One of the contenders for the title of ‘most exclusive resort in the Alps,’ everything about Gstaad oozes quality and class. The pedestrianised main street is lined with discreet boutiques like Prada, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Chopard with Prada, Moncler, Ralph Lauren, and Cartier and pretty well every other haute couture and jewellery brand has a presence here in some way or other. Given these retail riches, along with a great selection of gourmet restaurants, some superb hotel-spas and phenomenal chalets, the actual skiing is almost an after-thought. But not quite. There are some 250km of runs on the local lift pass, divided up between half-a-dozen or so separate areas surrounding the resort.
Gstaad lies on the border of the French and German speaking sides of Switzerland. The mountain train which runs through the resort, linking it to neighbouring villages, and their ski areas, only a few minutes away can take you to Rougemont then Chateau d’Oex, on one side, where you’ll heart French, or Saanenmoser and Zweisimmen on the other, where it’s German. The train is the traditional way of getting between the ski areas that make up the Gstaad region. Hop on in the town centre and off five or ten minutes away then in to an adjacent gondola and up in to the mountains. Your chalet will most likely have a chauffeur service of course, but the old-fashioned way is still fun.
Gstaad has been a famous mountain resort for almost a century. In the 1920s an exclusive school, ‘Le Rosey’ opened, a little over a decade after the railway line reached the village. The school catered for the children of royalty, politicians, show business stars and leading figures of business and industry. At the same time the famous Palace, one of the world’s great ski hotels. opened to cater for the parents of these illustrious offspring. The skiing itself really took off after the war with small ski areas by Gstaad itself and above neighbouring villages eventually partially inter-linking with ski lifts above as well as by road and railway line in the valley below and all coming under the one regional lift pass. Most recently this was expanded to include the high altitude ski slopes of Glacier 3000, located 15km away near the village of Les Diablerets which is open from October to May each year and provides a snowsure option for Gstaad’s visitors.
The Gstaad ski area is officially broken in to six sectors, but some of the larger parts are themselves actually divided into several separate parts so there’s actually even more and you can choose a different sector in which to ski every day of the week. Whichever you choose however you’ll find pretty runs, mostly below the tree line and lots of lovely, cruisy blues and reds, usually with an enticing mountain restaurant around every turn.
The largest single sector links the slopes above Schonreid, Saanenmoser and Zweisimmen, the closest part of which (at Schonreid) is only one stop on the train line/five minutes from the resort. In the other direction the second largest links the skiing above Saanen and Rougemont on the French-side of Gstaad. There are several more smaller areas local to Gstaad, the largest at Wispile above the resort itself.
Most of these areas have at least one black run but they are rarely terribly challenging so expert skiers will most likely need to look elsewhere or head off piste. The 2.5km long Tiger run at Wasserngrat is the steepest in the area
Beginners and children are well looked after in Gstaad with private slopes reserved just for them the normal across the area – in total there are seven separate such beginner zones, each with their own lifts, spread across the ski region.
There’s also a large number of ski schools offering private or group lessons, and once basic technique is mastered, plenty of easy runs in each sector to progress on to.
There’s no municipal childcare but many accommodations have their own childcare in house and a list of approved babysitters is also available through the tourist office.
