We visited Meiringen Hasliberg on a sunny Sunday in mid-February fully knowing that the experience could be the worst of our trip. Turns out that even with the locals out in force and car parks over flowing, our experience of the resort was excellent.

We drove from Liechtenstein so were a little later than usual and had to park on the side of the road in Twing near the Wasserwendi gondola base. Straddling the footpath on the side of an already narrow road is not the best start to the day, but at least there were official parking staff directing proceedings.

Ignoring the bony looking lower slopes into Twing (no snow-making & a warm week on a south-aspect slope!), we journeyed up to the top and were supremely impressed with the expansive alpine bowl. Despite the crowds, lift lines were swift, piste trails were not overtly busy, and the off-piste was deserted (Yay!). Seems most people in the resort were large family groups, hanging about on a few trails and around the super-busy mid-mountain area called Bidmi.

For us, the real juice of the resort is from the top of the quad chair up to Glogghüs, the sidecountry chutes accessible from a bootpack along the ridge to the Rothorn summit, plus all the terrain from the Alpen Tower gondola. Despite some aspects being sun-baked and cruddy, we still found fresh, dry snow (some untracked) without too much effort. And we are sure that with a little more time, we would have discovered loads more. Given the numbers of skiers on the hill, the off-piste was relatively lightly tracked (except the obvious zone under the Alpen Tower gondola!).

The valley trails to the Rueti base area are long, rollicking beauties and a perfect way to finish (or start) a day! If taking the cable car up from the valley station at Meiringen, start early. It is at least a 10 to 15min walk from the centre of town to the cable car's discreetly located valley station.

We had lunch at the 'self serve' eatery at Alpen Tower. Stupendous views abound. Food was good but we would have preferred a restaurant experience, which we could have got at the pleasant looking Gummenalp Restaurant further down the hill on ski trails 18 & 19. Hindsight!

Two hotels located adjacent the Hasliberg Rueti base area are the best places to stay on the mountain (Das Hotel Panorama & Hotel Rueti Hasliberg). Hotel Rueti Hasliberg has some lively apres ski available too. Down in Meiringen, the town and all its hotels are convenient to the train station, shame the cabe car isn't! It does look to be a pleasant sizeable town though, with all relevant services, bars and restaurants. The stately looking Parkhotel du Sauvage would be the place to stay, though it is 4-star and comes with the price-tag to go with that.

Overall a great ski hill with lots of possibility, unknown to anyone outside northern Europe, and we suspect deliciously quiet on a mid-week powder day. Put it on your list of alternates if near Engelberg, Lucerne or the Jungfrau Ski Region resorts on a powder day.
See our video here

We arrived late but still got parked, on the side of the road:-) Lifts easy to access, was a warm day and hadn't snowed but can see lots of potential, especially off piste. Heaps of eating options.
See our video here