Love Wengen? Where to go next for the car free village, the quiet or the gentle runs
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20268 min read
People love Wengen for what is not there. It is car free, peaceful by our read, a balcony village under the Jungfrau, and the three things on our list of what it does best are no cars, the scenery and families. We tag it quiet, car free and good for families, and it shares the car free tag with just one other resort we cover.
So the question is which part of the peace you would miss. For some it is the car free village itself. For some it is the quiet, cars or no cars. For many it is a mountain gentle enough for the whole family. Each route here keeps one of those and gives something up for it.
Wengen, measured
One caution first. The area we map around Wengen runs on up to the Jungfraujoch, which is not Wengen's own skiing. So the table gives the top lift, and the shares are a guide rather than exact.
Gentle is the right word for Wengen, and it holds up. Thirty nine percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the joint seventh largest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and only 20 percent is steeper than one in four. The blues average 13.9 percent, against 15.0 for a typical Swiss blue. Those are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but a family skiing at three levels will feel the difference.
And yet there is a lot of black. Wengen has 20 kilometres of it, the second most of any Swiss resort we cover and well above the 14.1 at a typical resort. The blacks are kind, averaging 24.3 percent against a Swiss 26.7, and only three of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler blacks. The split between easy, red and black is the most even of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and the longest run we measure is a 3.9 kilometre red with 781 metres of vertical.
The size needs a sentence. Wengen's own sector is 101 kilometres. The Jungfrau pass says 211, but 54 of those are Mürren and the Schilthorn, which Wengen does not reach by lift.
On snow we are not making a call either way. Sixty six percent of the piste we map is at or above 1,800 metres and 88 percent above 1,500, but only 14 percent is above 2,200, and the Jungfraujoch muddies all three. Nobody can promise snow, and the heart of the season is the safer booking.
Zermatt: if it is the car free village
- 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.
Zermatt and Wengen are the only resorts we cover that we tag car free, and car free is on both lists of what they do best. Our read of Zermatt is elegant and car free, skiing under the most famous mountain in the world, and iconic scenery heads its list, so the view carries over too.
Then the mountain changes scale. The village is at 1,620 metres, 346 above Wengen's, and the lifts climb to 3,869 metres, a top station shared with Cervinia and the joint highest top of the 55 resorts we cover. Ninety nine percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, so on our measure it is snow sure, and the glacier skis year round. Around the village we measure 150.5 kilometres, against your 125.
Less of it is steep, too. Only 12 percent of Zermatt's piste is steeper than one in four, the smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and its reds average 17.2 percent, the second gentlest of the 55 we cover. There are 23 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, against your 2.5.
The trade is the hush and the family week. We tag Zermatt upmarket, not quiet and not family. Seventy one percent of its piste is red, the blue and easier runs come to 33 kilometres, 18 fewer than yours, and there are 11.2 kilometres of black, about half your 20. A confident couple will not miss a thing. A family with a beginner has less blue to work with.
Adelboden: if it is the gentle family skiing, nearest in Switzerland
- VillageVillage
- 1,350 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,362 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 85 km
Adelboden: 115 km of piste we measure. 52 km blue and easier 46%49 km red 43%13 km black 11%
Our matching puts Adelboden closer to Wengen than any other resort we cover, and underfoot it is nearly the same mountain. Thirty eight percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, against your 39, and it has 52 kilometres of blue and easier against your 51. The village is at 1,350 metres, 76 above Wengen's, and it is a family resort on our tags. Our read of it is traditional and warm, a classic chalet village linked to Lenk, with the World Cup on its list.
Plan the size with care. The Adelboden pass covers 188 kilometres, but across five sectors that are not all joined. From the village you can ski 85 without transport, Lenk included, against 101 in Wengen's own sector. Around the village we measure 115 kilometres of piste.
The trade is the hush and some of the edge. We tag Adelboden traditional rather than quiet or car free. A little more of it is steep, 25 percent against your 20, yet it has less black, 12.9 kilometres against 20. And less of it is high: the skiing reaches 2,356 metres by our measurement, and 55 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66. On our measure Adelboden is not snow sure.
Klosters: if it is the quiet family week, with higher skiing
- VillageVillage
- 1,191 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,844 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 96 km
Klosters: 97 km of piste we measure. 24 km blue and easier 24%62 km red 64%12 km black 12%
Plus 7 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If the peace matters more than the absence of cars, Klosters keeps it. Our read of it is discreet and pretty, the quiet neighbour to Davos, and we tag it quiet and good for families, as we tag Wengen, and upmarket besides.
It is gentle in the same way. Thirty eight percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against your 39, and 15 percent is steeper than one in four, against your 20. Its reds and blacks, averaging 17.1 and 21.1 percent, are the gentlest of the 55 resorts we cover.
The skiing sits higher. It reaches 2,808 metres by our measurement, well above Wengen's top lift, and 69 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, so on our measure Klosters is snow sure. The village, at 1,191 metres, is 83 below yours.
The trade is the easy runs and the layout. The piste map shows 24 kilometres of blue and easier, less than half your 51, and 11.7 of black against 20. Around the village we measure 97 kilometres. The main mountain, the Parsenn, is reached by the Gotschna cable car and shared with Davos, and otherwise there is Madrisa; the other mountains on the Davos Klosters pass are a train, bus or car away.
Alta Badia: if it is the easy runs and the family week, in the Dolomites
- 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%
Alta Badia is the closest match to Wengen we find in Italy, and on size and gentleness it is close to a copy. We measure 124.5 kilometres around it, against your 125, and 40 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 39. Both are family resorts on our tags. Our read of it is warm and welcoming, gentle Dolomite cruising with world class mountain food.
It has more of the easy skiing: 76 kilometres of blue and easier, against your 51, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four.
It sits higher and goes further. The village is at 1,568 metres, 294 above Wengen's, and 65 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,509 by our measurement, so on our measure it is snow sure. Its own sector is 130 kilometres, and from a base on the Sellaronda around 500 is reachable by lift, a figure we built from our own measurements rather than one Dolomiti Superski publishes.
The trade is the black and the peace: 7.5 kilometres of black against your 20, and we tag it neither quiet nor car free.
So, which one
the car free village is what you would miss most, and you want much more height and snow, with a group happy on red.
you want the same gentle family skiing in Switzerland, in a traditional village, and can do without the hush.
the quiet matters most, you want the skiing higher, and you can live with fewer blue runs.
easy skiing for the family is the point, and a new country appeals.
Wengen is a car free village first, and Zermatt is the only other one we cover. It keeps the view, puts less of its piste on steep ground, and is higher, bigger and snow sure on our measure. What you give up is the hush, and some easy blue.