Less Is More at Swiss Ski Village

Little did the 13th-Century monks know when they founded a small monastery here in eastern Switzerland and named the village for their “cloisters” that it would become the creme de la creme of Swiss ski resorts seven centuries later.

Adventurous Britishers, always looking for an escape from English weather, discovered larger Davos (just eight miles up the valley) in the 19th Century and very nearly turned it into a small outpost of the empire, as they have with many Continental resorts with civilized climates.

Then, after World War II, Davos became what locals here delight in calling a “department store” resort, joining St. Moritz, Zermatt and other renowned Swiss villages in attracting hordes of visitors year-round. Klosters chose a different route, deciding to approve a strict ban on building and remain a small and intimate “boutique resort.” It paid off.

Prince Charles has been a regular here since he was a schoolboy, and he, Princess Di and a clutch of their friends still make the yearly pilgrimage to schuss the slopes and party into the evening with local cronies.

Klosters’ small size also breeds a comfortable familiarity between visitors and locals that is akin to being treated as a member of the family upon arrival. To join the clan, any outlander can just walk through the village and pet dachshunds; every family in this town of about 4,000 seems to own at least one.

Apart from the village being a real charmer, the setting between mountains of the Prattigau has scenery beyond spectacular. And while other Swiss resorts may rate a page or two in Michelin’s Green Guide, Klosters is happy to settle for a scant paragraph describing it as “still quite rural.”

Winter and springtime skiing (considered among the best in Switzerland during March and April) is indeed glorious, thanks to sharing the world-renowned Parsenn snowfields and slopes with neighbor Davos. With almost 100 miles of ski runs, six cable cars and 18 lifts, the Klosters-Davos area is a cornucopian paradise for winter sports enthusiasts. A skiers’ shuttle train runs all day between the two towns.

Summertime sees the Prattigau’s mountain and valley meadows come alive with wildflowers. Just toss your hat and it lands over dozens of radiant colors. All of which makes for world-class hiking.

On our scale of Swiss resorts, we rate Klosters among our two or three favorites. In fact, one doesn’t find much better anywhere in Europe.

How long/how much? Skiers will want to give it at least a week, while three days is enough to unwind in summer. Klosters is also a great base for visiting other lovely little villages of the Graubunden canton (Grisons in English), one of the country’s most scenic regions. Most of Europe is terribly expensive these days, and Switzerland is no exception.

Settling in: Hotel Ratia on the edge of the village is a 13th-Century farmhouse with the older parts made of logs. Known as a Relais du Silence for its tranquil setting, the Ratia’s front yard is an endless meadow with a 400-yard walk to the cable-car station and cross-country trails beginning at the front door.

Within, the Ratia is all rustic charm, its log-walled dining room graced with ancient beams, a copper-hooded fireplace and tiny bar. Bedroom furnishings are in pristine white pine to match the walls and ceilings. Some bedrooms have balconies fringed with geranium boxes. Half-pension (two meals) is required here, as in most Swiss resort hotels, and the owners prepare all of the meals. There are only 20 rooms; four are without private baths and less expensive.

Bundnerhof, run for 40 years by the Karlen-Anderhub family at mid-village, is rather boxy from the outside, but within, a feeling of warmth and gemutlichkeit prevails. The four-story building has parking and an elevator, and its dining room is noted for regional dishes.

The Alpina Hotel and Guesthouse has perhaps the best location in town, just across from the outdoor railway station and on the main shopping street. In the twin chalets are lounges and spacious rooms done in a contemporary treatment of traditional Graubunden architecture. Most of Alpina’s bedrooms have private balconies, and there’s an indoor pool, sauna and fitness gym. All rooms have TV and most of the standard amenities. It’s a wonderful place for families.

Regional food and drink: Graubunden has mostly farmer fare that varies some from one part of the canton to the next. Chapuns are a typical dish. A pastry made of flour, eggs, bread, various meats and spices is rolled in vegetable leaves and cooked. The result looks something like an omelet.

Chasgatschader is a particular favorite around Klosters. It’s a kind of pancake made of bread, milk and cheese, cooked and served in a large pan. Families often dine on this lunchtime staple straight from the pan. Greuchta engadiner mit rosti, a very rich and heavenly sausage, usually comes with rosti , the ever-present pan-fried potato cakes.

Malanser wines, produced 18 miles from Klosters in the same valley, are popular here, as is the Malanser marc, a potent potion made from grape pulp and sometimes seeds.

Good local dining: Restaurant Hohwald, situated in the tiny hamlet of Monbiel just above Klosters, is a 17th-Century Graubunden chalet-farmhouse with sunny terrace in summer and a great view down the valley to Klosters. At lunchtime, try the Klosterser bundnerfleisch (wind-dried beef), a delicacy priced at $15, or the jagerteller (hunter’s plate), which offers a selection of meats, wurst and cheese for $7.50.

Dinner brings the likes of chasgatschader ($9), knodli mit risotto (meatballs with saffron rice) at $11, or one of the game grills for about $17.50. There’s always a local crowd here, drawn by the warmth and beis (bistro-like) atmosphere.

Restaurant Alte Post, a former post station more than two centuries old, is a delightful place specializing in game dishes, and fresh and smoked salmon. A shipment of salmon leaves Norway at 6 a.m., arrives in Klosters at 3 p.m. and goes into owner John Ehrat-Flury’s beech-smoke ovens for a week. He sells it to restaurants throughout Switzerland and Europe.

Try the salmon menu ($43 for two persons), a six-course affair that uses his beloved fish in everything but the sorbet, with a local marc and dessert. You can also choose lamb fillets straight from the open grill at $25, or perhaps Zurich’s famous geschnetzeltes (bits of veal in a mushroom-and-herbs creamed sauce) with rosti for the same price.

Going first-class: Klosters’ Hotel Walserhof is surely this planet’s most elegant “farmhouse,” a chalet encircled with balconies spilling geraniums like Victoria Falls. Built with 13th- and 14th-Century barn beams that still bear the brands of their original owners, Walserhof is a symphony of antiques, traditional furnishings and fabrics of unusual richness. Bedrooms are a soothing combination of enormous beds with down comforters, knotty-wood paneling and sprightly colors as accents. All have balconies and mountain views. There is also a sauna and solarium.

But the highly rated dining room is where owners Beat and Gabi Bollinger will capture your heart and palate with the absolutely best food we’ve had in Switzerland during many visits since the 1950s. From the goose liver pate with raisins and pistachios to a vegetable salad with warm duck liver to John Dory braised in a ginger sauce, everything is prepared and served with a finesse that would do credit to the gastronomic citadels of Paris or Lyon. And the wine book holds a formidable selection of Europe’s best.

On your own: Klosters has most winter sports known to man, from downhill and cross-country skiing (25 miles of tracks), ice skating (23,000 square feet of natural ice), tobogganing (a two-mile-long run), curling and horse-drawn sleigh rides to nearby villages.

In summer, the emphasis turns to hiking (190 miles of signed trails), tennis (13 clay courts and 4 indoors), horseback riding and golf in Davos just 10 minutes away.

But just to breathe the clear and bracing mountain air here, walk the quiet meadows and rejoice in the glory of a benevolent sun is to better understand the true meaning of recreation: to re-create one’s strength, spirits and general outlook on life.

GUIDEBOOK

Klosters, Switzerland

Getting there: Fly Swissair, American or Delta direct from LAX to Zurich. Other foreign and domestic carriers get there with changes. Take a train from Zurich’s airport for the 2 1/2-hour trip to Klosters for $62 round trip. An advance-purchase, round-trip air ticket will cost between $685 and $735.

A few fast facts: The Swiss franc recently sold at 1.35 to the dollar, worth about 74 cents each. Ski season lasts from Christmas until Easter. Summer weather is best from May until late fall.

Accommodations: Swiss resort-hotel rates are a muddled maze of seasonal dates, but these prices are average low-high seasonal rates for double rooms and include half-pension for two persons: Hotel Ratia ($98-$108), Bundnerhof ($84-$102), Alpina ($161-$245) and Walserhof ($168-$224, also a B&B; double rate of $133-$203).

For more information: Call the Swiss National Tourist Office at (310) 335-5980, or write (222 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 1570, El Segundo 90245) for a winter-summer brochure on Klosters, a list of hotels with pictures and prices, map of Switzerland and another brochure with skiing information.