To help skiers get the best deal this winter, a new website has been launched detailing the cheapest places to rent skis in Switzerland. With rental prices offered in Swiss ski resorts often running into the hundreds of francs, they found it is best to rent your equipment before you head to the mountains.
Called Snou, the website allows users to locate 750 ski rental shops across the cantons - around 90 percent of the sports shops in Switzerland, the creators claim. The site also analyses all rental prices quoted by stores on the internet, meaning you are also able to compare prices from 400 different stores for both adult and children’s equipment.
Generally speaking, the cheapest ski rental prices can be found in Swiss cities and lower-lying areas. Prices gradually rise the closer to the mountains you get, peaking once you get to the resorts themselves. Therefore, renting your gear before you head to the Alps is the way to go - if you're up to clomping through the train station with shouldered skis and boots a-clanging.
Based on Snou's findings, the cheapest ski rental in Switzerland is offered by Sportshop Karrer in Laufen, Canton Basel-Land. There, renting ski equipment costs just 15 francs a day for an adult, and 9 francs for a child. Week-long rentals are also incredibly cheap, at just 50 francs for an adult and 30 for a child.
The bargain at Laufen was followed by No Limit in Brugg, Canton Aargau, where an adult ski rental costs 20 francs a day. Dolomiten Sport in the town of Sarnen rounded out the podium with 22 francs a day.
Beyond niche stores with only one or a few branches, the cheapest ski deals for adults typically hovered around 25 francs a day. For instance, Snou found that at multi-branch companies Decathlon and Migros SportX, the cheapest price possible is 25 francs per day.
Want to find the cheapest ski rental in your area? Check out the Snou website!