Pizol rises out of the Heidiland tourism region above Bad Ragaz, a Sankt Gallen ski area where a single gondola from Wangs lifts you from 480 m of vineyards and spa town to 2,226 m of high-Alpine ridge in twenty minutes. The 47 km of pistes spread across the Pizol massif on broad, sun-facing terraces, with views that drop straight onto Liechtenstein, the Rhine valley and the first peaks of the Austrian Vorarlberg. It is the kind of resort that Zurich families have skied on Saturdays for two generations, easy to reach, easy to read, and quietly spectacular.
Pizol is a ski resort in Switzerland, in the Swiss Alps. The village sits at 480 m and the lifts top out at 2226 m, with 47 km of pistes and 9 lifts. Its BestSnowHotels snow score is 74/100, and the season usually runs Dec 7 → Apr 7.
How we score and classify resortsRun counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
A handful of well-rated hotels in and around the resort. Pick one, then compare live prices across Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Very good · 311 reviews
Strong value for Pizol, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Guests rate this hotel as very good (4.4/5 from 311 reviews). It sits about 5.0 km from the slopes. A mid-range option for Pizol, with live nightly rates shown for your exact dates so you always see the best price.
Good · 143 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pizol.
Ratings from Google, prices indicative per night. Live availability and rates via our booking partners.
Pizol is not a true ski-in, ski-out resort: the village of Wangs sits at 528 m at the foot of the gondola, and the few hotels at altitude near Furt and Gaffia are reached by the lift system rather than directly on the snow. Choose accommodation in Wangs or Bad Ragaz for the easiest morning access, or in the Pizolhütte and Gaffia inns for genuine ski-from-the-door mornings.
The Pizol Schneeerlebnis area is built around five small lakes and a single cable car, with pistes that fan out from the Pizolhütte at 2,222 m back down to Furt and Gaffia. There are no green slopes on the trail map, but the blues are genuinely gentle and the reds long, well-pitched and groomed to a Swiss standard that rarely disappoints. The descent toward Wangs, when conditions allow, is one of the longest continuous runs in eastern Switzerland and the one that gives Pizol its reputation as the most panoramic ski outing within easy reach of Zurich. The infrastructure is modest, the queues are short, and the food, in keeping with the Heidiland tourism region, leans on cheese, Rhine valley wines and old Sankt Gallen mountain inns rather than club music. For a day from Zurich, with a stop in Bad Ragaz for the thermal baths on the way home, Pizol is hard to beat.
Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Everything on our site connected to Pizol: its area, the lists it makes, head-to-heads and trip guides.
Pizol offers 47 km of pistes across 9 lifts, from 480 m to 2226 m. Whether it suits beginners depends on the dedicated learner zones at the base of the slopes, so check the local ski-school options for green and blue run access.
The season runs from Dec 7 to Apr 7, with a snow score of 74/100. The best conditions are usually from late January through February, while spring skiing in March and April brings longer days and softer afternoons.
Pizol is not a true ski-in, ski-out resort: the village of Wangs sits at 528 m at the foot of the gondola, and the few hotels at altitude near Furt and Gaffia are reached by the lift system rather than directly on the snow. Choose accommodation in Wangs or Bad Ragaz for the easiest morning access, or in the Pizolhütte and Gaffia inns for genuine ski-from-the-door mornings.
Pizol has 47 km of marked pistes served by 9 lifts, between 480 m and 2226 m of altitude.
Pizol counts about 40 marked runs in total. The colour breakdown above shows how they split by difficulty, a good guide to whether the resort fits your level.
The closest alternatives, an easy switch if dates or hotels are tight.
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