Love Zermatt? Where to go next, depending on what you love about it
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20264 min read
Nothing quite replaces Zermatt. The car free streets, the Matterhorn at the end of every one of them, skiing on the glacier all year, and a lift link over to Italy. People who love it tend to love it a lot.
So when Zermatt regulars want somewhere new, the honest answer is a question: what is it you love about it? Each answer points somewhere different.
First, Zermatt measured
That last line surprises people. Zermatt's pistes are, by our measurement, the least steep of any resort we cover. Its reputation for serious skiing rests on the off piste and the itineraries, not on the marked runs. The pistes are long, wide and forgiving, and a lot of what is graded red would not frighten a confident blue skier.
Which matters when you go looking for a replacement, because "somewhere like Zermatt" can mean two quite different mountains.
Wengen: if it is the car free village
- VillageVillage
- 1,274 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,320 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 101 km
Wengen: 125 km of piste we measure. 51 km blue and easier 40%54 km red 43%20 km black 16%
Wengen is the only other car free resort we cover. You arrive by train, the village sits under the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and the evenings are quiet.
The trade is altitude, and it is a big one. Wengen's village is at 1,274 metres, about 350 metres lower than Zermatt's, and its highest lift reaches 2,320 metres against Zermatt's almost 3,900. Wengen's own ski area is 101 kilometres. The Jungfrau pass says 211, but that counts Mürren, which is not lift linked to Wengen.
Choose it for the village and the scenery, in a good snow year, and do not go in late March expecting Zermatt's glacier.
Val d'Isère: if it is the altitude, with polish
- VillageVillage
- 1,850 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,456 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 300 km
Val d'Isère: 158 km of piste we measure. 90 km green and blue 57%46 km red 29%22 km black 14%
Plus 29 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Val d'Isère's village is at 1,850 metres, higher than Zermatt's, and its lifts reach 3,456. Espace Killy, which it shares with Tignes, is 300 kilometres, close to Zermatt's 322 once you count Cervinia. It is upmarket without being precious, and the season runs from late November to early May.
What you give up is the car free calm. Val d'Isère is livelier in the evening, with traffic on the main street. And it is steeper. Twenty nine percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against Zermatt's twelve, and it has 29 kilometres of marked itinerary. For a strong skier that is the point. For a Zermatt cruiser it is worth knowing.
Laax: if it is the long, easy cruising
- VillageVillage
- 1,100 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,018 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 176 km
Laax: 124 km of piste we measure. 57 km blue and easier 46%55 km red 44%12 km black 10%
Plus 28 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If what you love about Zermatt is mile after mile of wide, forgiving piste, Laax is the closest match we measure. Only 14 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, close to Zermatt's twelve, across 176 kilometres that are genuinely joined up. The 216 kilometres you will see quoted adds 40 kilometres of ski routes on top.
The trade is the village. Laax sits at 1,100 metres, more than 500 metres below Zermatt, and its feel is modern and young rather than elegant. The lifts still reach 3,018 metres, so the skiing has height even when the village does not.
So, which one
the car free village is what you would miss most, and you can live with lower slopes.
you want the altitude and a big linked area, and you are happy with a livelier village and steeper runs.
the long, easy cruising is the point.
It keeps the most of what Zermatt gives you, and it adds things Zermatt does not.