All Resorts

Davos Klosters

The world's highest city, the largest ski area in the Graubünden, and where WEF week makes the mountain empty.

Our Take

Davos is the highest city in Europe at 1,560 meters, and the Davos Klosters ski area surrounding it is the largest in the Graubünden with 320km of pistes across six interconnected ski zones. The Parsenn -- the main mountain accessed from the Weissfluhjoch at 2,844 meters -- has some of the best groomed intermediate terrain in Switzerland, with long sustained runs dropping to the valley floors and the option to ski all the way down to Klosters village for the train back. This is Swiss skiing at its most efficient. The World Economic Forum in January fills Davos with billionaires, world leaders, and an unprecedented density of private jets -- which does have the secondary effect of making the mountain relatively quiet during WEF week, since most attendees are in conference rooms rather than on skis. The Jakobshorn on the opposite side of the valley is the snowboard and freestyle area. Schatzalp, above the historic Berghotel Schatzalp (the sanatorium from Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain), adds a gentler north-facing zone. Davos is resort-scale infrastructure with a real city underneath it -- not a purpose-built ski town but an actual city that happens to have exceptional mountains on both sides.

Long-run intermediate skiersSwiss Alpine efficiency seekersMulti-zone resort explorersWEF-week mountain crowd avoidersNordic skiing combiners

Nerd Stats

Piste Length

320km

Summit Elevation

9,330'

No. of Lifts

55

City Elevation

5,118'

Fun Facts

  • The World Economic Forum in Davos every January brings world leaders and billionaires -- the ski slopes are measurably less crowded during WEF week.
  • The Parsenn runs to Klosters are 12+ kilometers long with 1,900 meters of vertical -- among the longest and most sustained descents in the Alps.
  • Thomas Mann set The Magic Mountain (1924) at a sanatorium in Davos. The Berghotel Schatzalp above the city is the real-life inspiration.
  • Davos is the largest ski resort in Switzerland by piste kilometer and has 55 lifts serving its six interconnected zones.