Davos Klosters Panorama Trail

With this wide open trail on the side of a mountain, you get a lot of quality time with panorama views over the Davos and Klosters valleys. It’s a pretty easy walk with very little elevation gain or descent. The landscape is a bit barren and very rocky, beautiful in its own way, but a different look than what you may be used to in other parts of Switzerland. If you’ve skied at Klosters, you might find it fun to hike across the same slopes you were zooming down over the snow.

Trail Overview

The hike is located in the Davos-Klosters region of southeastern Switzerland.

It starts at the top of the Klosters-Gotschnagrat lift and follows the panorama trail to Höhenweg, where you ride the Parsennbahn mountain train down to Davos. From there, you can take a regular train back to Klosters if you parked there. Of course, you could hike this trail in the opposite direction.

The trail is a easy dirt path, with minimal elevation gain and descent. Some parts are wide, but many parts are narrow and rocky, so no strollers.

There are plenty of nice spots to picnic, but no official fire pits and no wood. We built a fire, but we brought our own wood. There is a restaurant at the start and end points and one cafe in the middle near the Parsennhütte.

Longer option: The full panorama trail advertised on the website is 16 km and continues past the Davos Mittelstation up to the Strela pass, then hikes down the whole mountain to Davos (see trail map). This was way too long for us, so we just hiked the first half. Maybe we’ll come back next time and do the second half of this trail.

Getting There

This hike goes one way, starting in Klosters and ending in Davos (or you could walk the other way). These towns are well connected with public transportation in the valley, so you can easily get back to your starting place.

By car: I suggest parking in Klosters and taking the train back from Davos at the end of your hike. So drive to Klosters-Sernaus and follow signs to the Gotschnabahn (Gotschnastrasse 23, 7270 Davos Platz). There is a metered lot directly adjacent to the cable car station. If that’s full, there’s overflow parking at Talbachstrasse, 7250 Klosters-Serneus, a short walk from the cable car station.

Usually, I suggest parking at your end point and taking the train to your starting point, to avoid unnecessarily waiting for the train at the end of your hike. But it’s kind of a waste of time driving up and back to Davos and the train runs every 30 mins so you won’t have to wait long.

By public transit: Take the train to Klosters Platz. The cable car station is next to the cable car station.

End of hike: When you finish the hike, walk to the Davos, Dorf train station and catch the train back to Klosters Platz or wherever you want to go. In summer 2020, this train runs about every 30 mins (on the :06 and :30) and takes about 22 mins. Check the current schedule.

Tickets

When purchasing your tickets, tell them you are hiking the Panorama trail from Gotschnagrat to Parsenn Davos Mittelstation. I think they will sell you a “Day ticket Parsenn / Gotschna” which in summer 2020, costs CHF 44/adult and CHF 110 for family (includes all of your children up to 17 years old). There are no discounts for SBB Half-fare or Junior cards or other travel passes. 

We don’t hike in the Davos Klosters region that often because they don’t offer discounts for SBB Half-fare and Junior cards, which makes for an expensive day trip. But for those staying at least one night in the area, you get a Premium Card for free, which discounts all mountain railways to just CHF 10. So this is much better for a weekend stay or summer holiday.

Operating Times

The Klosters Gotschnabahn starts running up to Gotschnagrat (the top) from the last weekend in June through early October. Check current operating times.

The stupid Davos website is not currently listing the timetable (I searched everywhere!). I assume the cable car and mountain train run about every 20 mins. When I did this trail in 2016, the first ride up was 8:15. But I cannot verify this at the moment. You can safely assume that the mountain railways run from about 9:00 to 16:30.

Trail Impressions

We did this trail on a cloudy, rainy day in late September. So my pics are not the best representation of this trail. It will be much prettier on a sunny day in early August when you go.

Starting at Gotschnagrat in a cloud. I was very grumpy and not hopeful. But my husband was sure it was going to improve. He was right.

The clouds starting to break up.

After about 30 mins, we reach Parsennhütte, show in the distance. There is a restaurant there that’s open in summer, but it was closed in late fall. We were the only ones on the trail so they weren’t going to get much business.

Follow the yellow trail signs marked Panoramaweg, direction Stat. Höhenweg.

Leaving Parsennhütte behind.

There are a few uphill parts, but not steep or long.

Now we can see down to the Klosters valley.

This yellow grass is pretty in fall, but pretty green with wildflowers in summer.

Snow on the mountain tops.

Now we can see the lake down in Davos. 

After about 1hr40 of hiking, we reach the Meierhoftälli lift, no services there and the lift doesn’t run in summer.

Heading uphill again.

Pretty colors in fall.

Turning a rocky corner.

A bench and a couple informal fire rings here.

Our picnic spot. Good thing we brought wood because there wasn’t any on the trail.

Now a clear view down to Davos.

After about 4 hours on the trail (including a lunch break), we reach Höhenweg, the middle station for the Parsennbahn, aka mountain train. Sometimes this is labeled Davos Mittelstation. 

Arriving at Höhenweg. We’ll ride the Parsennbahn train down to Davos Dorf, then catch the regular train back to Klosters.

From the bottom of the Parsennbahn, it’s a short walk through Davos to the Davos, Dorf train station.

Well, do you think you might try it?

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