Father and son hike, bike and dine to the sound of cowbells in the stunning Laax region of Switzerland.
If you find yourself day-dreaming about your next family vacation as you sit in the school drop-off line, consider a mind-expanding, activity-packed Swiss mountain adventure, namely a trip to the Alpine recreation area of Laax, Switzerland.
Laax is located 2.5 hours south of Zurich, but the journey there is not as arduous as it might seem. In getting from LAX to Laax, you can fly direct to Zurich on Swiss Air, then take a scenic train ride and bus ride—a treat unto itself—that weaves through verdant hillsides and sparkling lakes before you arrive at one of the most spectacular destinations in Europe.
In the winter, Laax is known for its skiing and snowboarding, due to its reliable snow (70 percent of the terrain is above 2000 meters) and its variety of high-altitude runs for expert skiers and bunny hills for beginners. It has earned the title of “World’s Best Freestyle Resort” for eight years straight, featuring the largest half-pipe in Europe. But during a summer visit, Laax takes on an entirely different vibe. Downhill bikes replace skis and snowboards on the Alpine descents, and the family-friendly forest trails that connect you to the wonders of Laax are shared with hikers and riders on mountain e-bikes. The lakes are warm enough to swim in, and the mountains more accessible to everyone, from the little ones to the grandparents. Four different languages are spoken here—Italian, French, Romansh, and (mostly) Swiss German. But you can get by fine with English.
My son, Shane, who lives in Prague, joined up with me for a visit to Laax in late July. For him, it was an easy one-hour flight to Zurich. Together we would spend an unforgettable five days of exploration in this amazing area. We stayed at Riders Hotel, a boutique inn with a full breakfast (the scrambled eggs are the bomb), a casually luxe lounge and a bar, where an affable young man named Domenico presides. (Domenico became our concierge for all things Swiss.) ridershotel.com
On rainy days and sunny ones, Shane and I hiked, biked and jumped in a lake. We rode the gondolas up and down mountains where brown cows with clanging bells shared high pastures with human adventurers. We walked through a dense pine forest on an elevated wooden platform 30 meters above the ground. And we dined at restaurants called “huts” that were situated in the most unexpected places, accessible only by foot, bike or gondola. These huts are traditionally placed as outposts for mountaineering, and sometimes they include hotels or hostels that offer hikers and climbers beds and a hot shower along with a meal.
On our first day, we bused and hiked up to a hut that was above the timberline, at 2100 meters, called Segneschutte. The oldest hut in the area, it is situated next to one of Switzerland’s four UNESCO sites: the tectonic arena Sardona, a geological phenom where one can actually see how mountains are made. whc.unesco.org/en/list/1179
It’s a unique crash scene on display, where the continents of Europe and Africa collide, forming the Alps. That’s a rather simplistic description of a place that geologists come from all over the world to study.
Storm clouds hid our view of the tectonic arena. In fact we had trouble finding the trailhead. We stepped off the bus at Alp Nagens next to a soggy glamping site with a small restaurant and about a dozen large dome tents, and we sought directions from another bus rider who got off with us. It was beginning to rain. “If you want to go to Sardona,” she said, “the trail is over there, and it’s just a few meters to where you want to go.” We did not know it then, but this would be the beginning of a running joke. Whenever we got directions from a local to anywhere that involved hiking or biking, no matter how far we had to go, or how steep the ascent, the answer was, “Oh, it’s just a few meters.”
We pulled on our ponchos and began walking up the hill to Sardona, my heart and lungs protesting the thin mountain air, our bodies soon soaked from the steady downpour. A snail slithering on a rock seemed to mock me. Once at the top, we were only temporarily disappointed when Sardona was not visible through the clouds, but instead of tectonic plates, we found lunch plates of lamb and steak at Segneschutte .segneshuette.ch/en
The warm, cozy dining room, a high-mountain oasis of sorts, was a great payoff to the damp slogging. Coincidentally, our server was a seasonal worker from Prague, Shane’s new stomping ground. Fortified by the hot meal, warm service and cold Swiss beer, we opted for the gondola ride down. The gondola was a marvel of Swiss engineering, operated by a computerized on-demand system—no attendant in sight. At the entrance, we pushed a button for the final stop at the bottom and a car arrived, opening its door to us. It seemed to know we had safely boarded, as it closed the door and left the platform with us aboard. Before we departed from the Segneschutte station, we were routed through a number of twists and turns in the bowels of the operation, the pod deftly self-navigating within a meter of other moving cars, as if we were winding around inside a clock about to cuckoo. Then we were thrust out into the sky. With the car to ourselves, it was eerily quiet as we descended, and we could hear the distant cowbells and the stream breaking on the rocks 50 meters below. Between storm clouds we could see the village of Flims, the last stop. “This is great isn’t it?” I said to Shane. “It would be perfect except for one thing: I gotta have more cowbell!”
On day two, a sunny day, we traded hiking for mountain biking with e-bikes provided by the Laax equipment rental, based at Rockresort. Rockresort is a fantastic community for active families, with modern apartments, multiple restaurants, an outdoor pump track, playground, and a new, 2,000-square-meter indoor freestyle academy with a skate park, half-pipe, trampolines and a parkour arena. (Later in the week, Shane jumped at the chance to test out the trampolines with a 90-minute training session that transformed him from football player to acrobat.) rocksresort.com/en
We each had separate bike guides that day. Shane pedaled off early in the morning on a rigorous tour that he shared with me when we met for lunch at Tegia Larnags, a log-built hut located in the hills above town and situated on a wide meadow, with a playset for children and a large patio for fair weather dining larnags.ch/home.html
We sat inside next to a log fire and shared a tomahawk steak, a recovery meal for Shane. “The guy said we were just going a few meters,” said Shane who was clearly exhausted, “but we circled Laax, rode a pump track in Flims, then went up a huge mountain.”
After lunch, while Shane went back to our hotel to collapse, I met my bike-tour guide, Laax PR Manager Martina Calonder, who led me on an easy and gorgeous one-hour trail ride along the Rhine Gorge to the Il Spir viewing platform. “I hope you are not afraid of heights,” said Calonder, motioning to what looked like an art installation with stairs, like a metal sculpture resembling a bird in flight. Secured by one post and several metal cables, Il Spur sits on the edge of a cliff that commands a breathtaking vista of Ruinaulta, the “Swiss Grand Canyon” 400 meters below. Like much of the topography in this area, the Ruinaulta was formed by a prehistoric event at the end of the Ice Age called the Great Flimser Rockslide. In 8000 BC, 8-12 cubic kilometers of rock, about size of 12 Matterhorns, collapsed into the valley, burying the Rhine and creating lakes. The river and the lakes are still under its effects. While the American Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years, the Swiss Grand Canyon was formed by this single immense event.
“Swiss Grand Canyon.”
“I’m not afraid of heights,” I said, as I ascended the staircase of Il Spir with Calonder beside me. A raven soared past, riding a thermal. “It’s falling that worries me.” Despite its stark appearance, Il Spir felt quite secure, and the striking view of the gorge was well worth the butterflies. Far below, the Rhine flowed in a horseshoe shape, its water a pale cloudy turquoise from the limestone erosion. On the river’s edge a red passenger train emerged from a tunnel. “That’s the famous Bernina Express,” said Calonder. I had heard of the Bernina Express, because it’s near the top of my wife’s bucket list. The train route runs from nearby Chur through the Alps, along the Rhine, over 196 bridges and 55 tunnels, past waterfalls, glaciers and mountain peaks, to St. Moritz-Tirano Italy. It is one of the most spectacular and luxurious ways to see the Alps. berninarailway.com
On days three and four, Shane and I visited pristine Lake Cauma, which provided some of the most beautiful scenery of our visit. Considered the Pearl of Flims, its clear, turquoise water is surrounded by a dense pine forest that keeps the place feeling secluded. Like the huts we had visited, Lake Cauma is only accessible by foot. The trail is an easy 20-minute walk that leads to a funicular so you can avoid the steepest part on the way down, and up. Spectacular views are everywhere at Cauma, and it’s a perfect day trip for the entire family, with a sandy beach, a tiny island, paddle boats and a large playground. But the best thing about the lake is the surprisingly warm water. Created by the Great Rockslide, Cauma’s waters are fed by warm springs, and in the summer, the Alpine lake gets up to 24 Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit), making it a swimmer’s delight.
Shane and I jumped in for a dip, and we were in no hurry to jump out. As we stood, with the water up to our shoulders, we could see down to our feet in the clear water, where little fishes the size of minnows began to nibble at our toes, and within minutes scores of pan-size trout surrounded us. Fishing is not permitted here, which explains the large number of relaxed aquatic life.
Our favorite dining experience of the week was on the shore of Lake Cauma, at the newly opened Ustria La Cauma. It was also reasonably priced when you think of how heavy one could tax the breathtaking setting, with views of the entire lake. Watching a storm cell pass over Cauma, dropping heavy rain during sunset, while we enjoyed beef stroganoff and cabernet franc from Tuscany, was nothing short of magical. Don’t miss a dinner at Ustria La Cauma. ustrialacauma.ch/en/ustria
On day five, our last full day, we took our time in what was for me the most memorable outing of the trip, the Treetop Walk. I didn’t know these sort of things existed, but the Treetop Walk, called Senda dil Dragun” (Path of the Dragon), is the longest treetop walk in the world. It’s a kind of forest boardwalk, 1.56 kilometers long that winds through the Swiss pine and spruce at a height of up to 30 meters. Stroller friendly and wheelchair accessible, the walk connects the districts of Laax Murschetg and Laax Dorf. Located at Rockresort, the Murschetg access was only a 5-minute walk from Riders Hotel. swissactivities.com/en-ch/tree-top-path-senda-dil-dragun
The walk includes several play stations featuring wood crafts—mouse-trap style tracks for wooden marbles the size of oranges, whimsical sculptures, even a wooden pinball game. Two new additions to the walk include a kid-size zipline that flies across Rockresort, and a drop-slide that is 228 meters long and descends 28 meters. Shane barely squeezed into the slide tube at the top and shot out at the bottom before my elevator could get there. As we strolled, the sound of hardwood balls knocking and rolling around on the pine tracks had a soothing effect on my acrophobia. Finally moving at the slowest pace of our entire trip, Shane and I were able to have an unhurried conversation. It would be months before I saw him again. He was fresh out of college when he had moved to Prague, 6,000 miles away, got a job, and married Adele, a Czech native. Now Shane and Adele—and both of our families—enter a new, even more exciting time with a baby due in November. I treasure every chance I get to spend time with him. Now that he is becoming a father, with all the responsibilities that come with it, I realize father-son time of any kind will be tougher to work out, but we will. And in a few years, another Tierney boy will join us on our travels.
Written and Photographed by Randall Tierney
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