Love Laax? Where to go next for the gentle piste, the height or the style
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20267 min read
Laax is loved for its feel as much as for its skiing. Our read of it is modern and youthful, a design led resort and a freestyle mecca, and the top of its list is snowboarding, freestyle and design. We class it as both upmarket and modern.
Under the mood sits a mountain with a clear shape. It is one linked area of 176 kilometres. It has more marked off piste itinerary than any other Swiss resort we cover. And it is gentle: only two of the 55 resorts we cover have a smaller share of piste steeper than one in four. Nothing in our data measures a terrain park, so we cannot match the freestyle like for like. What we can match is the mountain under it, and that gives three clear routes.
Laax, measured
The size first, because both of its numbers are honest. Laax is marketed at 216 kilometres, which is exactly the 176 kilometres of piste plus 40 of ski route. They count different things, and the 176 is the piste, all of it linked. Around the village itself we measure 124 kilometres, a little above the 116 of a typical resort we cover.
Then the height, which the low village hides. Laax sits at 1,100 metres, against the 1,350 of a typical resort we cover, but the skiing climbs to 2,968. Seventy two percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, and half of it sits above 2,127. That makes Laax snow sure on our measure, with most of the skiing a long way above the village.
And then the gradient. Laax measures gentler than a typical Swiss resort at every grade. Its blues average 14.4 percent against a Swiss average of 15.0, its reds 19.5 against 19.9 and its blacks 25.5 against 26.7, and only 14 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. Those are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so a black here can still have a moment. But the shape is plain: kind piste for most of the group, with 27.7 kilometres of marked itinerary for the ones who want more, the most of any Swiss resort we cover.
So "somewhere like Laax" means gentle piste, a lot of marked off piste, one big linked area, skiing well above the village, and a modern, upmarket feel. Each route keeps some of that and asks you to give up something else.
Zermatt: if it is the gentle piste and the off piste, much higher
- VillageVillage
- 1,620 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,899 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 322 km
Zermatt: 151 km of piste we measure. 33 km blue and easier 22%107 km red 71%11 km black 8%
Plus 23 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If you love Laax because the piste is kind and the off piste is marked, Zermatt keeps both and lifts them a long way up the mountain. It is gentler still: 12 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, the lowest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against Laax's 14, and its reds average 17.2 percent, against your 19.5. There are 23.1 kilometres of marked itinerary, not far short of your 27.7. We class both resorts as upmarket, and you can still fly to Zurich.
The difference is altitude. Zermatt's village is at 1,620 metres, 520 above Laax, and the skiing reaches 3,869 metres by our measurement, the top of a lift it shares with Cervinia and the joint highest of the 55 resorts we cover. Ninety nine percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the biggest share of any Swiss resort we cover, against your 72. The glacier keeps skiing going all year.
There is more of it too. We measure 150 kilometres around Zermatt, the second most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and about 26 more than around Laax, and the area links over the border with Cervinia, measured at 322 kilometres together, though the Italian side needs the International pass.
The trade is the mood and the mix. Zermatt is elegant and car free, known for its scenery and its glacier, where Laax is modern and youthful. And it is a red mountain: 32.7 kilometres of blue and easier against your 57.4. The reds are gentle, but a beginner has far fewer blues to choose from.
Tignes: if it is the modern resort, a thousand metres up
- VillageVillage
- 2,100 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,456 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 300 km
Tignes: 130 km of piste we measure. 76 km green and blue 58%34 km red 26%21 km black 16%
Plus 14 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
We tag Tignes modern, as we do Laax, and our read of it is practical and high, built for skiing. The village is at 2,100 metres, the second highest of the 55 resorts we cover and exactly 1,000 above Laax. Ninety seven percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint fifth highest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and the skiing reaches 3,449 metres, 481 above yours and the highest of the 17 French resorts we cover. The season runs from late November to early May, longer at both ends than Laax's December to April.
On the doorstep, the size is about the same. We measure 130 kilometres around Tignes against 124 around Laax, and Espace Killy, which Tignes shares with Val d'Isère, is 300 kilometres of linked skiing. There are 75.9 kilometres of green and blue, against your 57 of blue and easier, and 20.5 kilometres of black, against 11.9.
The trade is the gentle gradient and the off piste. A quarter of Tignes's piste, 25 percent, is steeper than one in four, against 14 at Laax, and its blues average 17.6 percent against your 14.4, so the easy runs ask more of a nervous skier. Oddly, the blacks run the other way, averaging 23.5 percent, and only two of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler blacks. The marked itinerary is 14.2 kilometres, about half yours, and we do not class Tignes as upmarket. Fly to Geneva.
Cortina d'Ampezzo: if it is the upmarket feel, in Italy
- 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.
Across all 55 resorts we cover, our matching puts Cortina d'Ampezzo closest to Laax. It keeps the upmarket label, and its share of gentle piste is all but the same: 36 percent gentler than 15 percent, against your 37. The village is at 1,224 metres, 124 above Laax, and Cortina is stylish and scenic, known for the Dolomites, style and long lunches, and a host of the 2026 Games. If what you love about Laax is its upmarket feel, this is the Italian version, with the long lunch built in.
The skiing changes more than the mood. A quarter of Cortina's piste, 25 percent, is steeper than one in four, against your 14, and its blacks average 32.5 percent against 25.5. We measure 86 kilometres around the town, about 39 fewer than around Laax. Cortina is quoted at 120 kilometres, a figure we have not checked, and the Dolomiti Superski pass covers 1,200 kilometres across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift. The marked itinerary is 9.2 kilometres, a third of yours.
On height, Cortina's lifts reach 3,028 metres, but the highest piste we measure starts at 2,724, 241 below the highest at Laax. Sixty seven percent is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 72, and it is snow sure on our measure. Fly to Venice or Innsbruck.
So, which one
you want Laax's kind piste and marked off piste much higher up, in Switzerland, and you can live with fewer blues and a more polished mood.
a modern resort built for skiing is the point and you want far more height and a longer season, and steeper easy runs do not worry you.
an upmarket week with Italian style and long lunches matters more than the amount of skiing.
Alta Badia if the gentle cruising is what you would miss most and nobody needs the itinerary.
It is the only pick that keeps all three things Laax's mountain does best, the gentle gradient, the marked off piste and the upmarket feel, and then adds 901 metres at the top. What you leave behind is the youthful buzz, and a good share of the blue runs.