Stoos Ski Resort • affordable family skiing in Switzerland

We ski at Stoos in Central Switzerland for the jaw-dropping views and the steepest funicular in the world, but the slopes are pretty great too. For families, we love that they offer a very affordable family ski pass as well as discounted beginner tickets that cover the practice hills. Stoos has a nice area for beginners with magic carpets, but we like it best for advanced beginner and intermediate skiers that are looking for more of a challenge.

You’ll find plenty of vertical but most of the pistes are quite wide, which is great for those that need to make turns to control their speed. For non-skiers, there are lots of winter walks and is a long sled run. The only thing I didn’t like was the frequent flat spots, which are annoying for snowboarders. But overall, it’s a fun resort with great views and one of the closest big resorts to Zurich and Luzern.

Location

Stoos is located in central Switzerland, west of Lucerne. See on Google Maps. To reach the ski resort, you ride a funicular up to the car-free village and ski lifts.

Stoos overview and winter map

Here is the winter map of Stoos. To reach the resort, you ride a funicular train from the valley to the car-free village. Near the funicular, there is a learning area with two magic carpets. There is a beginner’s area with two T-bar lifts with short easy runs. Then there are chair lifts on opposite sides of the resort accessing a variety of red and black runs. The Fronalpstock side is better for advanced beginner and intermediate skiers. You’ll also find the sled run and panorama winter walk here. The Klingenstock side has much steeper runs, best for intermediate to advanced skiers.

Getting There

By car: The Stoos funicular doesn’t have an address, so I usually put Illgau as my destination in my GPS, which is at town a little past the Stoosbahn. You’ll see the funicular base station on your right before reaching Illgau. Park in the metered lot next to the station.

By transit: Take a train to Schwyz, Bahnhof, then bus #1 to Schwyz, Stoosbahn, which is adjacent to the funicular base station.

Lift Ticket Prices

The day pass is quite affordable. In 2022/23, a day pass costs CHF 52/adult, CHF 41 youth (16-19), CHF 28/child (6-15), under 6 ski free. They sell a 4 hour pass for a discount. See current prices.

Stoos also offers a family ski pass for CHF 130 for 2 adults and all their children up to age 15. With one parent, it costs CHF 91. It looks like you can only purchase this onsite, not online. 

If you are a beginner, you can buy a “light” ticket which includes the funicular to reach the resort and the three T-bar lifts: Sternegg, Maggiweid and Holibrig. You can also buy this for only 4 hours instead of the full day. 

Opening Times

The Stoos ski resort is open for winter season from beginning of December through mid April, depending on the snow conditions. The lifts are generally open daily from 8:30 to 16:30. Check current operating status.

Where to stay near Stoos

My top choice would be the Fronalpstock mountain hotel, where you can watch the sunset from the cliffs after your ski day. Families would also enjoy staying at the Swiss Holiday Park Resort at Morschach, which has heated indoor pools, thermal baths, sports facilities and other amusements. From Morschach, you can reach Stoos with a cable car instead of the funicular.

Photo story

Arrival & Funicular Train

To access the Stoos resort, you can drive or take a bus to the valley station shown below where you will take a funicular train up the mountain. This train is scheduled to run every 30 mins, but they seemed to run it more frequently when the train was very full. Buy your ski pass here, which includes return transport on this funicular train.

Stoos Village

The funicular drops you off in the Stoos alpine village shown below. The two chair lifts are on opposite sides of the village but connected with tow-ropes and a magic carpet so you don’t have to walk between them. I didn’t see any lockers at the top of the funicular, so I just stashed my backpack under some benches like many other people.

Ski School and Magic Carpet

The ski school meets in the middle of the village. There are two magic carpets, one covered, used by the ski school. These are free to use, you don’t need a ski pass. In that case, you would only need to pay for a return trip on the funicular to access this area (SBB Half-fare and Junior cards accepted for this).

Practice Slopes for Beginners

There are two T-bars with short practice hills for beginners, both included in the “light” ticket. This picture shows the T-bar that runs above the funicular train.

I found this second practice hill parallel to the funicular a bit steep for absolute beginners.

Red runs at Fronalpstock

Although all the Fronalpstock runs are marked as “red”, which means intermediate, we found them quite mild and not too steep, suitable for advanced beginners. My 6 year old who had been skiing for a couple years was able to make it down without much trouble.

Views & Winter Walk at Fronalpstock

Many non-skiers ride to the top of Fronalpstock to catch the views. There is a short panorama winter walk along the cliff with great views. There is also a restaurant up here with big windows so you can enjoy the view with a meal. Here is the lookout area.

Here’s a peek at the winter walk trail. It’s a bit hard to see because everything is white. The path is groomed, so you just need sturdy shoes for walking. It is quite near the cliff edge and the fences aren’t much of a barrier, so I’d be really careful with kids!

There is a full service restaurant at the top of Fronalpstock, but when we were there, it was reserved for a big group and we could only eat at the cafeteria, which was very average.

There were long tables upstairs with great views.

Sled Run

The long sled run starts at the top of Fronalpstock. You can rent sleds in the village. People used all kinds of sleds as shown below.

The sled run is very curvy with built up sides to help you stay on the run. There are a few places where you get off your sled and walk over a small hill to continue sledding.

Steeper runs at Klingenstock

The Klingenstock side of the resort has very steep runs with lots of off-piste areas. These runs are marked red and black, definitely for intermediate and advanced skiers. As an experienced snowboarder, I really enjoyed this part of the resort, but I would hesitate to take my youngest over here until his skills improve a bit.

Summer tip: You can easily enjoy these amazing views in summer was well. Details for summer hiking in Stoos here >>

Video of Stoos

A little video tour of Stoos. If you like the video, please give us a “thumbs up” and subscribe to our channel. We really appreciate your support!