These are the hot spots in the Swiss mountains: everything you need to know to plan for the winter season

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The winter season is starting soon in this country! Ski areas are planning tailor-made starts despite bad weather and the hotel industry is aiming for a record year. So where do the crowds of holidaymakers from Switzerland and abroad go?

According to the evaluation of Swiss online brokers E-Domizil and Hometogo, Grindelwald BE is Switzerland’s most sought-after winter destination for holiday apartments. However, the Bernese Oberland as a whole is not a pioneer in this regard. Among the 20 most sought-after holiday destinations is the canton of Graubinden, which has nine resorts. The destinations Davos, Arosa and Lenzerheide in Grisons come in second, third and fourth place.

At Blick’s request, travel company Hotelplan also confirmed Graubsunu’s dominance among hotels. But other regions are slowly catching up: “Valais and Central Switzerland are becoming increasingly popular,” says Hotelplan. As for the type of reservation, ski packages, which usually include hotel, half board and the destination ski pass, are in particular demand.

Not only is Grisons the most popular, but guests also like to stay a little longer than other places. This is confirmed by both the evaluation of E-Domizil and Hometogo and the data of Hotelplan subsidiary Interhome.

According to E-Domizil and Hometogo, Pontresina and St. Moritz municipalities are at the forefront with an average stay of 8.4 days. Silvaplana-Surlej, Davos and St. Moritz is top ranked on the Interhome holiday apartments portal. According to Hotelplan, the average length of stay in the entire canton of Grisons is approximately 7.3 days. However, in the Bern Oberland and Valais, guests prefer to stay for less than a week.

As E-Domizil and Hometogo show, prices vary significantly depending on the holiday week. The average price throughout Switzerland in the first week of December was 200 francs per night and per apartment. From 23 December to 30 December it is already 249 francs, and from 29 January to 4 February 2024 it is 255 francs. According to Jonas Upmann, travel expert and spokesman for Hometogo, pricing is determined by several factors: “The location and size of the destination have a decisive impact on the price level. The closer to the ski slopes, the higher the price.”

High sales are expected in the hotel industry due to high demand this winter, but guests will have to dig even deeper into their wallets. As the Hotelleriesuisse association announced in October, this year’s inflation is causing price increases in the vast majority of establishments. This means that some of the increased energy, staff and general inflation costs are passed on to customers. However, there are still attractively priced offers available, Hotelplan reports. “Especially in January, when snow conditions are generally good, or in March, when you can enjoy the weather on the terrace.”

When it comes to Swiss holiday apartments, most guests continue to come from Switzerland during the winter season. Germans are in second place. The Dutch and the French also like to rent accommodation in the Swiss mountains. Hotelleriesuisse reports that there is no forward-looking data on nationalities when it comes to hotel night stays. However, the Federal Statistical Office’s (BFS) analysis of overnight stays in Switzerland over the last nine months reveals a similar picture.

There are also certain travel destinations where guests must travel particularly long distances: E-Domizil and Homtogo report that guests will travel to St. Moritz travels an average of more than 400 kilometers to holiday apartments in Zermatt and Grindelwald. “This underlines the international orientation of these places,” the two portals say.

According to E-Domizil, the foreign guests with the largest wallets are Austrians with an average of 1,400 francs, followed by Belgians with 1,358 francs and Americans with 1,334 francs. Travelers from Italy and Spain are the stingiest, spending 970 francs each per stay.

Source :Blick