Getting to Davos in January: transfers, rail, air, and moving around during the week

Zurich Airport is the gateway to Davos. The town is about 156 kilometres from the airport, reached by the motorway towards Chur as far as Landquart and then the valley road through Klosters, and in January the drive is best planned at around two and a half hours. By rail, you travel to Landquart and change onto the Rhaetian Railway line that serves Klosters and Davos. During the week of the Annual Meeting the approach to the town is controlled, most central car parks are closed to the public, and Davos runs on foot, on the bus network and on chauffeured cars working inside the same rules as everyone else. This guide sets out the options from Zurich, the business aviation alternatives, and how to move once you are there.

Where to stay is a separate decision, covered in our guide to where to stay during the Annual Meeting week. This piece is about the movement: getting in, getting around, and getting out.

Zurich by road

The road route from Zurich follows the A3 and A13 motorways towards Chur as far as Landquart, then the cantonal road up through Klosters to Davos, as Destination Davos Klosters sets out. The same page puts Davos 156 kilometres from Zurich Airport. A vignette is required for the Swiss motorways, and in heavy snowfall snow chains can be required from Klosters onward for vehicles without four-wheel drive.

On a clear road the drive is shorter than its reputation: route data from Rome2rio puts Zurich to Davos at about 150 kilometres and just under two hours. January is rarely a clear road. The last stretch is a mountain road in winter, the weather can slow it without warning, and during the meeting week access to Davos and its municipal area is subject to police inspections under the cantonal security-zone order. Around two and a half hours from the airport, with a margin for weather on top, is the honest planning figure.

This is why a driver with Davos routing knowledge matters more than the car. The final kilometres into the town during the week involve closed streets, diversions and controlled entries that change by the day, and a driver who knows them saves more time than any vehicle could. For a principal's arrival, the plan of record is a chauffeured car booked well ahead, a point business aviation planners make too when they advise reserving chauffeured transport early.

Zurich by rail, and the change at Landquart

Rail is reliable and, for a traveller with light luggage, often the calmer choice. Trains from Zurich run to Landquart, where you change to the Rhaetian Railway for Klosters and Davos. Plan the rail journey from Zurich main station to Davos Platz at around two and a half hours, including the change at Landquart, and check the SBB timetable for your day of travel.

The train has two advantages in January. It runs on its own line, so it does not sit in the queue on the approach roads, and it arrives at Davos Platz or Davos Dorf, both inside the town. Its friction is luggage and the changes: two trains, sometimes three, in winter, with a week of clothes for meetings and dinners. The Rhaetian Railway and the Swiss federal railways both offer luggage services, and Destination Davos Klosters lists door-to-door luggage delivery, which makes rail realistic for a principal who travels light and lets the bags go separately.

Rail suits a solo traveller, an early arrival over the weekend, or anyone who would rather read than watch a road. It suits a delegation less, because a group with luggage, a schedule and a first meeting to reach is easier to move in one vehicle.

Business aviation: where jets land and park

There is no airport in Davos, so business aviation means landing elsewhere and finishing the journey by road or helicopter. Universal Weather and Aviation's planning guide for the 2027 meeting, published on 20 October 2026, sets out the picture as it stood then.

• Zurich is the primary airport, with business aviation handling and border formalities, but parking is the biggest planning challenge, and parking can be harder to secure than a slot. The common answer is to drop passengers and reposition the aircraft.
• Dübendorf is normally closed to routine general aviation but has opened for eligible operations during the meeting in past years. Prior permission was mandatory under previous arrangements, operating hours were fixed, and flights between Zurich and Dübendorf were not permitted.
• Friedrichshafen in Germany has historically offered more accessible parking and is a common place to reposition an aircraft after the drop at Zurich.
• Geneva and Basel are further options, depending on the year's restrictions and parking.
• Samedan involved restricted-airspace procedures and separate permissions in 2026.

The same guide advises operators to begin requesting parking about a year in advance, and notes that the final event-specific notices and operating requirements for 2027 had not been published. Over Davos itself, the Federal Council restricted the airspace for the 2026 meeting: civil flights could pass only if announced and identified in advance, with permits granted by the Swiss Air Force, according to the Swiss federal government.

For a sense of the distances, Destination Davos Klosters lists St. Gallen-Altenrhein at 114 kilometres from Davos, Friedrichshafen at 152, Basel-Mulhouse at 235 and Geneva at 419. A jet that lands far away buys parking at the price of a long final leg.

In January the helicopter is a contingency. The plan of record is the car.

Helicopters, and why they are a contingency

Helicopter transfers to Davos exist, and for a tight schedule they are attractive. They are also the first thing the weather takes away. Universal Weather and Aviation's guide notes that winter weather can affect them, and January in Davos is properly cold: an average maximum of 0 C, an average minimum of minus 8.7 C, and precipitation on about nine days of the month, according to Climates to Travel. Low cloud and snow ground flights with little notice.

The rule we work to is simple. The helicopter is a contingency and the car is the plan of record. A principal booked on a helicopter should also hold a car and a driver for the same window, so that a grounded flight costs an hour rather than the first dinner of the week. Helicopter traffic around the town is regulated during the meeting.

Arrival and departure windows

The 2027 meeting runs Monday 18 to Friday 22 January, and the travel windows on either side of it are the tightest of the year. Arrivals build over the preceding weekend, with Sunday the unofficial settling-in day, and departures run through Friday and into Saturday. The calendar itself is covered in Davos 2027 dates and how the week works.

Two practical points follow. Arriving on the Saturday or early on the Sunday leaves a margin for weather and for collecting the Secure Hotel Badge before the week begins; arriving on the Monday morning means the first day starts with a transfer. And departures bunch at the end of the week, when cars, trains and aircraft slots are all at their most contested, so a departure booked early, or deliberately placed on the Thursday night or the Saturday, is easier than one improvised on the Friday.

Inside the town during the meeting week

Once you are in Davos, the town changes shape around the meeting. The 2026 traffic orders, issued by the cantonal police and the municipality, give a fair picture of what to expect; the 2027 orders had not been published at the time of writing.

• The measures ran from 5 to 31 January 2026, with the tightest restrictions in the days of the meeting itself.
• A section of the Promenade was closed to through traffic from 17 to 24 January, and a stretch between the Kongress Hotel and the English Church was closed to pedestrians other than accredited personnel from 18 to 24 January.
• Most public car parks in the centre were closed to the public and reserved for the police and the meeting.
• Buses ran a special timetable from 18 to 23 January, with some stops moved or closed.
• Drivers were warned to expect queues on Talstrasse, and a signed detour was recommended between Davos Platz and Davos Dorf.

On top of the traffic orders sit the security zones: defined areas around the Congress Centre and a small number of hotels and sites that only people with appropriate documentation may enter, including accredited participants, hotel guests, residents and people transporting or collecting attendees. The secured zone, and the badge that opens its hotels to people without official accreditation, are explained in the Davos Hotel Badge, explained.

The practical conclusion is the one every serious plan for the week reaches: base yourself centrally, walk where you can, and build margin between commitments. Davos Platz and Davos Dorf are about three kilometres apart. Local buses are free with the Davos Klosters guest card, an on-demand evening minibus runs from 8 pm, booked by app, and there are taxi stands at Davos Platz, Davos Dorf and Klosters Platz. During the meeting, expect all of it to run to the week's timetable and the week's crowds.

Klosters and the valley: the daily commute

Klosters sits about twelve kilometres from Davos, roughly twenty minutes by road or rail, and has long been the established overflow base for the week. Whether to stay there is a question for the accommodation guide; this section is only about the movement it implies.

The commute is manageable if it is planned as a commitment rather than treated as a detail. The railway between Klosters and Davos runs frequently and avoids the approach roads entirely, which makes it the dependable option at the busiest hours. A car is more flexible late in the evening, when the last dinner ends, but it shares the roads with everyone else. A guest staying in Klosters needs a plan for each evening: how they get back, at what time, and what happens if the dinner runs long. Further down the valley the same logic applies with more distance, and every extra kilometre is another reason to fix the evening's transport before the day begins.

Luggage, vehicles and permits

Three details catch people out.

Luggage first. Winter luggage for a week of meetings and dinners is heavy, and the changes on the rail route make it heavier. The luggage services of the Rhaetian Railway and the Swiss federal railways, and door-to-door delivery, can move it separately, so that the traveller arrives with a briefcase and the cases arrive at the hotel.

Vehicles second. Inside Davos during the meeting, a car is only useful if it is allowed where you need it to go. The security-zone order admits people transporting or picking up attendees and holders of specific cantonal police permits, and the traffic orders require a municipal permit even to park or stop during set-up and teardown, with vehicles that are not permitted liable to be removed at the owner's cost. The specifics are set by the authorities each year. A chauffeur service that works the week will know them; a hire car driven by a first-time visitor will not.

Third, the future. Davos has proposed banning limousines and taxis from the meeting area from 2028, a plan its municipal parliament still has to debate, as Bilanz reported in August 2026. The proposal concerns 2028 and does not change the plan for the 2027 meeting, but it shows where the town is heading: towards a week that runs on foot and on public transport.

What The Davos Cabinet arranges

Transport is an add-on to any of our tiers, quoted separately on request. We arrange Zurich airport transfers, including liaison with private jet operators where required, and a private chauffeur service for the full week with Davos routing knowledge, and we build the week's calendar around the town's geography so that commitments sit close enough to reach on foot. Accommodation is arranged the same way, in the spring and summer window when central rooms are still available.

The Secure Hotel Badge is handled end to end within the engagement: the application, the police verification paperwork, collection in person with a passport at the official pickup point in Davos, and help on the ground through the week. Everything we arrange is organised independently by The Davos Cabinet. It is not part of the official Annual Meeting programme and does not include access to the official meeting, its sessions or its delegates. The structure of our engagements is set out across our tiers.

Common questions

The questions we are asked most often about getting to Davos and moving around during the week. Full responses sit in the accordion below.

Begin your conversation

The week's transport is decided in the same months as its accommodation, and the two work best when they are planned together. The conversation begins by application.

For the wider picture, read where to stay during the Annual Meeting week, Davos 2027 dates and how the week works, and the Davos Hotel Badge, explained.

Frequently asked questions

1. 01How do you get from Zurich Airport to Davos?↓

   By road or by rail. The road follows the motorway towards Chur as far as Landquart and then the valley road through Klosters, about 156 kilometres from the airport; in January, plan on around two and a half hours. By rail, you change at Landquart onto the Rhaetian Railway for Klosters and Davos. Chauffeured transfers are the standard for principals and delegations.

2. 02Is there a train from Zurich to Davos?↓

   Yes, with a change at Landquart, where the Rhaetian Railway continues to Klosters and Davos. Plan the journey from Zurich main station to Davos Platz at around two and a half hours, and check the SBB timetable for your day of travel.

3. 03Can you fly directly into Davos?↓

   Not by business jet. Davos has no airport, so jets land at Zurich or at an alternative such as Dübendorf, Friedrichshafen, Basel or Geneva, depending on the year's restrictions and parking, and passengers continue by road or by helicopter when the weather allows. The airspace over Davos is restricted during the meeting.

4. 04Can you drive in Davos during the meeting?↓

   Yes, within limits. The traffic orders close sections of the Promenade and other streets, reserve most central car parks for the police and the meeting, and require a municipal permit even to stop during set-up and teardown, while the security zones admit only people with appropriate documentation. In practice the centre runs on foot, on buses and on chauffeured cars that know the restrictions.

5. 05How early should transfers be booked?↓

   With the rest of the trip, months ahead. Business aviation planners advise requesting aircraft parking at Zurich about a year in advance and reserving chauffeured transport well before the week. Book departures early as well, because the travel windows on either side of the meeting are the tightest of the year.

The Davos Cabinet is not affiliated with nor endorsed by the World Economic Forum.