When half the group does not ski: Kitzbühel, and seven more that work
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20268 min read
Half of us ski and half of us do not. Where can the ones who do not have a proper week, and still meet the others for lunch?
Kitzbühel.
Of the 26 resorts whose things to do we have researched, eight work for a split group on our lines, and Kitzbühel leads them. Eleven of the things we checked there are free, the most of the eight, starting with the walled old town. Seven of its lifts carry people on foot, so the non skiers can ride up for a hut lunch, and the town pool takes the wet day.
How we decided
We can do this properly for 26 of the 55 resorts we cover: the ones with our own guide and a list of things to do checked entry by entry. The rest are left out, not ruled out. Every count is of what we have checked, so a shorter list means less checked, not less to do.
A town worth the day. Our notes call it a town or a village worth the time or pick it out for non skiers, tag it traditional or car free, or an entry says its centre is closed to cars. Ten of the 26 pass.
A pool, or a spa that takes visitors, in the resort or a short bus ride away. That drops Cortina d'Ampezzo and Lech, where our guides describe spas we have not yet checked.
A way up on foot. All 26 have an entry that tells a walker how to ride the lifts, so getting up is the easy part. What differs is paying: a week pass in some places, ride by ride in others. Davos and Cervinia sell no pedestrian pass at all.
The order: free things first, because the non skier is the one not using a lift pass, then things in the village.
| Kitzbühel | 11 | 9 | Walking tickets, seven lifts | Aquarena | Medieval and lively |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zermatt | 10 | 10 | Peak Pass, three sectors | Hotel pools | Elegant and car free |
| Davos | 8 | 9 | Returns, ride by ride | eau-la-la | Busy and practical |
| Megève | 8 | 7 | Pass for six villages | Le Palais | Elegant and calm |
| Grindelwald | 8 | 3 | Hiking and sledging pass | Sportzentrum | Postcard pretty |
| Chamonix | 5 | 6 | Pedestrian package | Richard Bozon | A real working town |
| Gstaad | 4 | 3 | Lifts that take walkers | Palace spa | Quietly wealthy |
| St. Moritz | 3 | 9 | Zone tickets | OVAVERVA | Glamorous and sunny |
The catch: the most free and the best towns rarely come together
Les Arcs has the most free things of all, twelve, one more than Kitzbühel, with La Plagne and Tignes among the four on ten. Between them those modern French resorts give away beginner lifts, sledging and lifts that carry walkers, but none passes our town line, and our own guide finds the purpose built villages of Les Arcs functional for long days off skis.
At the other end sit the famous names. Our notes pick St. Moritz out for non skier activities, yet only three of the 25 things we checked there are free, joint fewest of the 26 with Val Thorens; Gstaad has four. Kitzbühel and Zermatt are the two with both, plenty free and a town worth the day, which is why they lead. And if your skiers are strong, of the five resorts we tag for experts only Chamonix makes the eight.
1. Kitzbühel: the most free things of the eight, in a real town
Kitzbühel is a town that happens to have skiing, and the non skier gets the town. The walled centre, Vorderstadt and Hinterstadt, costs nothing, with the museum, the casino and the galleries a few minutes apart and the pavements mostly clear of snow. The seven churches are free to walk into, the cross country tracks need no pass, and the Streif training days in race week are free to watch.
Seven lifts are approved to carry people on foot. Send the non skiers up the Bichlalm for a hut lunch and a view, or have them walk up to the Seidlalm, a working farm on the Hahnenkamm that the skiers reach on skis. The Aquarena is the pool for the day it pours, and the skiers get the Streif and a lot of easy cruising.
2. Zermatt: a pass made for the week you are not skiing
Zermatt has more on our village list than any of the 26, and ten free things: electric buses that charge nobody, two rinks in the village, and walks, roughly half of them leaving from a village with no lift. The village is car free, so walking is the pleasure, not the commute.
The Peak Pass is the entry's own answer for a week without skis: unlimited travel across all three sectors and the Gornergrat railway. Alphitta is half a kilometre on foot from Riffelalp station, and Restaurant Zum See is a walk up for half the table and a ski down for the rest. There is no public pool, but several hotel pools take outside guests.
3. Davos: a real town, and a free way up on foot
Davos is a town before it is a resort: a long promenade, a serious museum, ice wherever you look. Its free things include about 160 kilometres of prepared winter walking, natural ice at the Seehofseeli, and the paths round the Schatzalp. The Thomas Mann trail climbs there from town, so a walker goes up for nothing and takes the funicular down, and Restaurant Strela-Alp is a short walk from the top.
There is no pedestrian pass, so you buy returns mountain by mountain, which suits somebody going up once or twice. On a wet day eau-la-la has the pools and an eighty metre slide, and the Kirchner Museum is the cultural draw.
4. Megève: one pedestrian pass, six villages
Megève is a real village, and its free list is a slow one: three heritage walks with English audio on your phone, marked snowshoe routes, sledging, and a bus free to everybody. The proper mountain day without skis is the Jaillet: up the gondola on a pedestrian ticket, then six kilometres back down into the village with almost no climbing.
The pedestrian pass covers lifts in six villages across Evasion Mont Blanc, and the days need not run in a row. Le Palais has the pool, a big wellness area and an Olympic ice rink with curling for people who cannot skate. Our guide's tip for the skiers: Chamonix is a short drive for a steep day.
5. Grindelwald: the mountain is the day out
Grindelwald's list leans to the mountain, nine entries up there and three in the village. The free ones include more than a hundred kilometres of winter hiking trail, free where it starts on the valley floor, and the Liechtliweg, an evening walk under more than nineteen thousand lights. Sledging is the strongest thing for somebody not skiing, on the entry's word: over fifty kilometres of runs on one pass.
A pedestrian return to the Eigergletscher puts a walker at the foot of the Eiger north face, with a restaurant and a bistro for lunch, and the Sportzentrum has a pool, a sauna and an indoor rink. Our guide picks Grindelwald out for exactly this split: half on skis, half on a train to the ice.
6. Chamonix: a working town, for a group whose skiers are strong
Chamonix is the only one of the eight we tag for experts, and the one with a working town for the non skier. The best tip costs nothing: in the entry's words, the guest card your accommodation gives you on arrival covers the whole SNCF line between Servoz and Vallorcine, which is every village in the valley. Twenty snowshoe routes are published with times and climbs, and the sledging at Bois du Bouchet is a flat walk from the centre.
Le Brévent and La Flégère take pedestrians, looking straight across at Mont Blanc, and the Aiguille du Midi brings plenty of people who never meant to ski. The Centre Sportif Richard Bozon, a five minute walk from the centre, has the pools and an Olympic ice rink.
7. Gstaad: four free things, and the best of them is the street
Only four of the things we checked in Gstaad are free, but the first is, in the entry's words, the reason a non skier stays here rather than somewhere else: the Promenade, a centre closed to cars, one street of wooden chalets, galleries and watchmakers from the station door. Another is the free train and bus with the Gstaad Card, and a hundred and sixty two kilometres of winter walking are waymarked in pink.
Sledging is the strongest card, with eight runs. This winter the Rinderberg cable car carries people on foot up to its fondue evenings, and on its night skiing evenings the Eggli gondola goes free for the later rides. The Gstaad Palace, in its season, takes outside bookings for spa treatments.
8. St. Moritz: plenty to do, and most of it paid for
St. Moritz has plenty for non skiers; most of what we checked is paid for. The three free things are the Eisarena Ludains in Bad, the lakes walk to Celerina, and oV Inklusive, the transport that comes with the bed. The rest you pay for: the Cresta Run, which a complete beginner over 18 can ride, the bob, racing on the frozen lake, the Segantini Museum.
Walkers buy zone tickets, up to Corviglia and its restaurants or to Piz Nair at 3,057 metres, and Restaurant 3303 at the top of Corvatsch needs no ski legs. OVAVERVA, the public pool and spa, is the bad weather answer.
The near misses
St. Anton fails only our town line, since our notes call it energetic and social, and otherwise has eight free things, nine in the village, the Arlberg WellCom pool and the Sonnenabo, a pedestrian pass for both ends of the Arlberg. Lech shares that pass, has the Skyspace free to walk into, and the Rüfikopf Panoramarestaurant is a lunch a non skier rides up to. Cortina d'Ampezzo has the pedestrian Corso Italia and Capanna Ra Valles, reached without skis on the cable car. Lech and Cortina miss only because we have not yet checked a spa at either.
Who should ignore this advice
A family that wants the most for nothing.
Les Arcs has two lifts that carry walkers with no pass, the Les Coches gondola at La Plagne is free on foot, and Tignes has nine free beginner lifts. The villages are built around the skiing, but a great deal is given away.
A group whose week depends on the snow.
These lines measure the non skier's week, not the skiing, so judge the skiing separately.
Strong skiers who will not compromise.
Chamonix, or St. Anton.
So, which one
the non skier wants the mountain every day and one pass to cover it.
your skiers are strong.
the non skier would rather sledge than shop.
the week is about the events and nobody is counting.
a free old town, lifts that take walkers up to the huts, a pool for the wet day, and a farm on the Hahnenkamm where the skiers arrive on skis and the others walk up to meet them.