5 Days in Davos and Klosters

The Parsenn funicular is how Davos has gone up its home mountain since the earliest days of the resort. The first section, Davos Dorf to the Höhenweg, was built in 1931, and the rest of the climb to the Weissfluhjoch followed in the next year. Today a gondola does the second section, and the whole thing carries skiers at 8:20 am, with the first section running until 4:00 pm.

Buy the pass at the valley-station cashier desk, which is open during operating hours, and if you need skis, the valley station has several rental shops.

The Weissfluhjoch is the hub at 2,663 m: from here the lifts go in every direction and the slopes fan out to Davos, to Klosters and towards Küblis. There's a self-service restaurant, a served panorama restaurant, and the new Joch Mountain Diamond, which opened on 19 December 2025 with a glass front and a roof terrace.

Stop on the terrace for five minutes before you drop in; the view of the Parsenn and the Davos valley below is the reason people come.

A gondola takes you from the Weissfluhjoch to the summit of the Weissfluh at 2,844 m, the highest point of the whole ski area. The black Gipfel-Nord-Abfahrt starts here and runs down the north face past the Stations of the Cross to Schifer. This is the one place on the day where a strong skier gets a proper black. For everyone else, ride the gondola up and down for the view; pedestrian tickets exist for the Parsenn lifts. Intermediates can ski the red runs that leave the Weissfluhjoch in every direction and keep the black for another day.

Built in 1903, the Parsennhütte is one of the oldest mountain restaurants in the Swiss Alps and the biggest hut in the ski area: a 450-seat self-service room, a served restaurant, a bar and an outdoor bar. In winter it opens with the Parsenn lifts, daily.

The served restaurant cooks regional dishes at 2,200 m: capuns, soup in bread, a hand-cut tartare, a Davos hamburger. The wine list includes the Bündner Herrschaft, the canton's wine district near Maienfeld.

The long run from the Weissfluhjoch down to Küblis is the one the Parsenn is known for: 12 km, with a drop that takes it down to 810 m. Skiers have been coming down this way for well over a century, since the early days of ski tourism in Davos, which makes it one of the classic descents of the Alps.

At the bottom the Rhaetian Railway at Küblis takes you back to Klosters or Davos. Küblis lies at only 810 m, so the lower part is the most exposed in a thin winter: check the slope report before you commit, and if it's closed, ski down to Klosters or Davos on the pass instead.

The Montana Bar sits at the Davos Dorf station, near the foot of the valley run from Parsenn, and it's the place the operator calls the insider tip of Davos Dorf. It draws guests and a lot of locals, and it hosts live concerts and DJ nights across folk, rock, reggae and hip-hop.

Stay for one beer, then decide where to eat: the Platz end of town is a short train ride away.

The cable car takes you from the valley to just over 2,600 m. The operator's table gives 53 km of slopes here, and more than half of the marked runs are blue: 25 km of blue, 12 km of red and 3 km of black, plus 11 km of yellow ski routes. That makes it the friendliest of the five for beginners and early intermediates.

Jakobshorn is also where snowboarding began in the region: the operator calls it the first mountain where snowboarders could practice. The JatzPark has a beginner and a medium line, a large kicker, rails and boxes. From the summit two freeride routes lead into the Dischma or Sertig side valleys. They're yellow routes, secured only when open, and you must carry avalanche gear.

At the foot of the mountain, Bolgen is where the ski school is, with easy slopes and a valley ski lift. The Kids Slope, called Home of Winter, sits at the Carjöl chairlift: a story about Flurin the blue snow dragon, with bumps, slalom gates and animals that teach children to turn, and a photo with the dragon at the end.

If you're a beginner, this is where to spend the morning before you try the mountain. The Schweizerische Schneesportschule Davos has its office at Bolgen.

Châlet Güggel is the mountain restaurant on Jakobshorn the operator recommends for a proper sit-down meal. Its tip is a beef fillet with a good glass of wine, the sort of lunch that makes you stay a little longer.

The Avalanche Training Center is behind it, a 100 by 100 m field where you can practice using a transceiver and searching for a buried person. If you plan to ski the freeride routes at all, spend twenty minutes there first.

The Jatzhütte, at over 2,500 m, calls itself probably Switzerland's best-known ski hut. It has more than 100 deckchairs, a DJ at weekends and a whirlpool at 39 degrees. The house drink is Kaffi Sex, which the operator calls a cult drink best taken in the highest whirlpool in the resort.

It hosts full-moon dinners, a Schlager night and the electronic Munggatanz in spring, and the operator says the sunset sessions run every weekend of the winter.

The Bolgen Plaza restaurant is, in the operator's words, the number one place for après-ski in Davos. You come off your skis straight onto the dance floor or the big terrace, and it's open daily until 7 pm; pedestrians can walk in from the valley station.

After 7 pm the party moves to Chalet Bello, a modern wooden chalet that serves Italian specialties and alpine aperitivi and goes on later.

Stall Valär is the restaurant right at the Jakobshorn valley station, in a building that was a cow barn, and the operator describes the atmosphere as legendary. The team behind it, miteinander GmbH, also runs the Piz Piz fondue restaurant, and both play with retro: wool blankets on the benches and a young take on old Davos.

Come in ski boots, no need to change first. Check the opening hours, since the operator doesn't publish them.

Pischa is one of the few freeride mountains in Switzerland, and it has no groomed slope at all: a cable car from the Flüela valley takes you up, and from there the signposted descents lead down. Descent no. 6 into the Pischa valley is the marked one; every other route is at your own risk.

It runs daily from 26 December to 29 March. The Pischabus leaves from the Seehofseeli stop in Davos Dorf, near the Parsenn valley station, several times a day, or it's about 10 minutes by car with free parking at the valley station. Only come with avalanche gear, the knowledge to use it, and the day's avalanche bulletin.

If you aren't a freerider, Pischa still has a good winter walk. The most beautiful route, the operator says, goes from the mountain station to the Hüreli and back in two to three hours, with a view and photo point over Davos.

There are four signposted trails, and snowshoes can be rented at the valley station.

Rinerhorn sits just outside Davos Platz, reached by bus or Rhaetian Railway train to Glaris (8 to 15 minutes in the December 2026 timetable), and it's the area locals ride. The six-seater gondola from Glaris to Jatzmeder runs from 8:30 and is the way up for the whole area.

Its season is shorter than the big mountains: daily from 18 December to 29 March 2027. The operator's table gives 48 km of slopes, with five lifts, so don't plan on a huge day.

Rinerhorn is about wide, well-groomed blue and red runs that suit carving and learning, and the operator names it a family and pleasure mountain. Of its 48 km, 12 are blue, 20 red and 8 black, the rest yellow ski routes, and there is a magic forest for children, with witches, jumps and waves.

Experts get the black run no. 10 into the Leidbach valley, which the operator calls a secret tip among freeriders, with yellow freeride routes that are only safe when they're open. Beginners are fine on the blues.

The sledging run at Rinerhorn is 3.5 km long, groomed, with 24 curves, and starts at the mountain station. Sledges and bobs are rented and returned at the valley station.

Groups of ten or more must register by phone.

Every Wednesday and Friday from 19:00 to 22:30, Rinerhorn opens for night skiing and floodlit sledging. At the Jatzmeder restaurant, Wednesday is the Spaghetti-Plausch (pasta night), and Friday is a Swiss dinner, with fondue and raclette nights also on the programme.

It's the atmospheric end to a day: carve down the wide descent to the valley under the lights, or sled. Ordinary day passes aren't valid for night skiing, so buy the night ticket.

The Gotschna cable car goes in two sections from Klosters Platz to Gotschnaboden and then Gotschnagrat. The Gotschna side of the Parsenn area dates from 1950, and a link cable car from the Parsennhütte to the Weissfluhjoch in 1961 joined it to the Davos side.

Gotschna is the way up for Klosters, and it's where the valley run from Parsenn ends. On a ticket for the whole region you can ski down to Davos or down to Klosters, whichever way the day goes.

The second section of the cable car, Gotschnaboden to Gotschnagrat, brings you to 2,285 m, with the mountain restaurant beside the station. In the morning the first ascent on this section is at 8:25.

From here you ski back to Klosters on the valley run, or head for the Parsenn side. The operator's interactive slope map shows which runs are open, and it also marks the huts.

The Furka Zipper is a six-seater chairlift with heated seats that replaced a lift from 1972 and joins the Davos and Klosters halves of the ski area. It's quick and warm, and it's the link the operator promotes for getting between the two towns' skiing.

The igloo village sits at the fork of the Schifer-Parsenn and Parsennfurka slopes and opens at the end of December. Igloos sleep two to six, with a sauna and whirlpool, and each year they have a new motto.

The Gotschnagrat mountain restaurant stands at the top of the cable car at 2,285 m and serves fresh local dishes with a panorama. Take the table in the Arvenstübli, the cosy pine-panelled room, if it's free, and the terrace if the sun is out.

Ski down to the valley station in time for the Madrisa gondola.

Madrisa is the family mountain of Klosters: a four-seater gondola from Klosters Dorf to Saaseralp takes you up to a ski area between 1,887 and 2,611 m. It has 28 km of slopes (6 blue, 9 red and 6 black, plus 7 km of yellow ski routes, by the operator's table), four practice lifts for children and Madrisa-Land, the children's area with fun runs.

For experts the freeride circuit crosses the Madrisafurgga into Austria towards Gargellen, then comes back to Switzerland and ends in St. Antönien, from where a post bus runs to Küblis. It's a tour for experienced skiers with avalanche gear.

Klosters is a quiet village after dark. Armando's pane e vino sits at the end of the valley run next to the Gotschna valley station, in a chalet-style Stübli with a fireplace, and the operator calls it a pinch of Italy in the Alps: a glass of wine, panini and a lot of conversation. It's a branch of a wine-bar group that also has places in Baden, Zurich and Aarau.

The winter season opens on 27 November, with pizza on the winter menu. Its site shows no winter days or hours yet, so check them before you plan the evening around it. The resort is known as a favorite of Charles III and the British royal family.

The Schatzalp funicular climbs 304 m from the center of Davos in about four minutes and opened on 24 December 1899. It runs every 15 minutes in the day and every 30 minutes after 7 pm, and the funicular page gives the winter 2026/27 season as 28 November to 21 March, with a night timetable from 11 December to 20 March.

Ski passes aren't valid on the Schatzalp, so the funicular is a separate ticket. The hotel's own SlowMountain ski area is free for hotel guests.

The big Art Nouveau building at the top was a sanatorium for lung patients, built in 1898-1900 by the Zurich architects Otto Pfleghard and Max Haefeli, and it ran as a hotel from 1954. Many people take it as the model for the Berghof sanatorium in Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain, though the novel was inspired by a Davos sanatorium in general.

Walk the Thomas-Mann-Weg, which links the Waldhotel Davos with the Schatzalp, about 2 km. Winter walking is a big thing here, with more than 150 km of marked trails in Davos (111) and Klosters (45).

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the German Expressionist and a founder of the group Die Brücke, came to Davos in 1917 as a patient and stayed until his death in 1938. The museum on the Promenade holds his work, and the shows change with the season, often adding other modernist and contemporary artists.

It's open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm and closed on Mondays, and it is shut for remodelling from 4 January to 13 February 2027. It reopens on 14 February with The Demonic Screen: Kirchner and Cinema, which runs to 2 May. The adult price for the current show is CHF 20 (CHF 17 with a guest card), and children up to 16 are free. A public guided tour in German runs on Tuesdays and Sundays at 4 pm.

The Seehofseeli in Davos Dorf is a natural outdoor ice rink, free to skate, open in the afternoon and evening from December to February, with skate rental for about CHF 5. Closing time is listed as 9 or 10 pm, and it can shut at any moment for weather.

Cross-country skiers get a network the official site puts at over 190 km of classic and skating trails across Davos and Klosters, with a floodlit night trail in the Davos valley in the evening. The Eisstadion, home of HC Davos, hosts the Spengler Cup, the invitational hockey tournament that first ran in 1923, from 26 to 31 December 2026.

The classic sledging run starts at the Schatzalp and ends in Davos Platz after 2.8 km and 18 curves. The run itself is free, wide and well prepared, and the operator says it suits children and beginners. In the evening the curves are floodlit until 11 pm.

Rent a sledge at the funicular station for CHF 10, or for CHF 15 at the kiosk at the top. It's the most relaxed ending to the week.

Piz Piz - Fondue Modern is a fondue restaurant under the Hotel Davoserhof that serves cheese fondue in three variations, or a hot pot with a homemade bouillon. The chef's favorite is the classic moitié-moitié, half Gruyère and half Fribourg Vacherin.

The wine list is mostly Swiss whites, and the restaurant says it has the biggest choice of kirsch in the region. The same team runs Stall Valär. Book ahead in the high season.