Pontresina vs St. Moritz vs Davos, hiking & biking
A traveler is planning a trip to Switzerland in June, staying for 2 nights before heading to Zermatt on the Glacier Express. They seek advice on the best town to base themselves for outdoor activities like hiking and mountain biking with their 12 and 13-year-old kids.
- Consider staying in Pontresina for beautiful scenery and good access to Glacier Express trips to Zermatt.
- Davos is recommended for downhill mountain biking but may require extra travel time to connect to the Glacier Express.
- Make good use of the Swiss Travel Pass for convenient train travel across Switzerland, although reservations are only needed for scenic trains.
AI-generated summary-
We’ll be traveling to this area June of 2019 from Varenna, staying for 2 nights and then heading to Zermatt via Glacier Express. We’ll be traveling with our 12 and 13 year old and love to hike, mountain bike, etc. Was wondering which of these three areas would be best to use as our base and any suggestions for great outdoor experiences while in the area? Thanks so much- just having trouble deciding which town would be best for our stay
-
Pontresina is a good bet. Prettier than Davos, close to St Moritz but less glitzy and somewhat cheaper. Pontresina and St Moritz are the better places to start the Glacier Express journey to Zermatt
Hi Bjcm12 and welcome to MySwissAlps!
Be sure to read through out Graubünden regional page here: http://www.myswissalps.com/gr aubunden – it should help you narrow down your search. All 3 towns I think are nice, however I might lean to Davos (http://www.myswissalps.com/da vos) for downhill mountain biking.
You can connect onto the Glacier Express from there as well (just a little extra time needed). http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/gettingth ere
Do note a rail pass can be very advantageous for travel in Switzerland. http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses
Generally no reservations are needed on any trains (except the Glacier Express and other panoramic trains – http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/scenictrips/t rain otherwise you can often just hop on and go.
Depends on what you’re looking for. To my mind, St Moritz is the domain of black Mercedes limos and haughty restauranteurs (e.g., my wife and I were denied a seat for dinner in an empty restaurant in SM, ostensibly because it was fully booked, but more likely because we walked in without having changed out of our informal hiking garb). Davos is predominantly a ski town that has grown too much and too fast. Pontresina is clearly the best of the three, and has good access to varied hiking and biking opportunities. But, even that lacks the charm of the smaller locales in the Engadine, such as Scuol or Guarda, although the latter are a bit more remote from other parts of Switzerland.
NTL
- The thread ‘Pontresina vs St. Moritz vs Davos, hiking & biking’ is closed to new replies.
