Davos vs St. Moritz

Davos Klosters has the Parsenn, one of the great intermediate ski areas of the Alps. The 12 km descent from the Weissfluh (2,844 m) down to the Klosters valley is a classic long run. Jakobshorn is the freestyle and après centre. The six areas don’t connect on skis but share a regional pass.

St Moritz has Corviglia (the main mountain, served by a funicular from town), Corvatsch (more challenging, glacier-topped at 3,303 m) and Diavolezza-Lagalb (serious, wild terrain with the famous Morteratsch glacier descent). The areas are further apart than Davos’s, requiring car or bus between them.

Both offer about 300–350 km of combined terrain. The skiing quality is comparable; the atmosphere around it diverges.

St Moritz’s marketing claim of 322 sunny days a year is genuine — the upper Engadin is one of the driest, sunniest valleys in the Alps, protected from Atlantic weather by the surrounding ranges. This makes for blue-sky skiing, great photos, and firm, well-groomed pistes.

Davos sits in a broader, more exposed valley that catches more weather. It gets heavier snowfall than St Moritz, which means better powder days but more grey skies. The Parsenn’s north-facing slopes hold snow well, and the lower runs benefit from the regular top-ups.

The trade-off is real: St Moritz for guaranteed sun and photo conditions; Davos for more natural snowfall and better powder.

St Moritz invented the winter holiday in the 1860s when hotelier Johannes Badrutt bet English summer guests they would enjoy the winter too. It has hosted two Winter Olympics (1928, 1948), the Cresta Run toboggan track is still in use, and the White Turf horse races on the frozen lake are a social calendar fixture. The town is unashamedly luxurious — Badrutt’s Palace, Chanel and Gucci on the high street, and a clientele to match.

Davos is the WEF town. For one week each January, it becomes the centre of global politics and business. The rest of the year it is a mid-altitude Swiss town with a sanatorium history (Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain), a strong university and research presence, and far less obvious wealth than St Moritz. The town is more functional than glamorous — which some skiers prefer.

Klosters, Davos’s quieter partner village, has its own royal connection: it was the late Prince Charles’s preferred resort. But Klosters is a small, quiet village compared to St Moritz’s grand stage.

Davos costs 15–25% less on accommodation and 10–15% less on food. The lift pass gap is small. St Moritz’s luxury tier has no ceiling — Badrutt’s Palace and the Kulm can run CHF 1,000+/night — but its mid-range is also more expensive than Davos’s.

Avoid Davos during WEF week (usually late January): hotel prices triple and the town is overrun with security.

Davos is about an hour closer to Zurich. St Moritz is deeper in the Engadin and harder to reach, but the Glacier Express route (connecting to Zermatt via Andermatt) is one of the great scenic rail journeys in the world.

St Moritz also has the Engadin airport at Samedan — one of the highest airports in Europe — used primarily by private jets. This tells you something about the clientele.