Like Tignes, but in Switzerland: the snow or the skiing?

Of the Swiss resorts we cover, Davos is the one our matching puts nearest to Tignes, and the one of these three that keeps Tignes's character. We class both as modern, and our read on Davos is busy and practical, which is half of how we describe Tignes. The skiing measures up closely. We measure 145 kilometres of piste around the town, 14.5 more than around Tignes. No Swiss resort we cover has more black than Davos's 20.7 kilometres, against Tignes's 20.5, and there are 13.3 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, against 14.2.

Davos passes our snow sure test as well, with 78 percent of its measured piste at or above 1,800 metres and the skiing reaching 2,808. And the mountain is kinder under the skis. Davos's blues average 16.2 percent and its reds 20.7, against Tignes's 17.6 and 23.1, and Tignes's blues are the second steepest of the 17 French resorts we cover.

The differences are height and shape. The town is 540 metres lower than Tignes and the skiing tops out 641 metres lower. Tignes puts a linked area over a high village; Davos is a working town, which our guide calls the highest town in Europe, beneath separate mountains. Of those, Davos shares only the Parsenn, 95.5 kilometres, properly with Klosters; reaching the others means a train, a bus or a car. The official figure is 300 kilometres, but measured independently across the same ten lift areas it is 224, so it is not the same 300 as Espace Killy's. In return you get a real high street, ice sports for a day off, and a train from Zurich airport to the middle of town.

If what you would miss is the certainty, St Moritz gives it back. Ninety-seven percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, exactly Tignes's share, and the two are joint fifth of the 55 resorts we cover. No Swiss village we cover is higher than its 1,822 metres, and its lifts carry you to 3,266 by our measure, 183 short of Tignes's top. On snow, it is the one Swiss pick that gives nothing away.

Almost everything else is a different holiday. Tignes is purpose built and practical; St Moritz is upmarket by our read, glamorous and sunny, with a frozen lake full of events, the Cresta Run, spas and designer shops, and a crowd that often skis the morning and does something else with the afternoon.

The skiing is spread out. Corviglia is the home hill; Corvatsch and Diavolezza mean a trip along the valley, and the 350 kilometres often quoted is the pass across the lot. We measure 106 kilometres around the town. Only 30 kilometres is blue and easier, against Tignes's 76 of green and blue, and there is no marked off piste itinerary at all, against Tignes's 14.2 kilometres. For a group that skis hard and stays on the piste, that is fine. For one that comes to Tignes for the easy glacier cruising or the off piste, it is a real loss.

Arosa is the one Swiss pick that skis like Espace Killy in a single respect: it is all joined. Arosa Lenzerheide is 225 kilometres across two valleys linked by one cable car, and the sources agree on the figure. We measure 183 kilometres around the village, 53 more than around Tignes and the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. Of that, 97 kilometres is blue and easier, again the most of the Swiss resorts we cover, against Tignes's 76 of green and blue.

It is high for Switzerland. The village is at 1,800 metres, the second highest of the Swiss resorts we cover, and it is snow sure on our measure: 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,848. Twenty-four percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against Tignes's 25, and when it is steep it means it: Arosa's blacks average 32.4 percent, the steepest of the Swiss resorts we cover.

The trade is the edge. Our read on Arosa is gentle, sunny and made for families, not modern or practical. There is less of the serious skiing a Tignes regular uses: 14.5 kilometres of black against 20.5, and 8.5 kilometres of itinerary against 14.2. The village is 300 metres lower and the skiing tops out 601 metres lower, with 65 percent of the piste above 1,800 metres against your 97. It is a Tignes week for a family that mostly cruises.