Love Klosters? Where to go next for the whole picture, the quiet or the gentle cruising
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20268 min read
People love Klosters for what it does not say about itself. Our read is discreet and pretty, the quiet neighbour to Davos, upmarket without making a show of it, and good with families. Above it is a high mountain of long, gentle reds, and the Davos link puts a much bigger pass in your pocket.
The reasons to look elsewhere are just as specific. The map is mostly red, so a nervous beginner can find it daunting even where the slope is kind. And the pass is less joined up than its number suggests. Which of those matters to you decides the route.
Klosters, measured
The snow is the easy part. Sixty nine percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, more than half is above 2,000, and the skiing reaches 2,808, so on our measure Klosters is snow sure. The village is low, at 1,191 metres, but the skiing is not: its middle, our median piste height, is 2,046 metres.
The gradient is the surprise. Klosters's reds average 17.1 percent and its blacks 21.1, the gentlest reds and the gentlest blacks of all 55 resorts we cover. A typical Swiss red averages 19.9 and a typical Swiss black 26.7. Only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 26 at the median resort, and the longest run we measure is a 4.7 kilometre red with 740 metres of vertical. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but the shape is clear: a mountain of long, kind reds.
That is also the catch. Only 24 kilometres, a quarter of the piste, is graded blue or easier, so the map tells a beginner to be nervous where the mountain would not.
The ski area needs a careful sentence. The Davos Klosters pass is sold as 300 kilometres; measured across the same ten lift areas it is 224, on six separate mountains. Only the Parsenn, with 95.5 kilometres and 18 lifts, is shared by the two villages, and Klosters reaches it by the Gotschna cable car. Its other hill is Madrisa. The rest need a train, a bus or a car.
So "somewhere like Klosters" means a discreet village, a high mountain that is snow sure on our measure, and gentle reds, on a pass that is really several places. Each route keeps two of those and fixes something else.
Cortina d'Ampezzo: if it is all of it, with more bite
- VillageVillage
- 1,224 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,939 m
Cortina d'Ampezzo: 86 km of piste we measure. 38 km blue and easier 45%38 km red 45%9 km black 11%
Plus 9 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
On our measurements no resort anywhere sits closer to Klosters than Cortina d'Ampezzo. It is upmarket, as Klosters is, though our read is stylish and scenic rather than discreet: Dolomite drama and Italian style, long lunches on its list, and a host of the 2026 Games.
The numbers line up closely. The village is at 1,224 metres, 33 above yours. Sixty seven percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 69, so it is snow sure on our measure too. Its 3,028 metres is the top of a lift; the highest piste we measure there is 2,724. We measure 86 kilometres of piste around Cortina against your 97, and its area is not classified in our data, so that measured figure is the fair comparison.
It does better at the easy end. There are 38 kilometres of blue and easier, against your 24, and 9.2 kilometres of marked itinerary against 6.5. The longest run we measure is a 6.9 kilometre red with 1,000 metres of vertical.
The trade is the gradient and the hush. Cortina's reds average 21.9 percent against your 17.1, its blacks 32.5 against 21.1, and 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 15. A typical Italian red is 20.4 against a typical Swiss 19.9, so this is a real difference in the mountain, not just in the labels. Quiet and family are not on its list, and you fly to Venice or Innsbruck rather than Zurich.
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: if it is the quiet village beside the big name
- VillageVillage
- 1,450 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 600 km quoted
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: 75 km of piste we measure. 50 km green and blue 67%19 km red 25%6 km black 8%
Klosters is the quiet village next to Davos. Saint-Martin-de-Belleville plays the same part in the Three Valleys. Our read is traditional and quiet, an old Savoyard village inside the Three Valleys, with authenticity, food and access to the whole area on its list.
The difference is what the village is next to. The Three Valleys is genuinely linked, and it is quoted at 600 kilometres, a figure we have not measured ourselves. Where Klosters shares one mountain with Davos and reaches the others by train, bus or car, from Saint-Martin it all joins up on skis.
The snow holds. Seventy five percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 69, so it is snow sure on our measure, though the skiing tops out at 2,691 by our measurement, 117 below yours. The village is at 1,450 metres, 259 above Klosters.
The easy skiing improves. Green is reliably tagged here, and there are 50 kilometres of green and blue, more than twice your 24 of blue and easier. It is still gentle by French standards, with reds averaging 21.9 percent against a typical French red at 24.3, but steeper than home: 20 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 15.
The trade is polish and the hard end. Upmarket and family are not on its list. There are 6 kilometres of black against your 11.7 and no marked itinerary in our data, against 6.5. Around the village itself we measure 75 kilometres, so the size is in what you can reach, not on the doorstep. You fly to Geneva or Chambéry.
Alta Badia: if it is the gentle cruising, with the map in blue
- VillageVillage
- 1,568 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,778 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 500 km about, our sum
Alta Badia: 125 km of piste we measure. 76 km blue and easier 61%41 km red 33%8 km black 6%
If the best of a Klosters week is the whole family cruising together, Alta Badia does the same with a map that says so. Our read is warm and welcoming, with families, the Sella Ronda and its cooking on its list: gentle Dolomite cruising and world class mountain food.
The shape of the mountain is the same. Fifteen percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, exactly your share, and 40 percent is gentler than 15 percent, joint fourth of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 38. What changes is the label. There are 76 kilometres of blue and easier, more than three times your 24, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. A child who freezes at the top of a gentle red will happily set off down a blue.
The snow is closer to the line. The village is at 1,568 metres, 377 above yours, and 65 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800. The skiing reaches 2,509 metres by our measurement, 299 below yours, which keeps it snow sure on our measure, just. Alta Badia's own sector is 130 kilometres, and it sits on the Sellaronda, which puts around 500 kilometres within reach by lift, an approximate sum of measured kilometres rather than a published figure. The pass itself is sold as 1,200 kilometres, but that spans twelve areas, of which four are linked.
The trade is the manner and some of the black. Upmarket and quiet are not on its list, its reds average 21.7 percent against your 17.1, there are 7.5 kilometres of black against 11.7, and the airports are Venice or Innsbruck.
So, which one
you want the same height, snow and upmarket feel with more blue for the beginners, and you would welcome reds with more bite and a stylish town at the bottom.
the quiet village is the point, and you would like everything joined up on skis, with more easy piste than home.
cruising together as a family is what you love, and you would like the map to say blue.
Laax if you would rather stay in Switzerland and fly to Zurich, and a modern, youthful feel does not bother you.
It is the closest match we measure anywhere: the same height at the door, much the same share of skiing up high, a similar amount of piste with more of it blue, and the same upmarket feel. What changes is the gradient and the mood. The reds have more bite, and the evenings are stylish rather than discreet.