A long town in a high valley
Davos is best understood as both a mountain town and a very large municipality. The municipal brochure records 12,771 residents at the end of December 2024 across 283.99 square kilometres; the built-up centres of Davos Dorf and Davos Platz lie at about 1,560 metres. The settlement stretches along the Landwasser valley, while the commune also includes smaller places and side valleys. That geography explains why a visit can move from a busy promenade to open pasture and high mountain scenery without leaving the municipal boundary. The municipal portrait and figures are the right source for population and area: the often repeated phrase “Europe’s highest city” refers to the town centre’s elevation, not to the entire municipality sitting on a single plateau.
German is the written local language, while Walser German remains part of the region’s spoken identity. The Walser migration story is more complicated than a tidy origin legend. The destination’s historical account describes settlers arriving from Upper Valais in the thirteenth century, but says their precise motives are not established. Their dispersed farmsteads, timber buildings and alpine farming shaped the landscape still visible in the side valleys. Davos Klosters’ Walser history explains both the settlement pattern and what remains uncertain.
From farming valley to health resort and literary setting
Davos’ international story changed in the nineteenth century. The tourism authority dates the first guesthouse for health visitors to 1860 and the arrival of the first winter guests to 8 February 1865. Physician Alexander Spengler argued that Davos’ altitude, sunlight and air could help people with tuberculosis. That idea belongs to the history of treatment in the pre-antibiotic era; it should not be mistaken for present-day medical advice. Its consequences for the town were lasting: sanatoria, hotels and new public buildings transformed a scattered rural settlement. The official account of Spengler and the climate cure traces how the resort gained a European reputation.
Literature gave that history another life. Katia Mann came to a Davos sanatorium, and Thomas Mann visited her in 1912. His observations and her letters informed The Magic Mountain, published in 1924. The novel is rooted in Davos but is fiction; there is no single building that can simply be labelled “the Magic Mountain.” A walk through the town’s former resort architecture helps show how care, sunlight and ventilation shaped the built environment. The architectural history of Davos describes the distinctive roofs and sanatorium-era buildings without reducing the town to a book title.
Art offers a different route into the place. Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner settled in Davos in 1918 and spent the rest of his life in the region. The Kirchner Museum, opened in 1992, brings together a major collection of his work in a building by Zurich architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer. Its location between Davos Dorf and Davos Platz railway stations makes it a practical cultural stop even on a short visit. The museum currently lists Tuesday-to-Sunday opening, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a refurbishment closure scheduled for 4 January to 13 February 2027; check its visitor information before setting out.
Sport, science and contemporary work
Davos’ winter identity grew through local invention and visitors who brought new sports with them. The tourism authority says the first T-bar ski lift began operating at Bolgen in 1934. Jakobshorn remains associated with freestyle skiing and snowboarding, while Parsenn is known for long, broad runs; its official destination page lists about 97 kilometres of pistes across the ski area. The mountain infrastructure also opens to hikers and bikers in warmer months, but operating dates vary by lift and season. Consult the current mountain railway timetable rather than assuming a cable car is running.
The economy is broader than leisure. Davos’ 2025–28 municipal brochure reports 7,229 full-time-equivalent jobs and describes services as 85.4 percent of employment, with accommodation, health care, restaurants, construction, transport, retail, research and education among the larger branches. The Congress Centre and the annual World Economic Forum make the town a meeting place, while clinics and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research give it a year-round scientific and medical presence. At the SLF, public visits can introduce guests to research on snow and avalanches: its current page lists German-language tours on Fridays at 10 a.m. except public holidays, with advance booking and limited places. Check the SLF tour details before planning.
Lake, side valleys and useful excursions
For an easy first outing, the Davosersee pairs a shoreline walk with water sports and places to rest. The family-tourism page describes a circuit of just under five kilometres, with a playground and lawns; the lake’s official page lists swimming, sailing, stand-up paddling, wakeboarding and pedal boats, many of them seasonal. These are visitor facilities, not a promise that every activity is open on every date. The Davosersee information and the current weather and service notices should be checked together.
Further into the Sertig valley, the village of Sertig Dörfli offers a quieter contrast to the central promenade. Its small white chapel bears the date 1699 and is associated with the farming families of the valley. From the Walserhuus, the tourism authority estimates roughly thirty minutes on foot to the waterfall, which descends in three stages. The Sertig side-valley guide gives current orientation, while the chapel page notes that opening is limited and should be confirmed locally. Monstein, another Walser village, rewards a slow walk among timber houses and elevated granaries; its brewery began operating in 2001 and is described by the destination as Switzerland’s highest brewery.
Getting to Davos is straightforward but involves a change: take Swiss Federal Railways to Landquart, then the Rhaetian Railway to Davos Dorf or Davos Platz. The local bus network connects the elongated town and outlying stops. By road from Zurich, the official route uses the A3/A13 to Landquart and then cantonal road 28. Engineering works, winter conditions and service changes can affect the journey, so use live rail, bus and road information. The practical arrival guide lists the current options. Davos rewards more than a quick view from a ski lift: give time to its layered history, the museum, the lake and one of the valleys that show how people have made a home in this high landscape.