The classic resort of Flims shares with its smaller neighbors Laax and Falera the vast “Alpine Arena”, as this largest ski region in Switzerland is called, with guaranteed snow cover and conditions for almost all winter sports.

The resorts are located on a wind-protected mountain sun terrace.

Each of the three towns is designed for a specific group of guests. Flims offers an extensive network of hiking trails and cross-country skiing trails, as well as numerous wellness hotels.

With its many buildings that once belonged to the aristocracy, Falera has retained the charm of a Graubünden mountain village – this, as well as the quiet, sunny location, make the resort ideal for families with children. Laax attracts snowboarders from all over the world due to its excellent slopes.

The vertical drop is huge, and most of the slopes (as well as most of the gigantic skiing area) are of medium difficulty, with long descents through beautiful mountain landscapes. All slopes of the “Alpine Arena” are accessible for downhill skiing. Both beginners and experienced skiers can find slopes to their liking here.

A few years ago, the trio of resorts of Flims-Laax-Phalera caused only surprised looks even from experts in ski resorts. The extremely popular skiing area in Switzerland was little known in other countries, especially in our country. Although 235 km of different slopes located at altitudes from 1100 to 3018 m, a glacier and several completely different settlements for accommodation: a good reason to come to these places. An efficient system of lifts, magnificent landscapes, excellent snow parks… as is often the case in Switzerland, the inhabitants of this country keep the best for themselves and are in no hurry to advertise. This region is especially appreciated by snowboarders and freeriders for its abundance of snow and modern lifts. In addition, in all the villages of the region you can easily find inexpensive accommodation options. Those who like to relax in comfort will also find a lot of opportunities for themselves.

How to get there

The Flims-Laax-Falera ski resort is located in the canton of Graubünden, 145 km southeast of Zurich, where the nearest international airport is located. Transfer time is 2.5 hours. The nearest train station is Ilanz. In high season, from early December to early May, on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, there is an express bus from Zurich Airport to Flims and Laax. By train: From Zurich to Chur, then bus to Flims, Laax, Falera – about an hour. By car from Zurich: A3 motorway to Sargans, then A13 to Reichenau, then uphill to the resorts (15-30 minutes).

Trails, slopes, lifts

The best trails for beginners and advanced skiers are located in the Nagens area (2127 m), experts will find a lot of virgin land next to the trails. Interesting freeride routes start from this same point. There are few truly black runs in the region, and their difficulty is sometimes a bit overestimated, but this association of resorts offers excellent opportunities for off-piste skiing. From Nagens, several runs lead to Flims, many of the runs run in the forest. You should not miss the picturesque and very interesting run number 18 (for good skiers). From Nagens, you can go down to Plaun, the upper station of the cable car from Flims. From this point, you can enjoy a wonderful panorama and there is an excellent Argentine restaurant and a pleasant mountain bar. Another key point of the skiing area is located to the west – several lifts lead to the Srap Sogn Gion, where there is a bar and cafe popular with the snowboarding public. Below there is a “children’s” half-pipe and a 140-meter super-pipe. Those who are not indifferent to jumps in moderation will enjoy the long and beautiful slopes: black 65 and red 60, both leading to Laax.

For those who find gentle off-piste skiing along the marked slopes not enough, there is a special “reserve”. The lift takes only freeriders to the sheer wall of Cassons, at a height of 2675: there are simply no prepared slopes from this point. A couple of patrolled paths back to the lower cable car stations and – wide, wild slopes, which can take several days to roll out after heavy snowfall, not hours, as in other places.

All four snow parks in Laax are concentrated in the Srap Song Gion area. This is the recently built Ils Plauns park with 5 jumps and 15 figures and a park for beginners, where it is not scary to go even to people with no experience. Also located near the bar of the same name is the No Name park – thanks to such a charming neighborhood, people ski there to the music. The park is suitable for intermediate riders: there are only two jumps and six tricks. But here is the largest half-pipe in Europe. And, finally, there is the Curnius park – or rather, it is a one-kilometer freestyle track that descends from the Rap Song Gion to the Curnius. Freestylers have at their disposal railings, jumps, slide boxes and other tricks (25 in total) of varying difficulty.

Housed in a former tennis court, the Freestyle Academy is the same place where skaters, snowboarders, skiers and BMX riders can practice their tricks before showing them to the world. 4 trampolines, a skate ramp, big air, a training slope covered with snowflakes, a climbing wall and much more.

Cross-country skiing. There are a total of 55 km of marked cross-country ski trails in the area, designed for both classic and skate skiing. In addition to Flims, there are trails in the nearby villages of Bargis, Sagon and Trin, which can be reached by public transport. Two trails (one in Sagon, the other in Trin) are illuminated at night.

” Weisse Arena “

The area of the undulating Flims plateau is over fifty square kilometers. Soft hills covered with dense coniferous forest. Streams and rivers run along the slopes. Ravines and depressions, at the bottom of which charming small lakes are hidden. The name of neighboring Laax comes from ils lags – “lake”. Surprisingly picturesque area. You want to forget about the slopes and cable cars and go for a walk in the surroundings. Flims-Dorf, which retains its rural flavor. There is a warm, homely atmosphere here. You are greeted by complete strangers on the streets. The most real, not fake farms stand almost in the center of the village.

To the aristocratic Flims-Waldhaus, where fashionable hotels are concentrated, it is a twenty-minute walk. The two parts of the resort are divided by a natural border – a ravine, a lowland (for some reason not marked on the trail map), through which the Flem River flows. Immediately behind Waldhaus, a beautiful forest with the same lakes begins. Turning left, deep into the snowy thicket, you will descend in half an hour to the largest of them – Lac la Cauma. A white saucer with an island in the middle sparkling in the sun, a dazzling blue sky overhead, the silence broken only by the singing of birds. You don’t need to have a very rich imagination to imagine what this paradise is like in the summer.

If you turn right from Waldhaus, after a while you can reach Laax-Murschetch, which in turn is a satellite of Laax-Dorf. This is the most youthful, party-loving village in the region. In the après-ski bars near the lower station of the lift, the atmosphere is like in Tyrolean Sölden or St. Anton. And then, another half an hour’s walk, Falera is located – the quietest and most peaceful resort, ideal for a family vacation.

Lifts

This is probably the main mystery of Flims, Laax and Falera: how can 28 lifts (that’s how many there are in the Weisse Arena) provide access to such a large skiing area – 180 km of slopes plus 40 km of off-piste routes? There are several answers. Firstly, the lifts connecting the different sectors of the Weisse Arena are very well located. Secondly, they are very long – both chairs, cabins, and towbars; in other resorts, instead of one long cable car, they often prefer to install two short ones. Finally, the peculiarity of the terrain is that many lifts provide access to a large area, to several slopes at once.

Flims-Dorf – Nagen

Black 8-seater Arena-Express gondolas take you from Flims-Dorf to the Plaun meadow (1630 m). The length of the railway is about 4 km, the travel time is a quarter of an hour. By changing to its second line, you can climb to the Nagen area (2127 m) in another ten minutes. The wide, gently sloping southern slopes stretch from here all the way to the Vorab glacier (3018): if all these fields were rolled out with snowmobiles, the total length of the Weisse Arena slopes would increase by at least a hundred kilometers. A real stadium for learning skiing.

A three-chair lift takes you to the top of La Siala (2810 m). The eastern slope has several pleasant, medium-difficulty slopes, very few people. For those who like to walk off-piste, we inform you: you should not take a sharp left – you can end up in a dead end, at the bottom of a huge depression, well below Graubeng (2228 m). A good area for off-piste descents is on the southern slope of Siala, but the upper part is full of sharp stones – be careful with your skis.

Krap Song Jion – Snowboarding Mecca

A high-speed 6-chairlift takes you to the opposite slopes from Plaun. Krap Song Jion (2228 m) is the busiest place, the center of the entire Weisse Arena. A large station where several lifts dock, a hotel for 120 people, several restaurants and bars, a rental point, etc. Right under the Cafe No Name is a snow park with a half-pipe: settled on the terrace, boarders and “new schoolers” watch their colleagues jumping and jumping there to the monotonous rap. If older people even drop in to the “nameless cafe”, they don’t last long – they don’t understand anything about this music. And their pants are the wrong width. For older people nearby there is a large semicircular wooden amphitheater near the bar under the screen. Also a very relaxed atmosphere: beer, dancing begins…

Downhills in Laax and Falera

From Krap Song Giong, several of the best trails in the region start in different directions. “Chorna”, under the 125-seat funicular from Laax, is a professional sports downhill; wide and steep in the upper third, facing east, it drops sharply down, ending with a long, calm roll. The southern “red” route, which leads to the intermediate station of Curnius (1644 m), and then turns left, under the 12-seater gondola, is even more pleasant: it is twice as long, also has several high-speed sections, beautiful passages in the forest zone, and – no gentle sections, at least not to Lamazh (1160 m).

At the upper ropes on Krap Song Jion – a spacious area for beginners. They are also comfortable on the gentle “blue” route Curnius, which leads to Falera (1220 m). Arrange a stop in one of the huts scattered along the southern slope, appreciate the panorama that opens. Far away, on the other side of the Rhine Valley, you can see the ropeways and slopes of some resort, it seems to be Obersaxen. And below, a little to the left of Falera, pay attention to a small, regular-shaped hill and the church of St. Remigius with a 13th-century tower standing at its foot. In front of them is one very mysterious place – a spacious clearing with 26 menhirs. Who and why dug these stone blocks into the ground in a strict geometric order 3500 years ago? What kind of mysterious cult did the ancient inhabitants of these places profess?

Krap Masejn

A large 123-seater funicular (on a yellow-painted car with black (in letters it is written: School Bus) takes you from Krap Song Jion to Krap Masejn (2477 m). Between these points there is a flat top of a mountain ridge with a very gentle, not even “blue”, but a pedestrian “green” route. There are also several options for descending from Masejn. We strongly do not recommend choosing the tempting, but dead-end road under number 90: it leads far away, to the town of Ladir (1206 m). There are no lifts from there, the free Arena Shuttle ski bus does not reach there, you will have to get out by regular bus or taxi.

On the southwestern slope of Masezhne there is a high-quality, high-speed “red” track with pleasant drops and an interesting off-piste descent under the supports of a long double chairlift, but we advise you to approach them from the other side, from below, having first gone around the Vorab Pign ridge (2897 m).

Forab Glacier

Go down to the Furkla pass (2118 m) and on the 6-seater gondola lift climb along the opposite slope to the station at 2670 m. From here, two parallel two-kilometer ropeways are taken to the Forab glacier, to the highest point of the region – you will have to freeze for ten minutes. The tracks along them, as usual on glaciers, are wide and gentle, have an eastern orientation; In principle, you can ski here in the summer, but the cable cars have not been running recently – there are few people who want to.

Traverse to the right to the narrow “saddle” of the Zattel, to the beginning of a long route with a height difference of about a kilometer. It is “black” only at the very top, then there is a relatively easy descent to the Alp Ruschain (1774 m) with a beautiful desert valley. The problem is that avalanches sometimes occur here. Waiting for them, rescuers sometimes block the Zattel, pulling a net and leaving a person on duty to make sure that not a single “fish” slips through it.

Alps Ruschein is a nice little town, sunny, warm, sheltered from the wind by steep slopes. A quiet river winds between high snowdrifts. On the shore, near the cable car station, there is a small beach, in the most literal sense of the word: people sunbathe on large yellow mattresses. A bar with drinks, thick, appetizing sausages sizzle on an open grill. Here’s what you should keep in mind, though: the slow-moving double chairlift that takes you from here to Massezhne only runs until 3:30 p.m. – if you go down to Alp Ruschein later, God only knows how long you’ll be out of this “rest zone.”

Kassson – better off-piste skiing

To get to the opposite end of the Weisse Arena, to the Kasson sector (2675), an average skier needs one and a half to two hours, depending on the route. The eastern sector of the region is a bit out of the way, although it is connected to a couple of other pistes and the 80-passenger Grauberg funicular. From its lower station, you can take a scenic traverse to Fopp; if you climb from below, from Flims-Dorf, you will have to change three cable cars. From Narau (1842) to the sheer wall of the Casson, a funicular with small red 26-seat cars, built half a century ago, takes you up. It carries only 230 people per hour, but there are no long queues. The fact is that there are no civilized slopes above Narau, the top of the Casson is a zone exclusively for off-piste skiing. From the upper station of the funicular, having risen a little and walked two hundred meters along a flat “balcony”, you can move in a westerly direction and eventually get to Zegneschutte (2102). Or, slope by slope, start painting the wide southern slopes – dreaming only of good snow falling at night and the virgin soil again tomorrow …

Where to stay

There are about 26,000 beds in hotels and guesthouses in Flims, Laax and Falera. Розміщення на будь-який смак – від фешенебельного Рark Нotel Wаldhaus 5* до молодіжного тусовочного Rіders Рalace. Проживання у двомісному номері з напівпансіоном в готелі 4* – від 120-140 CHF за особу на добу в залежності від сезону; в готелі 3* зі сніданком / напівпансіоном – від 90-110 CHF. У Флімсі, Лааксі і Фалері є великий вибір квартир – від скромних студій до 4*. Студія (2 чол., без харчування) – від 600-800 CHF за тиждень. Двох-чьотирикімнатні апартаменти – від 900-1500 CHF за тиждень.

5*****

Wаldhaus Flіms Mоuntain Resоrt & SРA. Розкішний готель для вимогливих клієнтів у тихому мальовничому місці в районі Флімс-Вальдхаус. Входить в Thу Leаding Smаll Нotels of the Wоrld. 130 номерів. Високий рівень обслуговування. Кілька ресторанів. Новий SРA-центр Dеlight, басейн, косметичні послуги. Власний теніс-центр.

4****

Аdula. Висококласний і дорогий готель в районі Флімс-Вальдхаус. 96 номерів. Басейн, веллнес-центр. Кілька ресторанів. Автобус до підйомників.

Lааxerhof. Великий готель на 92 номери у районі Лаакс-Муршетч, поряд з підйомниками. Басейн, сауна. Дансинг.

Sсhweizerhof. Фешенебельний готель в стилі bеlle Еpoque знаходиться в Флімс-Вальдхаус. Вікові традиції гостинності. 80 місць. Басейн, wеllness.

Signіna. Стильний дизайнерський готель – переважає мінімалізм і природні матеріали. Дуже приємна атмосфера і інтер’єри. Розташований у Лаакс-Муршетч, навпроти станції підйомників. 150 місць. Басейн, сауна. Фітнесцентр, Критий тенісний корт.

Swіsshоtel Flіms. Готель розташований поруч з підйомниками. Великий СПА-центр має турецька лазня, тренажерний і гімнастичний зал, сауна. Гриль-ресторан “Гротто”, бар. Прокат лиж в готелі.

Sursеlva. Колишній Grаnd Нotel, входить у групу Sunstаr. 81 номер. Сауна, джакузі. Курити в готелі заборонено.

3***

T3 Hotel Mira Val. Готель Mira Val займає дерев’яну будівлю в спокійному куточку комуни Флімс, розташованої на висоті 1050 м над рівнем моря. У 2 хвилинах ходьби зупиняється безкоштовний лижний автобус, який слідує до гірськолижних зон Флімс і Лакс.

Hotel Vorab. Сімейний готель Vorab розташований біля в’їзду в комуну Флімс, всього в 700 м від канатної дороги Флімс. До послуг гостей 3 сауни, гідромасажна ванна і солярій.

Bündnerhaus. Готель Bündnerhaus розташований в комуні Лакс в 300 метрах від гірськолижного схилу Крап-Согн-Гион. До послуг гостей прямий доступ до гірськолижних схилів і лижна школа.

Сresta. Готель розташований у Флімс-Вальдхаус. 50 номерів. Відкритий басейн з гарячою водою. Сауна, джакузі. Фітнес.

La Sіala. Якісний готель на 110 місць в Фалере. Розташований, на жаль, далеко від підйомника. Є басейн і сауна.

Rаncho Lааx. Підходить для сімейного відпочинку. 80 місць. Басейн, сауна. До підйомників десять хвилин ходьби.

Розваги та активний відпочинок

До послуг відпочиваючих декілька дискотек і 19 барів, де ви зможете приємно провести час.

Керлінг, піші прогулянки, дельтапланеризм, польоти на повітряних кулях, верхова їзда і прогулянки в екіпажах, закриті тенісні корти, стрілянина і картинг, сквош, басейни, сауна. Катання на санях, парапланеризм.

СПА і інше

Кращий спа-центр курорту площею 2500 кв. м розташований у п’ятизірковому Раrk Нotеl Wаldhаus. Він включає в себе різноманітні сауни і лазні, спа (включаючи спа-сьюти), центр краси, кілька басейнів з гідромасажами і каскадами. Крім різноманітних масажів та обгортань спа-центр готелю пропонує хороший вибір послуг для пар.

Крім того, в готелі можна отримати професійну консультацію в галузі спортивної медицини та профілактики. В інших готелях курорту також працюють басейни і сауни. Гoстям пропонується двa критих тенісних кoрти, зaл з кaтком і чотирма полями для гри в керлінг, трeнажерні зали, настільний теніс та інші можливості для занять спортoм. Навколо курортів розчищені 60 км доріжок для піших прогулянок. У віддалені від сіл ресторани можна відправитися на сaнях або влаштувати катання на сaнках з дітьми. Флімс-Лаакс також має 70 км трас для бігових лиж, велика їх частина прoходить по лісі.

Ресторани

У Лааксі і Флімсі ресторани в основному зосереджені в готелях, будьте готові до того, що вони знаходяться на значній відстані. В Рark Нotel Wаldhaus розташувався вишуканий ресторан Lа Сena. Кухня шефа Сандро Штайнгрубера оцінена в 16 балів GаultMillаu. Ресторан може похвалитися не тільки дивовижними делікатесами, але і прекрасними видами на курорт, нічні Альпи і засніжений парк.

До ресто