Zermatt or Arlberg (Lech)

[Mr. Mike]

My wife and I are in our early 40’s. She has only skied for 5 years, and just a few times per year. She learned quickly though and is confident and in control on most intermediate slopes in North America, but has no interest in extreme terrain.

I have skied in Europe 4x, twice in the Arlberg (stayed in Stuben mainly because of price), and once in each of Zermatt and Trois Vallees. My last trip to Europe was 6-8 years ago so my knowledge is a bit dated and recollections faded. I have been pitching a trip to Europe for the 2 of us this winter, and trying to determine where to go.

My rippin’ days are mostly behind me, and my wife doesn’t care to have any, so this is as much about non-ski attributes as skiing, although I do want to go somewhere with good, snow sure skiing. So, a cool and authentic alpine feel, scenery and nice hotels and restaurants are very important.

I have been thinking Lech because it is pretty high end and my recollection is that the slopes down into the village are pretty spread out and mellow. Also, there’s pretty easy access from Zurich via the ski bus. Zermatt has some appeal too because it’s very scenic, you have the option to ski over to Italy for the day and the hotels and restaurants there don’t suck either. In addition, it has some “name” appeal because the wife has heard of it and thus she will feel cool telling people we skied there (she thought I was coughing when I said Lech). However, my recollection is that the skiing back into the village in Zermatt can be a bit dicey because it’s steep and narrow, and the village is hardly quaint/authentic.

Input comparing and contrasting the two? Any recommendations on other locations that we should consider?

[Poop~Ghost]

A few of the german mountain huts are easily accessible via skinning or paying for a ride on a snow cat. If you want authentic alpine feel, scenery and nice hotels - get yourselves out to the Jamtal Hut.

[Toby]

Lech's pretty nice but it's pretty isolated. If there isn't enough for her to do in the village it's a long way to go for alternative entertainment. But if I had to pick a village to live in in Europe Lech would be very close to the top of the list.

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

L E C H!

[Hugh Conway]

name appeal and a mix, why not Verbier or St. Moritz?

[patxi]

From your description, I would spend a few days in Zermatt then take the bus over to Saas Fee for a few more. Then, take the Glacier Express to St. Moritz for the remainder of the trip. Plenty of good intermediate skiing in those places, good food and incredible scenery. Budget is the next consideration.

[Ripzalot]

zermatt is overrated for what it is. if you enjoy staring at the matterhorn endlessly, that's the only attraction. everything else is mediocre skiing-wise. a day or two is enough there. i think i'd prefer saas fee over zermatt myself. paxti has a good idea.

lech, can't comment much. it's been too long. it's austrian, which has a certain appeal. but it is a bit isolated. skiing is good, definitely better than zermatt imho.

if you are looking for a top-end type resort, also check out crans montana. easy skiing, big area, and lots of sun unlike zermatt which is down low in a shaded valley. your wife might enjoy that more. of course the full sun can kill the pow but it doesn't sound like that is a big priority.

[uli]

No doubt: Lech! It's not really isolated, frankly, within 1hr car drive (or bus+train) you can reach Bregenz (Bodensee) or eventually Innsbruck.

As far as i understand you have in mind to essentially ski in pist and for that, Lech is by far preferrable over the other places you named (Verbier's pist are crowded, too much lift capacity to little square meters of pist in comparison, similar for the Trois Vallees). Zermatt is marvellous for landscape but (pist)skiing is somewhat limited.

[Mr. Mike]

thanks for the input guys. A couple of follow ups:

1. is it reasonable to stay in Zermatt and ski in Saas Fee for the day? In other words, what's the transit time and difficulty between the 2. Or if I'm going to ski Saas Fee a couple of days do you just recommend packing up and going over there (say maybe for the last night or 2 of the trip)?

2. How easy is it to find good accommodations in Zermatt for LESS than a full week? My recollection is that most resorts used to pretty much insist on a Saturday to Saturday or a Sunday to Sunday commitment during high season, but maybe that's changed some now.

[Toadman]

There's also Ischgl, which would be in the same price range as the other two resorts on your list. You also might want to consider the Dolomites. Val Gardena-Arabba.

We are headed to Lech ourselves first week of March, and then playing it by ear the second week. We'll go where ever the snow is best, and shouldn't be too crazy that time of year. You can get package quotes from the Lech tourist office. The lady I dealt with was very nice, and responded to all my e-mail queries. Fm the reports I've read over on snowheads.com the powder seems to not get tracked out as fast in Lech and has access to a lot of steeper terrain in Zuers/Stuben. And if the misses is tired of skiing one day, you can hop the bus to St Anton to see if your gnar shred days are truly behind you.

http://www.lech-zuers.at

[patxi]

thanks for the input guys. A couple of follow ups:

1. is it reasonable to stay in Zermatt and ski in Saas Fee for the day? In other words, what's the transit time and difficulty between the 2. Or if I'm going to ski Saas Fee a couple of days do you just recommend packing up and going over there (say maybe for the last night or 2 of the trip)?

2. How easy is it to find good accommodations in Zermatt for LESS than a full week? My recollection is that most resorts used to pretty much insist on a Saturday to Saturday or a Sunday to Sunday commitment during high season, but maybe that's changed some now.

It seems like the drive from Zermatt to Saas Fee is about 45 minutes if I remember correctly. Add in the train from town to the car park and the bus I imagine it would take 1.5 hours or so minimum from town to town. I would try to stay in both places for a couple of nights if you can swing it.

If you try to book now, they might want to try to get you to stay for a week visit. If you wait a few weeks before though you should be able to find a room for a few nights. Talk to the hotel directly rather than going through the tourist office.

[JoeStrummer]

A vote for Lech.

Usually when someone asks for advice on A or B, I don't offer C. But +1 for Ischgl. My favorite ski memory is skinning back drunk to Wiesbadener Hutte after a Jimmy Cliff concert on the Samnaun side. You can take a short postbus to See or Galtur and ski those areas, or roll over to St Anton for a day or two. Or catch Postbus in Landeck and go into Italy for a couple days. Super easy to get around.

Zermatt - if you aren't into ski mountaineering, I am in agreement that the pistes are worth a day or two, not much more. You can always download to get back into Zermatt if you want to skip the melted out kitty litter. Same for Saas Fee being a 1 or 2 day area, although it is my wife's favorite ski area in Europe (and she is an intermediate.)

[McFly]

1 vote for Zermatt - with the caveat that I have never been to Lech - but it is in my top 5 places to visit someday. have done plenty of research on Lech, made reservations - but cancelled out and went to Zermatt instead !!!!!

based on your description of what you are looking for - mostly- a great village, restaurants and mellow skiing - Zermatt has it all. Zermatt is more snow-sure.

[uli]

. . . .Zermatt is more snow-sure.

Nope!

[Mr. Mike]

so, we didn't go 2 years ago. But I mean it this time, we really are going, so let's open the poll again.

[LeeLau]

A wholehearted big vote for paxti's suggestion plus taking the Bernina Glacier Express to St Moritz. If the wife wants to see some beautiful views, have nice places to go to in town and do a bit of namedropping at end of trip its hard to beat St Moritz

[SnowbirdDevotee]

I have skied both. (the only places in Europe I've skied)
http://www.epicski.com/t/89239/zerma...kind-of-skiing
http://www.epicski.com/t/101032/st-anton-this-week
For one you fly to Zurich and the other to Geneva. I forget which right now.

Zermatt is a really cool, special little town, about a 45 minute train ride up from the valley. I don't think it would be "easy" to get anywhere from Zermatt. But not sure where Saas Fees is.
There was something special about Zermatt, both the town and the hill, although it wasn't my kind of skiing. I basically "cruised" for 3 days straight. I was there in December with good snow, but there wasn't a mogul on the entire hill, and very few steeps. It's worth the trip, but If I had a week I would pick Lech, that gives you access to the 90 lifts of StAnton/Lech. You could stay in Lech and take the bus to ski St Anton two of your days. However, I really liked the town of Zermatt much better than anything I saw in St. Anton or Lech. It has this old world, "far-away" feeling. Same goes for the hotels I stayed in, and getting there too is also an adventure. St. Anton had much more steeps, but if you are not interested in that fine, all the lifts have groomed slopes to come down. Plenty of big vert gondolas. If you were going only for about 4 days I might say Zermatt, but for a week, Lech. For sure Zermatt is much more romantic!, esp those restaurants tucked away in the mtn, there is even a train that goes up the mtn about 2,000ft, a funnicular I think they call it, what a way to travel up a mtn. Check out my pic.'s and trip reports.

[comish]

Been to St. Anton numerous times and Zermatt 4x.

St. Anton is my favorite, but I actually like Zermatt a lot more than most here. I think the terrain off Hohtelli, Rote Nase, and Stockhorn is excellent and super uncrowded. Long, 3000'vert runs and an enormous tram to take you back up. Because its high the snow is usually pretty good, although it can be seriously wind effected. When much of low elevation Europe can be green grass or crap, Zermatt can have surprisingly good skiing. I spent a week following snow, unfortunately there wasn't any fresh, but worked out way from Portes du Soleil to Verbier, to Zermatt and that particular week, the elevation of Zermatt enabled it to have by far the best conditions.

The Arlberg is my favorite and for a more intermediate inclined skier Lech is perfect. I don't think its as jaw dropping beautiful as Zermatt, but it is certainly sunnier and gets more regular snow and therefore pow. I prefer the Austrian Tyrol atmosphere to the Swiss watches of Zermatt, but to each their own.

Both have schwank hotels and plenty of places to drop coin on meals, drinks, etc. Zermatt has the slight edge in terms of on mountain restaurants. Zermatt is also prettier with the Matterhorn, huge glaciers separating the 3 ski areas and surrounding 4000m peaks. Lech is pretty, but smaller more modest mountains and no glaciers as compared to Zermatt.

You would likely have an amazing trip at both.

[Hicks]

Ok I'll throw in my 2 cts although a lot of pros and cons have already been posted

First off, if you and/or your wife are also into apres ski and maybe some nightlife entertainment besides skiing then do NOT go to Lech - it's boring as hell. Zermatt, Ischgl or St. Moritz fit that bill way better.

Lech is the most authentic of the places mentioned. The runs fit your wifey's needs but there are enough steeps to keep you entertained too for a sneak out once in a while. They are not as obvious as in St. Anton though but as good. All lifts are well reachable by a short walk from almost any hotel. On an average it is the priciest place. The other Arlberg resorts are reachable via a good bus system which is included in the ski ticket. Usually one of the snow sure places in the Alps with more or less frequent dumps.

Zermatt is overall definitely more entertaining if that is your thing. The high elevation of the top lifts assure good conditions on the groomers during the entire season. Slope length and mostly open bowl cruiser terrain is something your wife might like best. The scenery is - along with Saas Fee and St. Moritz - unrivaled. First one is accessible within 2-3 hrs during late afternoon if you like to split your time staying, skiing is similar to Zermatt.

Ischgl is pretty much a sort of apres and party village with some authenticity left. That said the infrastructure and lift system is really good. The spread out terrain even enables your wife to cover a lot of mileage during the day. Snow is as dependable as in the Arlberg region since it is close by, St. Anton is just around the corner.

St. Moritz has it's name and a nice scenery. But it is really spread out as a village with 4 different ski areas which are not interlinked. You pretty much need to decide in the morning where to go. It would not be on my personal list.

Somewhat off the beaten path is the Val d 'Anniviers with the villages of St. Luc, Grächen and Zinal. Also pretty reliable in terms of snow.

From what you described I'd either do Zermatt for the scenery or Ischgl for overall convenience with the Arlberg close by. Take what the wife would like best.

Edit:
since it was mentioned the Dolomites are authentic with a beautiful landscape but anything than snow sure except for the Marmolata glacier.

[Alkares]

I'd hit up Zermatt if you're heading out this season, the storms that have come by in December were favoring the west more than the east, and it looks like Zermatt has slightly more snow than the Arlberg right now. Check out these two websites for snow coverage...

http://www.slf.ch/

http://warndienste.cnv.at/dibos/lawine/

Also, as it has been said before, Lech is a very sleepy place when it comes to Apres ski, Sankt Anton and the Moosewirt are definitely more happening if you are looking for the Apres scene. I've never been to Zermatt but I hope to get over there soon.... Hope you have a great time wherever you choose....

[freak]

authentic? come on guys, none of the mentioned places is the least bit authentic. they are all über touristy resort places for rich people. maybe except from ischgl which is the über party resort for drunk germans, dutch and russians, but getting more into the chic&rich every year.

i would ALWAYS pick zermatt over lech if it is a once in a lifetime/decade or so kind of thing, especially if your focus is not mainly on skiing powder. while lech is nice, quiet and exclusive (although they might have lost some of the exclusiveness now with the lift-connection to warth), there is not much to see and to do except from skiing. the groomers (and the rest of the terrain) in lech is quite flat, steeper stuff is to be found in zürs, where you can get with lifts or of course in st. anton, where you can get by bus. zermatt has lots of groomers in all kind of difficulties (mainly easy to intermediate) lots of terrain (imho zermatt is quite underrated for its freeride-potential), great views, etc.
snow will not be a problem in any resort in the alps if its mainly above 1500m, at least if you will mainly stick to groomed stuff. fresh snow is of course more frequent in lech, i would still pick zermatt because in lech everything is tracken in half a day (kind of).

st. moritz area is pretty cool as well, as is the berner oberland or lots of other places...

freak~[&]

[jerlane]

My wife and I went to Zermatt three years ago and had a great time. She is not an aggressive skier and it was perfect for her. She was able to stay on the groomed parts and I could search for powder stashes on the sides. There is a lot to do and plenty of great places to eat both on and off the slopes. I can give you more details if that's where you decide to go. It was hard to find a place for less than a week, but it can be done.

[Choucas]

Spent a lot of time in both places and the info supplied so far is pretty much spot on. Neither is a bad choice. Finding a hotel for less than a week at this time could be tough. They like to book by the week as much as possible. Closer to the date you'll be able to get rooms for shorter stays. Doing a day trip between Zermatt & Saas Fee is time consuming and not worth it. Zermatt is one of those special places and a place you have to go at least once. The on hill restaurants in Zermatt are the best(the privately owned ones not the lift company ones), plus the Chalet Etoile in Cervinia.
A plug for St. Moritz. It's not as quaint and cozy as Zermatt or Lech but there's something about that valley that's magical and the skiing, though spread out, is great for your profile. Actually it's great for everyone. Some amazing off piste if you know where to go. St. Moritz is pricey and it's not big for nightlife. Check out one of the smaller towns like Sils Maria or Pontresina. Less $ than St. Moritz, nice hotels and acess to the same skiing as St. Moritz. You need to ride the bus no matter where you stay to get to the lifts. Very good on hill restaurants, pretty much a dead heat with Zermatt in that category, just not as many of them. By all means go. Your wife will love all of these places.

[Hugh Conway]

I wouldn't stay in St Moritz unless you've ~$1k a day. There are other places in the Ober-Engadin (Pontresina, Sils, some others) which are more salubrious. As said the skiing is spread out - it takes a bus or train, but it's good because of this. There's much choice, and much good terrain - it was a couple years ago and early season but the lift ops at Diavolezza would hold the lift if they saw me coming. Nobody there, then, and they like people who ski. If you want to break things up there's really good XC skiing.Oh, and the people watching in St Moritz - particularly the Kulm Sunny Bar, or Badrutz's is all time.

Otherwise the Arlberg, or Verbier, or Zermatt (never been) or the Dolomites. Yes, nothing's "authentic" because authentic is a farmhouse and hanging your lamp on your dead wife's lips all winter because the storeroom doesn't thaw.

[LeeLau]

Just to add more confusion to the OP. For the Engadin valley area its very easy and very civilized to take a train from say Pontresina (2-3 km away from St. Moritz) to ski areas. The train rides and the views themselves are IMO part of the attraction. The cost to stay in say Pontresina is 0.5 and less of St Moritz.

Same applies to Zermatt. You can stay in say, Tasch instead and save a significant amount compared to Zermatt proper. Then take the short train ride in