Category: Eastern Switzerland

Car-free, family-friendly Braunwald is one of the easiest resorts to get to from Zurich, and is ideal for day skiing or a short break. Small and relatively low, the mostly South-facing 32km of piste are good for beginners and intermediates when the snow cover is good.

In Brief

Set in Glarnerland, off the main Glarus valley and South of Glarus itself, Braunwald (1256m) is separated from the less accessible Elm resort by the 2794m Kärpf mountain. Braunwald’s best attraction is the Snow’n’Rail pass, which means you can be here for a day’s relatively inexpensive skiing  in around 1.5 hrs from Zurich, changing at Ziegelbrücke and alighting in the Linth valley at Linthal Braunwaldbahn for the cable train to Braunwald. There is a car park at the bottom station too – Braunwald itself is car-free.

Since 2007 there has been a unique combi cable car equipped with both 2 seater chairs and 4 seater gondolas which takes you to the 1901m Gumen mountain restaurant, the highest point in the resort. The more challenging skiing is above Grotzenbüehl, below can be a little flat at times so boarders need to keep their speed up.

Braunwald is good for skiers and snowboarders, with plenty of flattering slopes suitable for beginners and intermediates, and is well suited to families. There are no particularly difficult runs, although there is some reasonable off-piste from Seblengrat down to Bächital. Braunwald can get a little busy at weekends and with South-facing slopes the best of the season is relatively short. The setting is superb, however with fabulous views over the Glarus Alps towards Tödi, at 3614m the highest peak in the Glarus Alps.

Recommended is the Adrenalin hostel (www.adrenalin.gl) in Braunwald, inexpensive and convenient. The Bellevue (http://www.maerchenhotel.ch/maerchenhotel/english.php) is a good mid-priced hotel, aiming particularly for families. Braunwald itself has received the Swiss Tourism Federation’s “Families Welcome” designation.

There are 25km of hiking trails, 4km of cross -country trails, a snow park, snow tubing, 2 sledge runs snowshoe walking, horse-drawn sleds  and a natural ice rink. Ski and snowboard lessons are available from the Swiss Snowsport School.

For Dutch-speakers, the Swiss Wintersports web site has details of this and other resorts in Dutch.

Pizol means “high peak” in Romansh and the resort has a huge vertical drop when the snow lies in the Rhine valley and has some fabulous off-piste and ski touring above the tree line. Day trippers can make Bad Ragaz, below the ski area, by train in 75 minutes from Zurich but the town is a well-established holiday destination with a wealth of diversions for longer stays.

In Brief

A complimentary bus service operates from Bad Ragaz station to the Pizolbahn gondola, and there is also a public bus from the station at Sargans to a gondola at Wangs. The two parts of the resort served by each of the gondolas are distinct, joined together by a pair of surface lifts from Pizolhütte and Laufböden (2227m). Personally I prefer the Bad Ragaz side, with the sumptious runs down from the Laufböden to Pardiel (and the open off-piste areas between). There are also two scenic black runs through the trees with good off-piste opportunities between them.  The area above Wangs is good value though – from the Pizolhütte (snow permitting) you can ski all the way down to Wangs at 509m, over an impressive mile of vertical descent with a background of the Rhine valley and Liechenstein below!

With only one chairlift up from Pardiel and two consecutive chairlifts from Furg, the queues can build up at a weekend, particularly if there are lots of lift stoppages. However there are a good range of  amenities – a funpark, childcare, a toboggan run, ski schools, a choice of places to eat and drink and a range of ski -in, ski-out accommodation options (as well as nearby Bad Ragaz with its spa).

Car parking at the bottom is not free.

Elm has a feature known as the “Martinsloch”, a 15m round hole in the Tschingelhorn at 2600m through which the sun shines onto the village church steeple for only a few days a year, in March and September. Elm is located in Glarus at the head of the Sernf valley, seperated from Braunwald to the West by the Chärpf (2794m) and from Graubünden in the south by the Panix pass. Elm is not a bad little ski and snowboard destination, with a reasonable range of runs for all abilities and generally good snow on the upper slopes. Sadly it is not on the Swiss Railways Snow’n’Rail circuit.

In Brief