Like Mayrhofen, but in Switzerland: the family week at the same height, without the nights
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Mayrhofen is easy to love for more than one reason. It is a lively, welcoming town low in the Zillertal, with nightlife, families and a snow park at the top of our list for it. Above the town is a red mountain with a steep signature run. Of the 90.5 kilometres of piste we measure there, 53 percent is red and 32 percent is steeper than one in four, against 26 at the median resort we cover.
And it climbs. The town is at 630 metres, the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover, but half the piste we measure lies above 1,829 metres, 55 percent is at or above 1,800, and the skiing tops out at 2,412, measured.
The honest headline: our Swiss matches do not do Mayrhofen's evenings. None of the three Swiss resorts our matching suggests is lively by our read, and all three are looser matches than Mayrhofen's closest in France. What Switzerland can give you is the family week with the piste at the same height, and, for the strong skiers, the steep under far higher skiing. Adelboden does the first almost to the metre. Engelberg does the second.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Piste we measure around the village | Easy piste | Steeper than one in four | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkMayrhofen | 630 m | 2,412 m | 90.5 km | 28.5 km blue and easier | 32% | 55% |
| Adelboden | 1,350 m | 2,356 m | 114.6 km | 52.3 km blue and easier | 25% | 55% |
| Engelberg | 1,000 m | 3,004 m | 46 km | 19.6 km green and blue | 31% | 53% |
Adelboden: the closest on the height of the piste
- VillageVillage
- 1,350 m 720 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,362 m 138 m lower
Adelboden: 115 km of piste we measure. 52 km blue and easier 46%49 km red 43%13 km black 11%
Adelboden's piste sits at almost the same height as Mayrhofen's. Fifty five percent of what we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the same share as Mayrhofen's, and half of it lies above 1,829 metres, the same figure again. The skiing tops out at 2,356 metres, measured, 56 below Mayrhofen's top. Neither passes our snow sure test, and for the same reason: the share is there, but the skiing stops short of 2,500 metres.
What changes is the village. Adelboden's is at 1,350 metres, 720 above Mayrhofen's, and the lowest piste we measure there is at 1,273 metres, against 625 at Mayrhofen. Most of the skiing sits in the same band; you simply sleep higher up it.
It keeps the family week. Our read on Adelboden is traditional and warm, a classic chalet village linked to Lenk, with tradition, families and the World Cup on its list, and we class it as traditional and family. What it does not keep is the lively label. Nightlife and the snow park are on Mayrhofen's list, not Adelboden's.
The mountain is bigger and kinder. We measure 114.6 kilometres of piste around the village, 24 more than around Mayrhofen, with 52.3 kilometres of blue and easier against 28.5, and 49.4 of red against 47.9. Those reds are gentler, though: they average 21.3 percent against Mayrhofen's 23.3, and 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 32. There are 12.9 kilometres of black against 14.1, and 1.6 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary where Mayrhofen has none in our data. Only the blues go the other way. They average 14.5 percent, against Mayrhofen's 12.7, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover.
The area works the way a Mayrhofen regular will recognise. Mayrhofen's own 142 kilometres sit on a valley pass of four separate areas, and the Adelboden pass covers 188 kilometres across five areas that are not all joined. From the village you can ski 85 of them without transport, Lenk included, since it is joined by lift. Our 114.6 kilometres takes in more than that 85, so read it as a guide to the size, not to what is linked.
Engelberg: the closest on the steep, under far higher skiing
- VillageVillage
- 1,000 m 370 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,028 m 528 m higher
Engelberg: 46 km of piste we measure. 20 km green and blue 43%22 km red 48%4.5 km black 10%
If what you love is the steep signature run and the long climb above a low town, Engelberg has that shape, stretched. The village is at 1,000 metres, the lowest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and 370 above Mayrhofen's, and the skiing reaches 3,004 metres, measured, 592 higher than Mayrhofen's top. Fifty three percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 3,004, so it is snow sure on our measure, which Mayrhofen is not. The season runs from December to May.
The steep carries over too. Thirty one percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against Mayrhofen's 32, and the reds average 24.0 percent, the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against 23.3. Our read on Engelberg is down to earth and snowy, with off piste, the glacier and freeride on its list. Its real draw, the Laub and Steintäli freeride descents, appears in none of our piste figures.
The trade is everything else. We measure 46 kilometres of piste around the village, the least of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against Mayrhofen's 90.5. There are 19.6 kilometres of green and blue, also the least of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and 4.5 of black against 14.1. The Titlis and Brunni face each other across the valley with no lift between them, joined by a ski bus. We class Engelberg as an expert resort, not a family or a lively one: it is a week for the strong skiers in your Mayrhofen group, not for the whole group.
The one we left out, and the one our matching did not pick
Villars, our matching's second Swiss suggestion, is a relaxed family resort with a view of Mont Blanc, and it is out on purpose. It has 1.5 kilometres of black, the least of the 55 resorts we cover, and the lowest measured top of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. It keeps the family label and very little of Mayrhofen's mountain.
If it is the nights you would miss most, Verbier is the one Swiss resort we cover that we class as lively, with nightlife on its list. Our matching does not put it among the three Swiss resorts closest to Mayrhofen, so it is not on this page.
Families are on Mayrhofen's list, and Adelboden keeps the family week with its piste at almost the same height as Mayrhofen's: the same share at or above 1,800 metres, half of it above the same 1,829 metres, a top only 56 metres lower, and more piste around the village, with far more blue. Go knowing the village is traditional rather than lively, the reds are kinder, and the snow park is on Mayrhofen's list, not Adelboden's. If the steep is the point and everyone in the group can ski it, Engelberg.