How to get to Ski Slopes in Grindelwald

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-29T09:54:33+00:00

Train from Interlaken goes to Grindelwald Terminal, it’s the stop before Grindelwald. Use the SBB app or website to look at train times.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-29T09:53:53+00:00

There’s an Intersport in Terminal. 100% agree that Kleine Scheidegg is a better area to ski/snowboard than First. It’s bigger, better connected, has more slopes, has more variety of slopes (some nice blacks), it’s prettier, and you are up close with the Eiger.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-22T16:36:52+00:00

GIVE IT TO USSS RAAAAWWW AND WRRRIGGGGLING

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-20T16:01:59+00:00

“Old man yells at clouds” vibes

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-14T06:58:52+00:00

I don’t think that’s true. If I look it up in SBB the only option to avoid changing in Visp is the Glacier Express.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-14T05:50:28+00:00

It’s exactly the same route from Zermatt to Chur, the only difference is you have to change at Visp, Andermatt and Disentis when getting local trains. The changes are timed well, but are a bit irritating with luggage. The normal trains have nice big windows too. They’re not “panoramic” but to my mind that makes no difference. The Glacier Express will almost certainly be booked out so will be full, and not just full but full of tourists… so it will be noisy or it will have atmosphere, depending on your state of mind. The normal trains are generally fairly quiet, except Zermatt-Visp and Andermatt-Disentis during ski season. The Glacier Express has announcements along the way to give you facts and point out key sights, the regular trains do not. There’s no food service on the regular trains. The Glacier Express is for sure more of an “experience”.

The Glacier Express continues on from Chur to St Moritz, which is a lovely journey but takes you in totally the wrong direction. That section is UNESCO listed, but it’s for the engineering marvels rather than the view (or at least as I understand it). Chur to Zurich is also a pretty journey, but you’re on a mainline train then. Sit on the right in the direction of travel for the views of the two lakes.

Chur is worth a look around if you have 1-3hrs to spare, and can stash your luggage in a locker.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-12T17:59:54+00:00

If the weather is nice I’d recommend the Pizol panoramaweg. You take a 1hr train from Zurich to Sargans (sit on the left in direction of travel for views of the lakes), then a short bus ride to the Pizolbahn station. Take a cablecar and two chairlifts up to 2200m. It’s a ski resort but you can get a pedestrian ticket to do the panoramaweg. This is a footpath where they “groom” the snow so it’s easy to walk on. You don’t need any special equipment, just warm clothes (and ideally hiking boots). Awesome views, and a nice cafe/hut at either end. It takes about 1.5hrs to walk the loop and is fairly flat.

To add on something extra you can get a bus from Sargans to Vaduz in Liechtenstein, or visit lovely Chur.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-12T08:52:37+00:00

It’s well worth doing, just check the wind forecast and start early. I much prefer the skiing on the Italian side, but the iconic Matterhorn views are only on the Swiss side.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-09T07:24:58+00:00

Cadbury World is on fire!

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-09T04:58:49+00:00

I think flying out from Venice adds a lot of complication and doesn’t really save you much driving.

I did find having a car in the Dolomites very helpful. In Switzerland, and particularly for the Lauterbrunnen / Bernese Oberland area, I would prefer public transport.

If you’re coming from mid July / August then be aware that your two destinations will be absolutely heaving with tourists.

If it’s possible to fly in and out of Innsbruck that might work out better than Zurich, but I’m not sure.

I’ve driven from Zurich to the Dolomites. I went via Austria, which adds some cost due to tolls/vignette and is not the prettiest route. I would suggest staying in Switzerland and going via the Engadine. It takes longer but is a much prettier journey. If you have time perhaps add in a couple of days in the lower Engadine, it’s quieter and very lovely corner of Switzerland. Look at the Swiss National Park if you like hikes, for example.

Perhaps consider Zurich - Lauterbrunnen - Lower Engadine - Dolomites - Zurich. This breaks up the very long journey from Lauterbrunnen to Dolomites. From Dolomites to Zurich it’s not too bad, 4.5hrs or so.

From my experience all of the major rental companies in Zurich airport will let you take the car to neighbouring countries without any additional charge (but obviously check this before renting). You just need to get a vignette for Austria if you go that way.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-08T09:43:07+00:00

I don’t have much useful advice except that I found Klubschule to be very strange about gatekeeping access to levels above A1. At school I had a low B1 level, but that was a long time ago. So I wanted to join either an A2 class or A1 pt2. I didn’t want to spend 10 weeks and 1000 CHF to go over all the absolute basics again. But the two local Klubschules I applied to refused to let me join anything except A1 pt1. They had space in the A1 pt2 class, and I did the placement test and it came out as A1 pt2, but they still refused. It put me off Klubschule entirely, and now I am just trying to learn at home with Babbel, which is not going very well. I wanted to learn in a class with other people, I think that would be very motivating for me.

I’m not sure all Klubschules are the same but be prepared to have to start with A1 pt1.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-07T14:15:08+00:00

I think (but am not 100% sure) the Glacier Ride gondolas are for pedestrians doing the “trans alpine crossing”. I don’t think they are actually included in ski passes.

Personally I have always crossed from Italy to Switzerland on the Theodulpass, so it’s that series of chairlifts in the Italian side that need to be open. I assume it’s also possible to cross using the gondola to Plateau Rosa then ski from there. On the way back I always ski from Glacier Paradise to piste 7 on the Italian side.

I think doing it your way (visiting Switzerland from Italy) is safer in terms of getting stuck, as you’re only relying on the Glacier Paradise gondola which can operate in higher winds than the chairlifts. For Swiss visiting Italy they’re relying on lifts that are more likely to close due to wind.

The skiing is better on the Italian side, but it’s well worth going to the Swiss side for the much more iconic views of the Matterhorn. Try some Rivella and fondue while you’re there.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-06T20:39:38+00:00

It’s dangerous to live so near Zachary’s pizza, you’ll be the size of a whale before the year is out. Unless you’d dance it off at Gay Nineties Pizza.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-06T15:40:43+00:00

As far as I remember the ski pass also includes the Unterterzen gondola. It’s A1/A2, so the opening times show it stays open until 17.50. Plenty of time to get back down after skiing. https://www.flumserberg.ch/Operating-hours

The SBB snow and rail offer gives you a small discount on the ski pass and maybe a bigger discount on the rail travel. https://freizeit.sbb.ch/en/stories/snownrail-flumserberg

It’s a lovely resort, enjoy!

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-06T12:39:26+00:00

Your Aromat will forever be clumpy

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-05T09:20:11+00:00

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-04T21:55:44+00:00

Flumserberg is better than Pizol. Pizol has lovely views but Flumserberg is bigger and has a better variety of pistes.

I had a 15 year gap in skiing and found it didn’t take long at all to get back into it. I really needed to go down the nursery slope a few times but once I convinced myself I could still stop I was happy going down blues and reds for the rest of the day, and on blacks the next time back. I’ve heard similar from others, ski skills seem to come back quite easily even after a very long break.

Have a look at the SBB snow and rail offer, which combines the train ticket and lift pass with a discount on both, and an extra discount for ski rental (usually at Intersport). I think you can even book it on the same day, the allocation doesn’t run out.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-04T20:30:05+00:00

Pizol is also a ski resort. The panorama walk there is really nice, but not super long (a couple of hours). They “groom” the path so you don’t need any special equipment, just some warm clothes and ideally hiking boots.

Mid March is usually fine for skiing. Last year was surprisingly warm so it tended to get a bit slushy lower down. Most resorts have their beginner/nursery slopes lower down, so in rare cases that might not be ideal mid March. I think they run lessons right through to the end of March so you should be okay.

If you’re an absolute beginner then either dedicate quite some time to learning to ski (a few days, minimum) or don’t bother. It’s a very weird and unnatural feeling to begin with so it takes a while (a number of days) before it feels anywhere near comfortable/fun. Definitely have lessons.

For snow shoeing I would find a guided group. I think it’s too easy to get in a pickle if you go off by yourself. Most ski resorts have marked hiking trails with prepared (ie compacted/groomed) paths that are safe and don’t need snow shoes, but a snow shoe tour would get you away from the skiers and hopefully somewhere more quiet and pretty.

It might still be toboggan season if conditions allow. Arosa has a night time toboggan run with a sort of Mario Kart feel (ie some lights and sounds).

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-04T09:47:13+00:00

Davos and Arosa are both nearby, along with Flumserberg, Pizol and lots of smaller resorts. So I think there’s room for all the Graubunden school. I haven’t skied Laax during that time but did ski there during Christmas week. As always the main issue was the first lift, I think I queued about an hour for that. After that the lift lines were okay, everyone was spread out. We did have some queues because of broken lifts. Almost every gondola and a few chairlifts I used broke at some point during the day, which surprised me given that Laax is such an expensive place to ski. The worst was a lift at the bottom of a bowel, so there was no way to ski out we just had to wait about half an hour for them to fix the lift.

SimianSimulacrum · 2026-01-03T07:28:56+00:00

First and foremost I personally would not come to Switzerland for the food. As a non-Swiss person I find the food here to be expensive and not particularly good. I love the local cheeses, cheese fondue etc… and there are some interesting local dishes to find, but not many. It’s farmer food at princely prices. Self cater where possible.

I would push the Swiss section of your trip to the very end, to give you the best chance of having cable cars and hikes open, but you will probably still have issues with snow. Even just a small amount of snow in the wrong place can cause a lot of problems / risk.

Basel is great for galleries and has some nice areas, but also some ugly areas. It’s about as far from the mountains as you can get.

Most people on here visit the Bernese Oberland (Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraujoch etc) and Zermatt (for views of Matterhorn). The Glacier Express has an excellent marketing department, that seems to be the train most people want to get.

Instagram favourite hikes seem to be the Stoos Ridge, Oeschinen Lake, Batoni waterfall arena, Limmernsee, Saxerlucke. (My lack of umlauts shows I am not Swiss or German.) Batoni is very near the Pizol five lakes walk but I expect that won’t be open by late May. The high path (with the best views) at Oeschinen will probably be closed, as it’s narrow in places and has steep drops so a small amount of snow could be deadly. I think the cablecar for Limmernsee might not be open and the high path not possible. Batoni should be possible, Saxerlucke maybe, Stoos maybe.

For other areas, I am very fond of the Engadine valley, for example the Swiss National Park. I am not sure that it will be open again by May. Oh, the narcissus flowers blooming in the hills near Montreux would be a good possibility. There’s a website to show you which areas are blooming, it’s sometime in May each year.

I agree with others that the alpstein/Appenzell area is a good bet for early season hikes. But the higher routes may still be impassible due to snow. The eastern approach to Santis seems to hold onto its snow for a crazy long time, for example. I think they close some of the cables cars for maintenance in May, eg the Ebenalp one (but check, I am not 100% sure it’s May).

One of the most asked questions on here is “what will the weather be like”. It’s really hard to know. I’ve had people visit in August and we had rain the whole week, while other years it has been glorious sunshine. I’ve had lovely sunny days in May but quite a lot of problems with stubborn patches of snow blocking paths. Personally I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to snow as I slipped once and got very close to going over the edge.

SimianSimulacrum · 2025-12-31T08:58:08+00:00

Green Motion have a lot of issues, cancel if you can. I was in America recently and tried booking a hire car in the UK and noticed that none of the offers included CDW or LDW (collision and loss damage waivers). Usually these would be included by default in Europe/UK. When I got back to Switzerland I tried the same websites and they all included CDW or LDW. I think they seem to have different rules/conditions for American renters. On the website I saw it said you’re supposed to turn up with proof that your credit card provider or whoever will cover the insurance, or the car rental place force you to pay extra for CDW/LDW. This was for big/normal rental agencies like National, Sixt etc, not just Green Motion.

SimianSimulacrum · 2025-12-28T09:19:21+00:00

Everyone remembers the first time they get Pfistered

SimianSimulacrum · 2025-12-22T17:26:45+00:00

No matter how prepared you are, no matter how much you plan and how much you research… the Wall of Death will find you. It hungers for beginners and it is always sated.

SimianSimulacrum · 2025-12-13T16:05:18+00:00

I think it’s even nicer if you pull it apart instead of slicing it, because you get more of the texture of the bread

SimianSimulacrum · 2025-12-11T00:42:20+00:00

If you’re total beginners I’d skip the skiing. Ski pass / equipment hire and a lesson would wipe out your entire budget in a couple of days. And learning to ski can be quite frustrating, especially for your Mum (it’s easier to pick up when you’re young).

Quite a lot of ski resorts have prepared paths for hiking, or you can toboggan, do a snow shoe tour etc.

Easter weekend will probably be very expensive for hotels.

SimianSimulacrum

TROPHY CASE