Toggenburg with children – Wildhaus, Unterwasser and Chäserrugg

Toggenburg is a long valley in the canton of St. Gallen, just over an hour east of Zurich. At the top end lie three villages in a row: Alt Sankt Johann, Unterwasser and Wildhaus. Above them rise the Churfirsten, seven peaks that look like frozen waves, and on the other side of Wildhaus the Alpstein spreads out.

The valley is full of old wooden houses and pastures, and the slopes are wide and blue. The ski schools live off families with children, and you can tell from how many children's areas fit into such a small valley. By Swiss standards, it's also good value. How the valley compares with other Swiss resorts is shown in the overview of ski resorts in Switzerland.

Two ski areas – keep them apart

The most important thing to know before you book is that Toggenburg is two ski areas with two companies and two lift passes.

• Chäserrugg is run by Toggenburg Bergbahnen and reached from Unterwasser and Alt Sankt Johann. The area has 50 kilometres of pistes up to the summit at 2,262 metres. From Unterwasser a funicular, built in 1934 and the first in Toggenburg, runs up to Iltios, and from there a cable car goes to the top. From Alt Sankt Johann a lift goes up to Alp Sellamatt.
• Wildhaus is run by Bergbahnen Wildhaus and has 28 kilometres of pistes between 1,020 and 2,076 metres, with six lifts towards Oberdorf, Gamsalp and Gamserrugg.

If you stay in Unterwasser or Alt Sankt Johann, Chäserrugg becomes your home mountain. If you stay in Wildhaus, it makes sense to ski there. The PostBus runs between the villages, but it isn't included in the Chäserrugg lift pass.

The 2026/27 season: both areas run daily from 19 December 2026. Chäserrugg stays open until 4 April 2027, but the lifts from Alt Sankt Johann close on 29 March. Wildhaus runs until Easter Monday, 29 March 2027. If there's enough snow, both may open at weekends from 21 November.

Lift passes and ages

In both areas, child rates apply from six up to and including 15 and youth rates from 16 to 19. Adult rates start at 20.

• Chäserrugg: children under six ski free when accompanied by an adult with a ticket. Pricing is dynamic and rises the closer to the day you buy and the more people want to ski that day. Buy early online and avoid the school holiday weeks if you can.
• Wildhaus: here there are family passes for one or two adults with children, a parent pass and a beginner pass valid on the family lift to Freienalp, the lift up to Oberdorf and the children's lift there.

Current prices are shown in each company's booking system.

Three children's areas in three villages

The children's areas are the valley's strongest card. There are three, and they work slightly differently:

• Kinderland Alt Sankt Johann is at the valley station of the lift to Sellamatt, in the middle of the village. It's the biggest, about 200 metres long with three lifts for different levels. It opens on 12 December and closes on 21 March 2027.
• Kinderland Iltios is up on the sunny plateau at Iltios, near the mountain restaurant. It's shorter and gentler, and open every day from 19 December to 4 April.
• Snowli Arena in Wildhaus, by the Munzenriet car park, belongs to the ski school and has a magic carpet, a carousel, a button lift and a pony lift for those who have made some progress.

Both children's areas on Chäserrugg can be used without ski school, but they have their own entrance, and both children and adults must be wearing skis or a snowboard. Sledges and packed lunches aren't allowed there.

Once the children can manage on their own, the Schwendi run, 3.6 kilometres from Iltios down to Unterwasser, is a good first long outing. The forest run Waldweg from Stöfeli to Iltios is another.

If it's the children's first week on skis, there are tips on the daily rhythm in the guide to your family's first ski trip.

Ski schools and age rules

The valley has two ski schools, one on each mountain.

Course	Age	When
Chäserrugg weekly course	Ages 3–15	Monday–Friday from 21 December 2026, half day 10am–12pm or 2–4pm
Chäserrugg full day	from approx. 5 years	Monday–Friday 9.30am–1pm
Chäserrugg Snowli Camp	from age 3	Saturday and Sunday, 2 hours
Chäserrugg Januar Hit	Ages 3–4 half day, ages 5–15 full day	Sundays in January 2027, in Alt Sankt Johann
Wildhaus Kids Village	from 4 years	Monday–Friday, 10am–12pm and/or 2–4pm
Wildhaus taster session	from age 3	January and March, contact the school

The ski school on Chäserrugg groups children by age and level. If you book a five-day course, your child gets a season pass for Chäserrugg after the course – worth knowing if you're planning to come back. On the four Sundays in January – 10, 17, 24 and 31 January 2027 – the Januar Hit course runs in Alt Sankt Johann, with a final race on the last Sunday. For the youngest there's also a weekend course where parent and child ski together.

Schweizerische Schneesportschule Wildhaus holds its beginner lessons in the Kids Village, where the mascot Snowli comes to visit. Lessons take children from age four, and three-year-olds can try a half-day taster session during the quieter weeks in January and March. For two- and three-year-olds there are snow play weeks. Book at least seven days in advance.

Klangslope, sledging and days off skis

In Wildhaus the old fun slope is now called the Klangslope, with rollers, turns, a snow house, a piano you can ski over and a glockenspiel. At the end you ski through a tunnel with pictures of farm life in Toggenburg. There's also the family lift to Freienalp, a six-seater chairlift the company built for families and beginners.

The sledge run goes from Oberdorf down to Wildhaus, and the summit restaurant on Chäserrugg, designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron, is worth a trip up on a clear day even for non-skiers. You'll find more to do away from the slopes in ski holiday without skiing, which gathers ideas for days off.

How to get to Toggenburg

The villages are about an hour by car from Zurich and St. Gallen, but train and PostBus work just as well:

• Via Wattwil: train from Zurich via Rapperswil to Wattwil, or on to Nesslau. PostBus 790 runs from there through Alt Sankt Johann and Unterwasser to Wildhaus. From Wattwil to the valley station in Unterwasser the bus takes around 35 minutes, and the whole journey from Zurich about an hour and 45 minutes.
• Via Buchs SG: train to Buchs in the Rhine Valley and PostBus 797 up to Wildhaus in about 35 minutes. This suits you if you're coming from Sargans, Chur or Liechtenstein.
• From Zurich Airport: allow just under two hours to Unterwasser, with changes in Wil and Wattwil.
• By car: there is parking at the valley stations in Unterwasser and Alt Sankt Johann and at the company's car parks in Wildhaus. All of them charge a fee, and in Wildhaus overnight parking is forbidden in winter.

With the SBB Junior Card, children travel free on trains and PostBuses when a parent travels with them. train to the Alps goes through the train journey from Sweden to Switzerland step by step.

Toggenburg, Flumserberg or Sörenberg?

Flumserberg lies on the other side of the Churfirsten, above the Walensee. It's one connected area with a single lift pass, but the villages are more built around skiing. Toggenburg has quieter villages and more children's areas, but two companies to keep track of.

Sörenberg in the canton of Lucerne is just as low-key and is a better fit if you want to combine it with a day in the city of Lucerne. Toggenburg is closer to Zurich and the airport. How Toggenburg measures up against family resorts in other countries is shown in ski holiday in the Alps with children, and packing list for the ski trip makes it easier to remember everything.