My wife and I are recently moved to Zurich and are excited about the coming ski season. I've heard about the Snow'n'Rail deals and understand they can be quite a value -- especially with a 1/2 fare pass. Plus, I don't mind taking the train rather than driving.
However, the SBB site is very light on details (costs, resorts, etc.). I'd appreciate if some skiers here can share suggestions for:
-- resort/ski areas where ski and rail is best value for good skiing
-- approximate cost of ski/rail tickets
-- deadlines to buy tickets or if you can wait until day of
-- sites that could have more info than SBB
-- advice on where/how to rent ski equipment (I hear you can rent for a whole season for a low rate)
-- any groups (including expat) that organize ski holidays with bulk deals and activities
I'm open to any advice on other ski packages. I'll stay on mostly intermediate (to suit my wife) with some occasional difficult runs, though nothing crazy. Therefore, any resort here should suit us as long as lines are not too bad and the prices not crazy.
For day trips from Zurich I usually end up going to Flumserberg.
For weekend trips, anything in Switzerland is reasonable travel wise, especially if you travel Friday evening. There are a lot of great options. E.g. I think that everybody who skis at all should ski Zermatt at least once.
Nearly every ski resort town seems to have an Intersport rental shop at the base. There are lots of places around which do season rentals (even Jemoli for example) but I have no particular recommendation.
Regarding groups, there have been a lot of ski trips organized by the "Zurich Hiking and Outdoors" group on meetup.com. Sometimes this means a slight discount on housing or lift tickets, but the primary advantage is traveling with a friendly crowd of English speakers.
I've never heard of a deadline for rail or lift tickets. The trickiest part is probably accommodation for the weekend trips.
Snow n rail works out as 10% off ski pass and 20% off train fare (works with 1/2 fare pass). You usually get a 15% discount at the local interdiscount too.
There are no time restrictions you can buy your tickets from the machines the same day.
Yes there are lots of shops to rent season long, I dont live in Zurich but I am sure if you search the forum there will be info on the local recommendations. This is a good idea, Renting at resort is expensive in CH. Plus will save you a lot of time on day trips. I recommend you at least buy or season rent boots.
Various meetup.com groups that organise ski events in winters.
http://www.swisswintersports.co.uk/ is a useful website created by a member of this forum. Has info on which resort have snow n rail, how far they are from Zurich, and lots more.
Ask at sport shops in your area for ski clubs. The local clubs often organise daily excursions to good ski resorts with a bus that leaves the village at 7 am! I did this in Munich and we stayed friends for 10 years, we even went on skiing holidays in Austria together. It is a good way to integrate into the local society.
Thanks for the suggestions -- all of them helpful. Seems like we're a bit early looking for some of the major ski deals. I'll keep an eye on the sites everyone mentioned. I've also found some trips on meetup.com, which seem like good deals as well.
The Snow'n'Rail brochures are now available in main stations, although only in German. The SBB website currently has details of resorts that are open, but will apparently not be posting details of all the resorts until 1st November - when the information will also be available in English.
I have been to all the Snow'n'Rail destinations by public transport (and mostly also by car) and I have specific tips on each resort, how to get there and what to ski at http://www.swisswintersports.co.uk , with some specific information on setting out from Zurich here . The guide prices for Snow'n'Rail have been updated to show the 2013/14 prices.
Wow! Super information. Wow, wow, wow! Thanks so much. You have just made my life so much easier and have given me an idea to make skiing work for my son. Yeah! And I see lots of ski apres in my future.
at the top there is plenty of snow, on piste its packed and groomed, on the sides there was a small layer (5 cm) of new snow, but under that it was pretty hard. I think it was suppose to snow today...
How do you know this? It was closed all day Saturday and Sunday due to high winds.
Edit: Sorry, just saw your previous post, "a few days ago".
Still not any snow to speak of except on the glacier itself. Some snow falling over the weekend down to around 1800m, but not enough yet to give any sort of base. Here's hoping for more soon.
After taking everyone's info into consideration, we are booking our first ski trip for the days after Christmas.
We're trying to use the benefit of the Snow & Rail transportation and lift ticket discounts, though we would like to stay in France. Is this feasible?
For example, I have a tentative booking at Bonne Valette Hotel, which is right at the slopes in Morzine (France). My understanding is that the 2-day lift ticket though SBB is good throughout the Swiss/French ski area. However, the SBB travel ticket only gets us as far as stops on the Swiss-side ( Champéry, Morgins, Torgon, Les Crosets or Champoussin).
Can anyone suggest good transport options (bus or rail) from these stations directly into Morzine or at least to the closest train station (which I understand is Thonon-les-Bains Train Station)?
I have not found a website that makes this booking this transfer obvious. Any help is appreciated.
The Snow and Rail offers are only for the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil normally, and not for the French side resorts. You'd have to take the train to Cluses (Thonon is a long way off) then up to resort by bus- but I am pretty sure you'd have to do this from Geneva- and would not be included in offer.
Chatel would be much easier to get to, very close to Morgins (on Swiss side)- but again- you'd have to check if it is covered by snowRail offer. SnowRail offers are put together to help Swiss tourism, and not French...
Just checked, and as I thought. The SnowRail is only to Swiss side resort- but you can get reduction on the ski pass for the whole of the Portes du Soleil, both Swiss and French, including Morzine, but only if you pick them up on the Swiss side- so Morzine is just not possible on that offer by public transport.
Thanks to the RailAway combined offer, you will benefit from:
20% reduction on the journey using public transport (train/bus) to Champéry, Morgins, Torgon, Les Crosets or Champoussin and back (please indicate desired destination for the combined offer) Reduced 1 or 2-day ski pass for the entire Portes du Soleil ski area (voucher to redeem at Swiss valley stations) 15% discount at Intersport Rent Offer valid: 21 December 2013 to 27 April 2014 (based on the snow situation)