Gstaad
Understated wealth in a chocolate box valley.
- Top of the skiing548m below the median of 2,697m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 2,149m
- The village300m below the median of 1,350m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 1,050m
- SeasonThe standard Alpine season, shared by 42 of the 55 resorts we cover.
- December to April
Is Gstaad right for you?
Gstaad is a chalet village of quiet, moneyed charm, spread across a beautiful corner of the Bernese Oberland. The village sits at 1,050m and the skiing tops out at 2,149m, and the season runs December to April. On the piste it is a real strength for improvers moving from blue into red. Nine separate areas on one pass, so a week here is a plan rather than a lift map.
Gstaad at a glance
- Ski area
- Gstaad Mountain Rides
- Best for
- Non skiers · Couples · Fine dining
- Fly to
- Geneva or Zurich
- Transfer
- About 2h by road from Geneva
- Doorstep skiing
- Limited, use lifts
Who Gstaad suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Non skiers. Non skiers are well looked after, with the traffic free promenade, horse drawn sleighs, a natural ice rink, hotel spas open to day guests and scenic train rides.
- Couples. Timber chalets, tree lined runs and a walkable, car light village give couples a calm week where a long lunch with a view matters more than mileage.
- Fine dining. Gstaad has celebrated fine dining rooms and hotel restaurants that draw people up the valley, ideal for a special occasion tasting menu with a serious wine list.
- Families with young children. Gentle blue and red runs through the trees, calm car light streets and reassuring nursery areas take much of the stress out of a ski week with small children.
Less good for
- Mileage chasers. The sectors do not all join up on skis, so days mean the ski bus or regional train, which frustrates anyone measuring a holiday in linked kilometres.
- Snow sure. The village sits at 1,050 metres and we measure only 15 percent of the local piste above 1,800 metres, so these slopes depend more on the weather than higher resorts.
- Après. Evenings are an aperitif in a hotel bar or wine by the fire, so a stag or hen group after a big night every night will find it sleepy.
Skiing from 951m to 2,149m, village at 1,050m.
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 951mRougemont, end of the La Videmanette run.
- Village
- 1,050m
- Top of the skiing
- 2,149mOur measurement of the highest marked piste.
- 73km blue57%
- 37km red29%
- 18km black14%
We found no official split by colour for Gstaad, so this is our own measurement of the marked runs around it, from the piste map.
No green: Swiss pistes are graded from blue.
- Black piste
- 18km, 14% of the pisteMore than the median of 11% across the 55 resorts we cover.
- Ski area
- Gstaad ski region, 200kmBergbahnen Destination Gstaad. Areas not all linked by piste.
- Cross country
- 130km of trails
Sources
- Village height: skisolutions.com
- Village height: onthesnow.co.uk
- Lowest skiing: myswitzerland.com
- Cross country: gstaad.ch
- Ski area: gstaad.ch
- Top of the skiing: our measurement of the highest marked piste
- Piste by colour and the steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
200km on the pass, across nine separate areas.
- 73km blue57%
- 37km red28%
- 18km black14%
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength, on an even spread
- Confident intermediatesFine
- Strong skiersFine
The spreadSomething for everyone. It scores 0.87 for evenness, where 1 is a perfect three way split between blue, red and black, the 19th most even spread of the 55 resorts we cover. A mixed group should all find their level here.
Longest piste87, 3.7km of blue with 780m of vertical.
The Gstaad Mountain Rides pass covers 200km, measured independently at 201km, across nine separate areas, and no single figure says what you can ski from Gstaad by lift alone.
Our own measurement of the run geometry around Gstaad comes to 128km of graded piste, and that is what the profile below is drawn from.
Sources: skiresort.com
Gstaad among its Swiss peers
Of these five, Gstaad has the fourth highest top of the skiing, 2,149m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 2,697m.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
The terrain suits families and intermediates, with the higher Glacier 3000 offering snow sure runs when the lower areas are thin. It is not a resort for hardcore steeps, but it is lovely for a relaxed week.
The village and the evenings
The pedestrian promenade is lined with smart shops and grand hotels, yet the mood stays understated rather than showy. It is wealth that whispers.
Beyond the skiing.
Free, and worth knowing
The Gstaad Promenade. The best free thing in the resort and the reason a non skier stays here rather than somewhere else. The centre of Gstaad is closed to cars: one street of wooden chalets holding cafes, galleries, watchmakers, ski shops and the international luxury houses, with horse drawn carriages working it in the snow. You can walk it end to end, look at all of it and spend nothing, and it starts straight out of the railway station, so it is the first thing anybody arriving by train sees.
Free train and bus with the Gstaad Card. From your first night, in any participating accommodation, second class train and bus travel across the whole holiday region comes free with the Gstaad Card. It is automatic, it is funded out of the resort tax that is on the bill anyway, and since 1 May 2024 it has covered arrival and departure days as well.
A hundred and sixty two kilometres of winter walking. The tourist office's headline is a hundred and sixty two kilometres of prepared winter walking path across the Saanenland, waymarked in pink so they are easy to pick out from the ski signage. The one route published with numbers against it is the Eggli circular from the top of the gondola, three point one kilometres and an hour and a quarter with a hundred and seventy eight metres of climb, graded moderate. Snowshoes can be hired locally for anybody who wants to get off the prepared paths.
A free evening ride on the Eggli gondola. Buried in the listing for the Eggli Night Vibes evenings is one line worth having: the gondola ride is free from half past seven. So on any Thursday between 31 December 2026 and 25 February 2027 somebody who is not skiing can ride the Eggli gondola up and down for nothing after 19:30, eat at the Berghaus or not, and come back.
A few of the rest
The eight toboggan runs. Sledging is the strongest non skiing card this resort holds, and unusually all eight runs are published individually with their length, time, drop and grade. The long one is the Wispile at eight point two kilometres and seven hundred and twenty nine metres of descent, coming down to the edge of Gstaad itself. The Eggli at six point four kilometres is graded easy and is the one described as having the view, which makes it the family choice. Price on request.
Full moon sledging at Saanersloch. The set piece sledging evening, and both 2027 dates are already published. Fondue at the mountain restaurant first, then down the piste from the top station to the mid station under a full moon, with the last descent leaving at half past nine. Twenty nine francs buys the fondue and thirty six buys as much of it as you like. Reserve the sledge along with the table, because hire is by reservation only and there are two nights of demand for it. CHF 20 to 50.
Eggli Night Vibes, floodlit skiing and fondue. Thursday evenings on the Eggli: floodlit skiing on the Schopfen piste, a three course fondue at the Berghaus and a party in the lounge until eleven. It runs every Thursday from New Year's Eve to 25 February. The gondola is free after half past seven, so somebody who only wants the dinner and the lights can go up for nothing and let the skiers pay. CHF 20 to 50.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
17 places we would send you to
The Wasserngrat above Gstaad, and the one mountain room here that gets treated as a destination rather than a refuelling stop.
Up the hill above Gstaad at Le Grand Chalet, and the climb is real, so either walk it deliberately or take a taxi.
A working butcher on Saanen's main street by day that turns into a bar at night, which is a better idea than it sounds.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
Getting there
Geneva is about two hours away, and the panoramic Swiss trains make the journey a pleasure.
- Genevaabout 2h by road
- Zurichabout 2h45 by road
Bern is closer, about 1h20, but has little or no direct service from the UK, so most people fly to Geneva, where flights are more frequent and usually cheaper.