We spent last Christmas in Klosters, an alpine town near Davos. Of all of the Swiss ski resorts, Klosters is best known for being unpretentious. Royals and movie stars have favored this destination for decades, starting in the mid-twentieth century. Celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Yule Brenner, Bing Crosby, and Gene Kelly established Klosters as a refuge for Hollywood stars. More recently, Bono, Renee Zellweger, and Leonardo DiCaprio have been spotted on the slopes.
Klosters is a great location for skiing or just getting away into the mountains. If you don’t ski, you can go for walks along the river, snowshoe in the hills, cross-country ski, or go for a romantic sleigh ride. For a horse drawn sleigh ride, we recommend Familie Christian Flütsch, with sleigh rides starting across the Klosters Platz. They own a farm just outside of town and raise horses and cattle. You can even have them bring you to and from fondue. You can also easily take the Bernina Express or take a day trip to St. Moritz.
WHERE TO STAY
Klosters has a range of accommodations, from rustic hotels in town to private chalets in the mountains. You won’t find any five-star hotels here. We stayed at the historic Chesa Grischuna hotel. It was known as “Hollywood on the Rocks,” due to all of the celebrities who stayed at the hotel and dined at its restaurant.
WHERE TO EAT + DRINK
There are several options around town for good restaurants and places to have coffee or hot chocolate. Restaurants fill up quickly, so we advise calling in advance for a reservation. Chesa Grischuna has a lovely restaurant upstairs and serves the same menu at the bar downstairs, with live music in both. We recommend dining upstairs (read more here) and saving the bar for after dinner, as the service was lacking downstairs.
Gasthaus Hohwald was one of our favorite restaurants in Klosters. We only had fondue and dessert, but we hope to go back soon to taste more from their menu. It was so popular, we couldn’t get a reservation for dinner.
If you’re looking for fondue or raclette in downtown Klosters, try Chalet Pratiger. You’ll find everything from traditional rachlette to truffle fondue. We tried the Chinoise fondue, which uses hot broth to cook thinly sliced meat. We tried the game meat, which includes wild boar, Swiss venison, and Austrian venison, with a variety of sauces. At the end of your fondue, they add cognac to your hot broth and reduce it to a heavenly soup.
For coffee or hot chocolate, head to Kaffee Klatsch Lounge next to the Gotschnabahn cable car or one of the outdoor smoking lounges at the Alpina hotel. They have heaters and sheep skins to stay warm, and you can order anything from the bar to enjoy while you watch the snow fall.
Finally, for cooking at home, we recommend the Coop grocery store. It’s not uncommon to see Prince Charles or the King of Sweden shopping at the Coop, the only grocery store in town. A Coop car attached to the passenger trains delivers food to the small town, and there’s an incredibly large selection of meats, cheeses, fish, and vegetables that all looks fresh and delicious.
