Schruns is a sleepy town in a sleepy valley, surrounded by a major, peaky ski area. I chose it for Hemingway – in the early 1920s Schruns was his winter getaway from Paris with his first wife, Hadley, and oldest son, who was then just an infant. A Moveable Feast includes two chapters describing lodging and skiing there, and his work revising the manuscript of The Sun Also Rises. 

We were surprised by how quiet it actually is – our (very good) hotel was definitely the local spot to hangout, and dining outside of hotels seemed quite limited. Perhaps this is because of the convenience of the trains, which run right into the center of town (note for Swiss visitors: under three hours from Zurich).

Our first dinner at *Gasthof Löwen (walking distance across the valley in Tschagguns) was not a major success. It’s packed and cozy – several small, crowded rooms – and while it had the potential to be entertaining the kid-to-adult ratio made it more like dining at Chuck E. Cheese. Food was fine, not particularly standout Austrian fare.

We really liked our hotel, **Posthotel Taube, which has been recently renovated at great expense. Gorgeous finishings, a notably big and stone-lined spa (which reminded me of Vals on a smaller scale), very large and comfortable rooms. Dinner was good, breakfast even better. We had some service gaps which hold this back from being a ***, but overall strongly recommend to visit.

Ski Report: **Silvretta Montafon has low to mid-high elevation, some in-tree skiing. Many steeps and small cliffs, reminiscent of Squaw Valley, CA. Tons of open terrain and great off piste if the snow conditions permit. Not really great on-piste runs, this is mostly an off-piste, vertical, advanced area. We started from Schruns and skied the Hochjoch area, above the treeline, and then took the (long) gondola over to the other mountain, Valisera. Dining options seemed fairly limited. Not fancy, catering to more serious skiers.

**Wormser Hütte was the most charming spot we found to eat on the hill – it’s packed, you’ll share a table with lots of strangers, and the food was pretty good. Our brief break at *Valisera Hüsli was a bit chaotic.