At Aletsch Arena in southern Switzerland, children and youth ski for free every Saturday with the SBB Railaway “Ski for free” offer. With this offer, you get a discount on your travel travel there and back. Children can also sign up for a free “taster” ski course for absolute beginners, which includes equipment rental.
What a great excuse to finally get your kids on skis or try a new ski resort with your family. Keep reading for more details about this offer and what we liked about Aletsch Arena.
Note: This post was sponsored by SBB Railaway.
The “Ski for Free” offer
Kids and youth age 15 and under ski for free at Aletsch Arena every Saturday, when accompanied by a parent. You must book this offer online to get the discount, loading the pass onto your Swiss Pass card.
If you are traveling there by public transport, you can book through SBB Railway and also get a discount on your train travel. We booked ours a few weeks ahead but it doesn’t sell out.
Here are the additional benefits:
Free ski lesson
Kids and youth can also sign up for a free 2 hour beginners course at Bettmeralp, Fiescheralp and Riederalp. You need to pre-register directly with the ski school a few days before, but probably better farther in advance in case it books out. In 2022/23 season, there are three dates for the ski taster course:
Bettmeralp, 17 Dec 2022
Riederalp, 14 Jan 2023
Fiesch, 21 Jan 2023
Free ski rental
On the days of the ski lessons, children and youth can rent equipment for free at participating sports stores as listed below. All of these shops are either right near to lifts or in the gondola station, so super convenient. Best to reserve equipment ahead of time.
- Bettmeralp: Mattig-Sport and Derby Sport (both in Bettmeralp village, show on map)
- Fiescheralp: Burgener Sport (at top of gondola next to snow garden) and Volken (in the Fiesch valley gondola station)
Discount on public transport
The accompanying parents a discount on train travel on Saturday to Aletsch Arena from any Swiss rail station through Snow’n’Rail by SBB. Buy your online ticket at sbb.ch
Relax on the train
Since the Ski for Free offer includes a discount on train travel, we took the train from Zürich. I have several friends that always take the train to ski, but I was a little nervous because I had never done it and I worried about lugging our gear around. But it was easier than I expected and had a lot of benefits over driving.
First, I got to relax and enjoy the scenery and my children instead of fighting traffic, slippery roads and exhaustion as the driver. We only had to switch trains once and the connection was long enough that we had plenty of time to collect our gear and get settled in the next train. The train dropped us directly at the gondola station and our hotel was right at the top of the gondola, so we didn’t have to walk far with our gear after de-boarding.
The main downside was that on the way home, the train was packed full since everyone was leaving at the same time. Since we were boarding at in Fiesch, the first stop of the Aletsch Arena resort, there was plenty of room and we all got a seat. But at the other stops, people had to push their way in and it was standing room only. Next time, I might linger at a restaurant for an hour with the kids, having hot cocoa and some dessert before catching the train. Since I don’t have to worry about being a sleepy driver, it doesn’t matter so much when we leave as long as the kids are happy.
If you already have a GA card or buy a discounted Saver Day Pass in advance, you can still get the discounted adult ski pass and free ski tickets for the kids. If you consider gas, car train fees, and parking fees, I think taking the train was a good deal.
Skiing at Aletsch Arena
Aletsch Arena is a huge ski resort in the Valais in southern Switzerland. You can access the ski resort from three valley stations, shown left to right on the map below: Mörel-Riederalp, Betten-Bettmeralp and Fiesch-Fiescheralp. Each area is accessed with a cable car or gondola, connecting the valley with a small alpine village. At each village, there are ski lifts, ski schools, ski rentals, restaurants, hotels and other services. Here is the piste map.
We spent most of our time at the Fiescheralp side, which we really enjoyed. One of the most special parts of the resort is the view of the 23km long Aletsch Glacier, which you can see from all the peaks: Eggishorn, Bettmerhorn, Moosfluh and Hohfluh.
See our full report of Skiing at Aletsch Arena
2 responses
These freebies appear to be only for Swiss citizens, as you need a physical SwissPass to get the tickets. 🙁 Another reason to dream of moving to Switzerland. 🙂
The SwissPass is not a Swiss passport but a card from SBB where you can load public transport travelcards and tickets. I don’t know if you have to be a Swiss resident to get the card. But the website says you can get one at a train station ticket office by bringing an valid ID and passport photo. https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/swisspass/card.html