Side events in Davos: the houses on the Promenade and how to get in

5 days ago

5 min read

Side events are the panels, breakfasts, dinners and receptions that companies, governments, media groups and foundations run in Davos during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, 18 to 22 January 2027. Participation in the Annual Meeting is by invitation only, but the houses on the Promenade sit outside the police restricted zones, so you need no badge to walk in. You do need to be on the guest list, which usually means registering on a Luma page and waiting for the host to approve you.

Side events are run by their hosts, not by the Forum

The Annual Meeting takes place in the Congress Centre in Davos Platz and brings together about 3,000 participants. Around it, organisations rent shops, restaurants, hotel rooms and temporary pavilions along the Promenade and turn them into houses with their own programme. Each house sets its own guest list. Some take anyone who registers, some are by invitation, and many decide guest by guest.

Getting in means registering and waiting for approval

Registration. Most public side events take registrations through a Luma page. Many hosts approve each request by hand, so a registration is a request, not a seat.
Venue after approval. Some hosts share the address only with approved guests. Of the 256 listings we compiled for 2026, 92 named no venue.
Door checks. Some events check names or invitations at the door. Keep the confirmation on your phone.
Secured hotels. In 2026 the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère and the AlpenGold Hotel were inside police restricted zones. To enter, guests needed Forum accreditation or proof of a legitimate interest, such as a hotel badge. See security zones and hotel badges.

Entry is always the host's decision. Passes for houses offered by third parties are covered in our guide to fake passes and access offers.

Four kinds of houses, with 2026 examples

Country houses. USA House, Ukraine House, House of Switzerland, House of Belgium, Nigeria House, Saudi House and the Polish Business Hub.

Media houses. Semafor, Bloomberg, CNBC, Axios House, FT House and Forbes Middle East.

Corporate pavilions. HCLTech, Wipro and Deloitte, among others.

Thematic houses. AI House, Brain House, Frontiers Science House, Human Change House, Climate Hub, Goals House, House of Trust, Abraham House, InTent, Hub Culture, V-Lab at the ICON and the Web3 Hub, which is called The Hub Davos for 2027.

A house can run a full daily agenda of panels, or open only for one reception.

2026 in numbers: 256 public listings from 90 hosts

We compiled the public listings (Luma pages and organisers' own event pages) for the week of 19 to 23 January 2026: 256 side-event listings from 90 host organisations. The Forum's own Open Forum sessions are excluded.

Day (2026)	Single-day listings
Sunday 18 January	4
Monday 19 January	40
Tuesday 20 January	66
Wednesday 21 January	72
Thursday 22 January	40
Friday 23 January	5

Inside houses. 152 listings, 59%, were sessions inside branded houses, hubs and lounges. Conferences and summits made up 23%, dinners and receptions 11%.
Busiest venues. AI House Davos at Promenade 67 (25 listings), Mountain Plaza Hotel (14), V-Lab at the ICON (13), Hotel Schatzalp (12, from 7 different hosts), the Web3 Hub at Obere Strasse 33 (12) and the Belvédère (11, from 8 hosts).
Topics. AI appeared in 32% of listings, finance and investment in 24%, geopolitics and policy in 17%.

This is a sample, not a census. Many dinners and receptions are invitation-only and never get a public page, so evenings are under-counted.

Davos will limit temporary pavilions in 2027

On 1 April 2026 the municipality of Davos announced a cap on temporary buildings and conversions for the Annual Meeting. It applies only if more than 125 applications are submitted for 2027. For 2026, 132 projects with medium or large building work were built, on top of the Forum's own structures. Cuts are planned only in the most crowded zones; elsewhere the number of projects is frozen at the current level.

Applications are ranked on points. A lottery decides remaining ties.
Temporary buildings are limited to two storeys.
Arkadenplatz stays free of temporary buildings and hosts only food trucks.
Media groups can no longer use the end-user rule.

Expect some hosts to move into hotels, restaurants or existing shops, and some 2026 addresses not to carry over. We record each new venue in the Davos 2027 side events tracker once the host's own page confirms it.

Plan your week by day, time and stretch of the Promenade

Plan by day. In 2027 the Annual Meeting runs Monday 18 to Friday 22 January. If the 2026 pattern holds, Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 January will be the most crowded, and Friday will be quiet. Register early for midweek events.

Plan by time. In 2026, 68 single-day listings started before 11:00 and another 68 between 14:00 and 18:00.

Plan by stretch. Several of the busiest 2026 houses sat close together: the Polish Business Hub at Promenade 54, Human Change House at 63, AI House at 67 and Axios House at 69. Promenade 54 to 67 is under 300 m on foot. Promenade 40 to the Belvédère at Promenade 89 is about 1 km, 12 to 15 minutes at a normal pace and longer on packed snow.

Schatzalp. The hotel sits about 300 m above Davos Platz, four minutes up by funicular. The valley station on Obere Strasse is about 100 m from AI House. For 17 to 22 January 2027 the Schatzalp has published a special timetable: trains every 10 to 15 minutes from 06:00 to midnight, then every 30 minutes through the night.

Closed stretches. In 2026 the Promenade pavement between the Kongresshotel and the Scalettastrasse junction by the English Church was closed from 18 to 24 January to pedestrians without Forum accreditation, so walking the full length of the Promenade meant a detour. This was the 2026 order by the Kantonspolizei Graubünden; we will update this page when the 2027 order is published.

For where to stay, see Davos Platz or Davos Dorf.

Questions

Do I need a badge to visit the houses on the Promenade?

No. The houses on the Promenade are outside the restricted zones. You need the host's approval, and some hosts check invitations at the door. Secured hotels are different: in 2026 the Belvédère was inside a restricted zone, and entry needed Forum accreditation or a legitimate interest such as a hotel badge.

How do I get into side events in Davos?

Register on the host's own page, usually Luma, as early as you can. Many hosts approve guests by hand and share the venue only after approval.

Which day of Davos week has the most side events?

Wednesday. In 2026 it had 72 public single-day listings, followed by Tuesday with 66.

How many side events are there in Davos?

We compiled 256 public listings from 90 hosts in 2026. The real number is higher, because many dinners and receptions are invitation-only and unlisted.

Will the houses be on the Promenade again in 2027?

By 14 October 2026, 31 events had confirmed 2027 dates and 14 more had announced a 2027 edition. The municipal cap may move some houses, so our tracker lists each venue once the host's own page confirms it.

Sources

Davos Villas & Apartments is an independent services provider and is not affiliated with the World Economic Forum.

DAVOS 2027