Arosa/Lenzerheide – The best things to do with kids

Arosa Lenzerheide is an amazing area in Switzerland that you find only three hours from Zurich. You can rent a car from the airport, but it’s very easy to take the train as well. Trains are available from the airport and you take the train to Chur, where you change to the Rhätische Bahn which takes you up to Arosa. The trip takes just over three hours.

Arosa and Lenzerheide are basically two completely different villages on each side of the mountain but since 2014 they count as one area. Arosa and  Lenzerheide is linked together by cable-car.

The area is well known for skiers and you can find 225 kilometers of continuous slopes in the area. There is skiing for everyone, both beginners and advanced.

Day 1
Our adventure started with 2 days in Lenzerheide. We checked in at Hotel Dieschen, a very family friendly hotel close to the mountains and around 15 minutes walk from the center of the village.

Lenzerheide is a dream place for mountain bikers and there’s big competitions here every year. There was the world cup in Mountain biking just a week before we arrived.

Our first adventure in Lenzeheide was of course mountain biking. We had rental bikes from Pesko Rothornbahn and a guide from Bikeschule Lenzerheide.

We got to learn the basics and took a lite ride before we went to the skill center. We practised on small trails and obstacles and got to know the secret tips and tricks. 

We ended our mountain biking with taking a cable car up to a the top and got a nice ride back down on easy roads.  You can find many super cool downhill paths but we didn’t try any. We are still beginners so this rout was perfect for us..

You find everything about the biking activity here.

Our next adventure to explore the area was doing the Foxtrail. Foxtrail lead us through Lenzerheide and we got to see the most of the village and had to team work to decode secret messages, interpret clues and unlock tricky secrets.

Day 2
After our first day in Lenzerheide we drove to Arosa. Arosa is located on the other side of the mountain and you need to drive around it.

We did a stop in Churwalden right outside Lenzerheide. There is an amazing toboggan. From Churwalden we took the chair lift up to the top to the Toboggan run. The adrenaline rush was insane! 

The toboggan run promises a fun ride in summer as well as in winter. Through 31 curves and with a height difference of 480 metres, the toboggan run twists and turns down into the valley. At a length of exactly 3,060 metres, it’s the longest toboggan run in Switzerland.

It’s very easy to adjust the speed and if you let go of the steering it automatically stop. The kids rode by them selves even.

It’s about one hour to drive between Lenzerheide and Arosa and we drove through amazing nature before we came to Arosa.

Arosa is a small and very friendly village where you can find many summer activities and the landscape is amazing with the mountains around.

We stayed at Sunstar Hotel Arosa and the first thing we did was trying out the pool and spa area.

The kids loves water so next thing we did was exploring a little lake that we saw from our hotel room. We all had a great time playing around in the little lake with a water trampoline.

We ended the day with a great dinner at the hotel.

Day 3
We went up early the next morning for a morning run. The mountains are so dreamy and it felt like we could stay out for hours.

We followed the markings up to Schwellisee lake, a beautiful lake ca 4 km up in the mountains. The Schwellisee lake is located on 1,933m above sea level on the Aroser Alp, south-west of Innerarosa along the Plessur river. The Swiss stone pine logs in the lake are proof of the former Swiss pine forest that stretched far above the lake and was cleared by the Wals colony. From Innerarosa the lake can be reached within a gentle hike of 1 hour. If desired the hike may be prolonged to the Älplisee lake as well as to the Erzhorn and Aroser Rothorn.

Here is a GPX file to follow.

We had an amazing breakfast at the hotel before it was time for a day out in the mountains. We started with a 15 minutes walk down to the center of town where we found the cable cars. We took it all the way up to the top Weisshorn.

After we have enjoyed the view we took the cable car half way down where we visited Arosa Bear Sanctuary.  It’s a cooperation with FOUR PAWS and they save Bears and taking care of them.

The bears, formerly held in poor conditions, will find an animal-friendly home on an area of three hectares in the Swiss mountains.

In the large, richly structured enclosures, the bears will find a habitat that corresponds to their natural needs. Besides areas for bathing and retreat, various activities are planned to keep the bears occupied. In order to motivate the bears and encourage the development of their instincts, their food will be hidden in new spots every day. Like in the wild, the animals will spend most of their day looking for food.

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We continued down from the mountain, hiking and had lunch at a restaurant before we came to the famous squirrel trail.

This is an activity that we all found very fun. The small and cute animals came and ate from our hands. It was a little tricky in the beginning but after we walked the trail a bit it was much easier to come close to them. They eat hassel nuts so we had bought a big bag with us. In autumn the squirrels start collecting their winter stock by burying seeds and nuts.

Here is a GPX-file of the trail to follow.

Day 4

Last day in Arosa we started with celebrating Leya before we checked out and went to our last activity, mountain biking.

In Arosa there is an awesome mountainbike flowtrail course. We just had to try it. We rented bikes on the Bike Skill Center up by the Hörnli trail. We had a guide who gave us som small tips. We practiced a little bit in the skill center and then it was time to take the cable car up to the top.

Apparently it takes about 30 minutes to ride down if you are pretty fast. We got down in 35 minutes, and we stopped and rested a bit. The trail was really cool. We’re not that experienced mountainbikers so our hands and feet was pretty tired when we came down the mountain. But it was so FUN! 

Arosa Lenzerheide is an area where there is much to discover, whether you are looking for activities in the mountains or relaxing in a spa. Or maybe a bit of each.

Good to know about Arosa Lenzerheide.

The Arosa village is located on 1,775 metres above sea level, the Hörnli peak reaches 2,512 metres and the Weisshorn summit stretches up to 2,653 metres (highest mountain station).

Lenzerheide village is located on 1’476 metres above sea level.

Nearest bigger city: Chur and Zurich

It’s always a good idea to take out money since some places don’t take payment by card.

Turn off your mobile data since Switzerland don’t are in EU or ESS you need to pay extra. You find wifi on hotels and on many cable- cars.

By plane or train you can easily get to Zurich. From there, it takes about three hours up to Arosa Lenzerheide, via a change in the nearest town of Chur. The journey from Chur is done by regional buses to the village of Lenzerheide or trains to the village of Arosa. You plan your trip easily via www.sbb.ch

If you planning to do downhill biking there might not be a better place to be than Arosa/Lenzerheide

For more information about Switzerland go to myswitzerland.com

See more from Switzerland on our blog.

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