Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Weekend in Switzerland: Flims

Hi Yodelers,

As part of a hopefully-sort-of-regular column on this blog, The Frau will share some weekend ideas in order to prove that really, Switzerland isn’t boring!

This week we’re in Flims. Together with Laax, this famous ski resort is fun year-round. Turquoise lakes. Mountain rivers. And the “oh my God look at that” Rhine Canyon.

Day 1: Train to Chur. Postbus to the Caumasee bus stop where it’s a short hike down to the Cauma Lake (about 15 minutes). Chill out here for a while, take a swim, rent a paddleboat (CHF 15/hour), or just treat yourself to lunch or a snack at the lovely lakeside restaurant. Then it’s about a 45-minute to hike to Conn, where you will find a viewing platform for the Rhine Canyon. Say your exclamations, click your camera, and return to Waldhaus/Flims and have dinner at the Surselva Breau, a small local brewery with a great restaurant and even better beer.


Day 2:
Take the cable car from Flims up to Naraus (21 CHF one-way or 27 CHF round trip) and hike to the Segneshütte. This is a panoroma hike so you’ll enjoy spectacular landscapes, a beautiful waterfall, and a mountain river before heading back down, either via cable car from Naraus, or if you’re there from July-October, you can take the bus back from Alp Nagens.

Other ideas:

Raft down the river

Hike the round-trip Rhine Canyon route

The Alpabzug (cow parade) takes place on the 18th in Flims. Watch the cows come home.

Rent a bike and take it up the ski lift in Flims and bike down.

Where to stay:

Hotel des Alpes in Waldhaus/Flims (right near the Caumasee bus stop and minutes from the torquoise Cauma Lake.) CHF 182/night for a double, including breakfast. It was a nice place, large rooms that included soap. Yes, free soap! Trust me, I celebrated. (Note: this was the cheapest hotel I could find in the area. I'll apologize for Switzerland and their prices now.)

Where to eat:

Surselva Breau. A fun brewery. They let me order both beer and from the kid’s menu. What’s not to like?

Remember:

To save money on these trips, why not use REKA checks? Hotel des Alpes will let you pay for half your room with these checks and the cable car people in Flims take them too.

Have you been to the Flims/Laax area? If so, please leave a tip. Happy yodeling!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha
You: "Yes, I'll have the Kinderschnitzel, and a large beer. Danke."
Brilliant.
And I agree, Flims is great. It works as a day trip from Zurich as well.

dimitri said...

This SO makes me want to visit Flims when there is no snow! I love your witty write-up and can't believe they let you order from the Kindermenu! I love Sirup, but I have not found a restaurant which will serve it to me.

Chantal said...

For the record, the beer went really well with the children's menu.

Unknown said...

If you don't mind rustic, the Old Sawmill (Alte Sägemühle) in Flims is super cheap and includes a decent breakfast spread. I can't find it online but it's there - just a half Km down from the main road in Flims. Busy in the winter. We were the only guests one weekend last September.

Unknown said...

If you don't mind rustic, the Old Sawmill (Alte Sägemühle) in Flims is super cheap and includes a decent breakfast spread. I can't find it online but it's there - just a half Km down from the main road in Flims. Busy in the winter. We were the only guests one weekend last September.

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