Feb 2024 – During this winter holiday period, we had originally planned on staying in St. Moritz, Switzerland. There is a huge on-the-frozen-lake horse racing scene as well as very famous and expansive slopes to enjoy. What they don’t have is an affordable tourist culture which is something I was not fully aware of prior to booking. Luckily, some absolutely fantastic friends of ours invited us to hang out in an apartment they have not much further from St. Moritz. Since passing up a chance to hang out with friends in addition to enjoying a fantastic holiday in Switzerland is impossible, we ended up landing in a little Graubünden village called Scuol.
I had also learned from our previous visit to Madonna di Campiglio that our family doesn’t quite feel comfortable when surrounded by visibly very wealthy ski culture, so the idea of getting out of staying in St. Moritz was okay with us. Apparently Roger Federer and Lindsey Vohn were spotted in St. Moritz during what would have been our stay…so avoiding whatever was attached to that is an absolute win in my book. Nothing against him or her, but I don’t need the associated noise of that in my life (is what I tell myself).
Scuol is a quiet little Swiss village not really on the Swiss tourism radar and is located in the Engadin Valley within the Graubünden Canton. It is easily overshadowed by swanky Davos in the West and even swankier St. Moritz to the south…but Scuol is actually quite isolated, geographically, from other populated areas. Depending on which route you travel in order to arrive, you could be forced into taking a car train into the valley due to both terrain and/or weather closures of other routes. An interesting note about Scuol that I learned about after arriving: this is one of the few areas in Switzerland in which the unique Swiss Romansch language is heavily spoken…something I had not yet come across in my Alpine travels.
With its outwardly wealthy neighbor towns not too far away, Scuol is much more…down to Earth as far as any Swiss town can be. I didn’t see Moon Boots. I didn’t see ridiculous fur coats and hats anywhere. I only saw one bottle of champagne being consumed on the mountain. Basically Scuol was the opposite of Davos, Zermatt, and St. Moritz.
Scuol is not a place where you’re going to find a lot of foreigners…hence one of the things that makes it feel more authentic. The people that descend upon the village’s slopes during winter are actually…Swiss. You don’t find the huge mega Chalets in Scuol that you’ll easily find in places like Grindelwald, Nendz, and Zermatt. Instead, you’ll find relatively humble stone buildings that ooze with centuries of history. There was a huge bonus personally for me as there was also an outdoor rink to play hockey on in addition to an ice path winding through a forest only a short drive away. The fabled St. Moritz White Turf horse racing and family days are also only an hour away and provide a very unique and cool experience if you happen to find yourself in the region in February. You can even allow your kid to try Skijöring if they’re into horses.
The village alone was a delightful surprise and I made a personal vow to try and visit more isolated and lesser-known areas of the Swiss alps as a result of this visit.
So, now that I’ve finished trying to be all poetic and insightful about the village itself, I think it’s probably time to roll over to that whole ski and snowboard topic thingy.
Scuol’s slope area is wonderfully adorned with 70 kilometers of pretty wide slopes which only become bottlenecked at the very bottom of an into-the-village run. The groomed slopes were amazing but they don’t even begin to account for the other amazing terrain options scattered all over the mountain which add endless kilometers of fun. Scuol’s slope area has absolutely everything for absolutely everyone. Due to the quiet nature of the village itself, the groomed slopes did not come off as even remotely crowded. There is an awesome terrain park and fun slope for both adults and kids, there are nice big off-piste areas for you freeriders out there (pending new-ish fallen snow), and there are several extremely long slopes that lead into three different villages: Scuol, Ftan, and and Sent. There are even big competitive jumps for you X-Gamers (is that still a thing…?).
There is only a single ground station in the village of Scuol to actually get you up into the main ski area. Normally I’d say this is horrid; however, given the super local and non-touristy feel of the place, I didn’t feel at any point (weekend or weekday) that this led to crowded lines. Really the only place that I encountered a wait was at the Naluns lift base. Nearly everything you’d need is also right next to the main Gondola base: ski and snowboard shop, rentals, Swiss Ski School, and even Aprés Ski (really no surprise there right 😅?).
Just prior to our visit, the region received a pretty good dusting of snow which was a blessing for everyone. Similar to our previous year’s Alpine winter, there was a lack of newly fallen snow so the lower alpine slope areas were hurting. The light blanket of snow that fell during our first night was just enough to provide some off-piste enjoyment and keep the groomed runs from feeling too icey. Weather gods are fickle beasts, these days.
For Switzerland 🇨🇭, I didn’t think a four-day pass for four human beings was too bad coming in at 700USD. I think Campiglio was actually worse. On the other hand, as always, if you plan on eating a totally average plate of Spaghetti Bolognese or something of the same nature in the mountain restaurants, get ready to feel the Swiss financial 💰 pain. Life is about choices…and there’s no way I’m paying daily to eat at Swiss slope side restaurants. *in cryptic voice* Choose wisely. We took our lunch every day and ate at an extremely bland “picnic room” 🙃. It felt like eating in a huge jail cell shared with fifty other people, but it sure beat spending 100 bucks on lunch everyday.
I don’t have too many things to say about other expenses; HOWEVER, in this wonderful little Swiss town, grocery stores are open on Sundays. This is essentially paramount to finding a unicorn at the end of a rainbow THEN finding the pot of gold that the Leprechaun is jumping around on. We arrived on a Saturday so man oh man was this a lifesaver for the next day.
SKI DEPOT! You have the opportunity to rent a locker at the mountaintop for about 25CHF (cash only) for a week. Using these can save some time and energy if you’ve got to walk a fair distance to the main gondola station everyday.
The only other point I’ve got about expenses…do yourself a favor and book this apartment or this apartment. The hosts are wonderful friends of ours and are some of the kindest Germans (outside of the Schwäbische Alb 😉) we’ve ever known. They price the accommodations fairly even for non-Swiss types like ourselves. That’s the difference between a touristy Swiss village and a real Swiss village: way less price gouging.
For those of you who actually read past the first paragraph, you may recall that I am a big fan of the official Swiss Ski School. Even though Scuol is quaint and not big whatsoever, it was refreshing to see that SSS operates there. I can’t really remember (nor have I even looked back at my own posts 😬) if costs with previously used SSS courses were expensive or reasonable; however, a 4-day half-day lesson package at Scuol’s SSS runs you 181CHF. I might contradict my own opinions from two years or so ago, but I feel like a 4-day package for under 200CHF is actually a pretty good price as far as Switzerland goes.
Outside of the slope quality, authentic feel of the village, and convenience of having real grocery stores open on a Sunday, I have to toss in a special nod to one of the most amazing ice rinks I’ve ever seen, in my life.
I love ice hockey and skating outside. I’ve always felt that there is a strange natural connection from a human being able to glide across a sheet of naturally frozen ice while surrounded by trees, mountains, marsh, or whatever may be present. In the dead center of Scuol is the most picturesque sheet of ice I have ever seen in my life. It is divided during certain time periods between hockey players and hobby skaters…but the views from this place are to die for…at least for a hockey player…
To be honest, Scuol is really really amazing. It’s quiet, reasonable, and has plenty to do outside of the amazing ski/snowboard options available to the town. The added benefit of a grocery store being open all days of the week is the icing on the cake for any visitor. Basically, we’re already planning a return trip here.
I’d recommend paying this little town a visit. Apparently it’s not too bad in the summer, either.
Bis zum näschtes mal!
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