We had been skiing on our Epic Local passes for a few years, but somehow, Switzerland had never made the itinerary. This past winter, that changed. We added Andermatt to our roving retirement ski tour, and it turned out to be an education in more ways than one.
Getting There
Andermatt is about an hour’s drive from Lucerne, along a gorgeous lake coastline that would have been distracting if the roads weren’t demanding enough to keep your eyes forward. The town sits high in the Alps and is part of the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski area, which is owned by the Vail Corporation. That’s right — our Epic Local passes work here, getting us five days of skiing. So off we went.
Getting Your Tickets
When we arrived, we headed straight to the ticket office to get our Epic passes converted into local ski tickets. Even with an Epic Local pass, you have to stop in and get an Andermatt-specific ticket before you can ride anything. The process was quick, which was a relief.
One thing worth mentioning: the agent tried to sell us a €50 seven-day train pass to access the other stations across the very broad ski area. We hesitated and decided to pass on it, thinking we could manage with the two lifts right in town. That turned out to be the right call for us, although not for the right reason.
The Town
Andermatt is small. We’re talking maybe a dozen restaurants in the whole town — which, honestly, wasn’t a bad thing. You can walk everywhere, and we barely touched our car once we settled in. We stayed in a centrally located condo for a week, close to a bus stop and a handful of decent restaurants.
Many towns in Switzerland celebrate Carnival in early February, and we were treated to one from our window. We saw people in quite a variety of festive local attire as we drove around. One night during our stay in Andermatt, a parade wound through town and ended in the parking lot below our condo. What came next was a series of proclamations and cheers, followed by, well, you know, food and drink. It was a spectacle at our feet.
The Snow And Layout Are Different
Before I get into the skiing itself, a word on the snow. If you’re coming from the Rockies or the Sierras, European snow is a different animal. It’s denser, wetter, and generally less forgiving. We’d experienced this once before in France a few years back, but we still needed more time than expected to adjust. Factor that into your first day expectations.
One thing we hadn’t really factored in was the lift system layout. The resort spans three towns over 20 miles as the crow flies, as you can see below. This means you spend a lot of time on a couple of lifts or a lot of time traversing the mountains and possibly returning on the train. Below, the town of Andermatt is on the lower left.
On the Mountain — Days One and Two
The nearest lift in town is actually a tram — very common in Europe, where gondolas and aerial trams often replace chairlifts at the base. Day one had nice weather, but very limited terrain. We did as many runs as our untrained ski legs would allow.
Day two was worse weather. We took a bus to the second lift on the other side of town to access more terrain, but it wasn’t running due to high winds. Back to lift one, one run. Full whiteout, so we packed it in. No shame in being safe on unfamiliar terrain in bad visibility.
Day Three: My Turn To Fall
Finally, on day three, we made it over to the second lift, and it was open. The layout of the Andermatt ski area is essentially a long traverse — you ride up, ski down to the next lift, and keep making your way across the terrain. It’s spread out, so getting around takes time.
We were maybe two lifts into the traverse when I fell. Fresh snow, early-season fitness, and slightly unfamiliar conditions. I wound up with a strained hamstring tendon that hurt enough to shut me down on the spot. I skied carefully to the bottom of the nearest lift, rode it up, and worked my way back to a point where we could catch the bus back to the condo.
Here’s where having a good trainer pays off. Our personal trainer in Playa del Carmen is basically a physical therapist on speed dial. I called her right away, described the injury, and she calmly diagnosed it: not serious, just take five days off, ice it, and don’t do anything stupid. She was right — it healed up enough to gingerly ski the following week again. Three months later, it’s still a little tight, but nothing to worry about. Still, it took me off the mountain for the rest of our stay in Andermatt.
Riding The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn Cog Railway
Since we had some ‘not skiing time’ on our hands, we figured to take in some sights on the cog railway that connected the bases of the Andermatt resort. We took the bus from in front of our condo over to the train station in town. Unfortunately, the bus schedule and train schedules are not timed well, so we had to wait around the train station a while. Even when the train did arrive, it sat on the platform, but at least we could sit in the more comfortable train seats inside than in the cold air outside.
A Day at the “Top of Europe”
Another day, we decided to visit “the Top of Europe”. To get there, we drove to Grindelwald and took the cog railway up to the Jungfraujoch. Diana had been there years ago, and it was non-negotiable on her list. I wasn’t going to argue.
The experience starts at the base and involves a new tram to the Eiger Glacier and then the original cog railway that winds up through the mountain. Genuinely impressive engineering from about 120 years ago, and it still feels like an adventure riding it. There are stops along the way to take in the views before continuing up to the top.
At the summit there’s a full tourist complex — restaurants, an ice sculpture gallery carved inside a cave inside the glacier, and outdoor access onto the glacier itself. We were lucky to have a clear day, and the 360° views were stunning. The mountains go on forever. We did venture outside onto the glacier briefly, but “really really cold” doesn’t quite capture it — we lasted about ten minutes before retreating indoors. Worth every second.
Budget around €110-120 per person, and buy your tickets in advance. A clear day is not guaranteed, and you don’t want to be stuck at the bottom because it sold out.
Food and Fondue
We ate pretty well in Andermatt, all things considered. Toutoune, a restaurant across the street from our condo became a regular stop — an Israeli-run place with an eclectic menu and good energy. We had our best all-around meal at Krone, inside our building. There were some solid bars in town, too.
And then there was the fondue at Ochsen. My first chance at fondue since getting to Switzerland. Diana’s cheese tolerance is limited, so most of it fell on me — a burden I bore happily. One nice discovery: several places in Switzerland offer a single-serving fondue, so you don’t have to commit to the full two-person pot.
Final Thoughts
Andermatt is a charming town and a fun ski destination, especially if your Epic pass gets you in free. That said, it’s quite small — two lifts in town and a rail system to reach the broader ski area — and a week was about the right amount of time. Anything more would start to feel limited. The cog railway system connecting the various ski stations is cool in concept, but in practice it adds enough friction (bus to town, wait for train, train to station, ski, reverse) that it’s not something you’d do every day.
We’re glad we went. We won’t be rushing back.
Where do you like to fondue?
