Like Méribel, but in Switzerland: the family week travels best

Our matching puts Arosa closer to Méribel than any other resort of the 55 we cover, in any country. It keeps the family character, and our read on it is gentle and sunny, with families, sunshine and snow sure top of its list. You ski it as one joined up mountain: Arosa Lenzerheide, 225 kilometres over two valleys and a connecting cable car, a figure three sources agree on. No Swiss resort we cover measures more piste around the village than Arosa's 183 kilometres, or more blue and easier than its 97.

The feel underfoot is familiar at the easy end: 35 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against Méribel's 32. And the strongest skier in the family will find the blacks are proper ones. They average 32.4 percent, steeper than at any other Swiss resort we cover and within a whisker of Méribel's 32.8. There are just fewer of them: 14.5 kilometres, under half of Méribel's 30.

One thing the village height hides. Arosa sits at 1,800 metres, 350 above Méribel, but less of its piste is high: 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, against Méribel's 78, and the skiing tops out at 2,848 metres, 43 below Méribel's top. It is snow sure on our measure, but the higher village does not make it the snowier mountain.

The rest of the trade is scale and bite. We measure about seven tenths of Méribel's piste, 225 kilometres is a big area but a fraction of a 600 kilometre one, and only 24 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 31. Arosa's reds average 21.8 percent against Méribel's 25.4. For most of a family that is an easier week. For the confident skier in it, it is a quieter one.

If you want the snow you are used to, Davos matches it exactly on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, the same share as Méribel, up to 2,808 metres. It is snow sure on our measure, the town sits at 1,560 metres, 110 above Méribel, and the share of gentle piste is all but the same, 31 percent against 32.

It is also the Swiss pick for the family member who goes looking for harder skiing. Its 20.7 kilometres of black put it top of the Swiss resorts we cover, and its marked off piste itinerary, 13.3 kilometres, is more than twice Méribel's 4.9. The Parsenn gives the long runs, all the way down to Klosters.

The trades are the setting and the shape. Davos is a busy, practical town with trams and supermarkets rather than a chalet village, though it has every amenity and good ski schools. Its mountains are not joined: Klosters shares the Parsenn, 95.5 kilometres, and the rest are a train or bus ride apart. The 300 kilometres Davos publishes is about a third above the 224 we measure across the same lift areas. Its blacks are kinder than Méribel's too, averaging 25.8 percent against 32.8.

If the part of Méribel you love is the chalet village, Adelboden is the Swiss answer. By our read it is a classic chalet village, traditional and warm, and families and World Cup racing are among the things it does best. At 1,350 metres it sits 100 below Méribel. The skiing is kind: 38 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against Méribel's 32, and 25 percent is steeper than one in four.

Be clear about the size. The Adelboden-Lenk domain you can ski from the village is 85 kilometres, Lenk included. The pass covers 188 kilometres, but across five areas that are not all joined, so the bigger figure overstates a week by a long way. We measure 115 kilometres of piste around the village.

The bigger trade is height. Adelboden does not meet our snow sure measure: 55 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, and the skiing tops out at 2,356 metres, 535 below Méribel's. In a good winter that is a lovely family week. In a thin one it is a gamble Méribel does not ask you to take.