free) and walk the Cliff Walk (also free). Kayaking, Nordic walking, wildlife watching, snowshoeing, the igloo village and paragliding are all on offer. Bollywood fans will find life-size cutouts of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol from DDLJ waiting at the top. There is a separate account of a summer day on Mount Titlis worth reading.

4. Grindelwald, Bernese Oberland

Grindelwald, near Interlaken, is a place I would urge anyone to see, skier or not. When I asked about the Jungfrau region, people kept naming Mürren, Lauterbrunnen and Wengen as well. I once went up the Bussalp while staying in the area and tried sledging, which turned frightening when the snow came down and the light went. Sledging in the dark is not the gentle family activity I had imagined. Interlaken makes a useful base for day trips into the mountains, including the Jungfraujoch, the so-called top of Europe. Details of the local snow sports schools are listed here.

Getting there: under two hours from Zurich and about three from Geneva; take the train to Interlaken Ost and continue uphill.

Without skis: the region offers plenty of adventure sports, though they are expensive — paragliding and cliff diving among them. Day trips to the surrounding peaks and lakes are easy, and the wellness options are there when you want to do nothing at all.

5. Adelboden, Bernese Oberland

Adelboden is a mountain village of waterfalls and ski slopes, and the first place in Switzerland to be awarded the Alpine Wellness holiday resort certificate. Winter visitors come for cross-country skiing, tobogganing, freeriding and hiking. The FIS Ski World Cup stops here every year, and the resort runs one-day avalanche courses for skiers and snowboarders alongside its other courses in skiing, freeriding and snowshoeing.

Getting there: train to Bern, change at Frutigen, about two hours from Zurich and nearly three from Geneva.

Without skis: the calendar includes the horn toboggan race, the Igloo festival, the Swiss Chamber Music Festival and Chuenis bi Nacht, a night race with lasers and a winter sports show. You can also visit the local museums and a wood-carving workshop, climb the Höi-Turm, or eat dinner at Fondue Igloo, the largest fondue parlour in the world.

6. Schneeselital, Canton Bern

SchneeSelital is a small resort in the canton of Bern with a lively winter sports area, a funpark and snowtubing. The Gantrisch Nature Park surrounds it, and the snowboarding school and other activities are detailed on gantrisch.ch. As Bern Tourism puts it: "Whether you want to ski, do snowshoe or cross country, or take a winter hike, in Selital you'll find it all in one place."

Getting there: about an hour from Bern by train or Alpine Bus.

Without skis: walk in the nature park, look for wildlife around the lake, find the monastery ruins and follow the hiking trails.

7. Gstaad, Canton Bern

Gstaad lies in the south-west of the country, in the canton of Bern, and has long attracted the wealthy. The region takes in nine other ski chalets and also draws families and locals. John Travolta, Roger Federer and Roman Polanski are all said to holiday here.

The SnowPark and Glacier 3000 are the main draws for winter sports. A day pass for an adult on Glacier 3000 costs around 50 CHF, while a sledging day pass in the Gstaad area costs less. Keen skiers can buy a Super Pass covering three ski areas. The panoramic GoldenPass Line, which runs from Lucerne to Montreux in about five hours, passes through the region. A useful tip I picked up: the Winter Easy Access Card brings various discounts and can be bought from hotels if you stay at least two nights. Children under nine travel free on cable cars and ski lifts, and some hotels give them free accommodation. It is not a place that hides its money, but the valleys around it are ordinary working countryside.

Getting there: close to the French border, about 2.5 hours from Geneva via Montreux. From Zurich, take the train to Bern, change at Zweisimmen and again for Gstaad; allow around three hours depending on connections.

Without skis: cultural and sporting events run through the year, and traditional Alpine life is easy to see — farmers, cheesemakers and craftsmen. Cheese lovers can join a farmer for a guided tour, tasting and aperitif. The Glacier 3000 Peak Walk works as a day trip on its own.

8. Saas-Fee, Valais

Saas-Fee, known as the Pearl of the Alps, lies in the canton of Valais. It has high snow peaks, adventure forests, resorts that suit families, the highest underground funicular railway in the world and, at 3,500 m (11,500 feet), the highest revolving restaurant in the world. The resort website lists discounts and offers for skiing, and several hotels add complimentary extras. The height is part of the appeal, and the revolving restaurant puts the view above everything else.

Getting there: train to Brig or Visp, then on to Saas-Fee; about three hours from Zurich, Lucerne or Geneva. Italy is not far beyond the border if you fancy a detour.

Without skis: visit the ice pavilion, cross the deep gorge, or spend an afternoon tobogganing. Hiking paths leave from the village, sledging is easy to arrange, and fondue tastes better at altitude.

9. Montreux and Vevey, Lake Geneva

The Montreux Riviera is one of the most scenic stretches in the country, close to France, and worth a visit whenever you are near Geneva. Vevey, with its Alpine views, is counted among the "Pearls of the Montreux Riviera", and Charlie Chaplin lived there for the last 25 years of his life. Culture fills the calendar, but there is also real skiing and plenty of places to learn. Several low-level resorts are reachable by train: Les Pléiades, Rocher de Naye, Les Paccots and Rathvel. Stay in a hotel or holiday apartment and you can collect the Montreux Riviera Card, which covers public transport in the region and brings discounts on trains and museums.

Getting there: about an hour from Geneva to Montreux, then a bus to Vevey; skiers take trains from Vevey. Lausanne is 15 minutes away (sbb.ch).

Without skis: the Montreux Jazz Festival, held every July, is among the most famous in the world. Visit Château Chillon, explore the wine caves near Vevey, catch the Street Music Festival or spend an afternoon at the Alimentarium, the food museum. Château d'Oex, a ski area nearby, hosts the International Balloon Festival every January, and the photographs alone are worth the trip.

What about beginners on a budget?

The advice I collected was simple. Start on a lower slope, and avoid the famous resorts, which are expensive and steep; smaller towns are kinder to newcomers. Lenzerheide was the budget recommendation I heard most often. Others were Parpan and Brambuesch in Graubünden, with Chur, the cantonal capital, nearby — good for food lovers and for anyone who likes a night out. Sports schools there teach skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking. A friend also suggested Wildhaus in the east, in the canton of St. Gallen, where he began learning at five and later took his ski instructor licence. If you are just starting, lessons matter more than gear: rental equipment is good enough, and a morning with an instructor saves a week of bad habits.

The photographs from Parpan and Brambuesch that convinced me to include them came from a blog I stumbled on. Patrick Noonan lives in the United States but spends holidays with relatives in Switzerland, and his post on the pinkbike website maps out bike routes across the region in detail. I do not mountain bike, but the pictures and descriptions made me want to try, and they are just as useful for planning a summer hike.

Reading the list back, a pattern appears. Every one of these places is reachable by train, most within two or three hours of a major city, and each pairs its slopes with something else — a gorge, a castle, a jazz festival, a cheese cellar. That is the real reason locals name them so readily: skiing is only part of the day.

No single post can cover every valley in Switzerland, and this one took a long time to put together from other people's answers. If it helps you choose where to point your skis, or where to stand and watch with a coffee, that is enough. The post was not sponsored, and gathering the answers took the better part of a year.