Arosa

Arosa sits at 1,775 m at the closed end of the Schanfigg valley, an hour above Chur, and getting there is a good part of the reason to go.

The railway

The Arosa line leaves Chur through the streets — running along the road past the shops, with cars alongside it and no fence — before starting a climb of some 1,150 m over 26 km, on a metre gauge, round 52 bridges and through 19 tunnels.

It is an ordinary local service on an ordinary ticket, it takes an hour, and it is one of the best hours of railway in Switzerland. The Langwieser viaduct, 62 m high and built of reinforced concrete in 1914, was the largest of its kind in the world when it opened.

The village

Arosa grew, like Davos, as a tuberculosis resort — the dry high air again — and turned to skiing when the cure ended. It is spread along a shelf around two small lakes, and the Obersee in the middle of the village is swimmable in summer and skated on in winter.

The Bergkirchli, a small fifteenth-century mountain church, is the oldest thing here and stands slightly apart above the lake.

Skiing

Since 2013 Arosa has been linked by cable car to Lenzerheide over the Urdenfürggli, creating one of the largest ski areas in Graubünden — around 225 km of piste, mostly wide, sunny and intermediate.

It is a good family area and a poor one for anyone chasing steep terrain.

The bears

The Arosa Bear Sanctuary opened in 2018: a large enclosure on the mountainside for bears rescued from circuses, roadside cages and illegal keeping across Europe. It is run by the animal welfare organisation Vier Pfoten, the bears have several hectares of forest and slope, and viewing is from a path above.

It is a genuine sanctuary rather than a zoo, and it is reachable by cable car.

Summer

Around 200 km of marked paths, several small lakes, and a good deal less traffic than the Bernese Oberland. The Weisshorn cable car goes to 2,653 m for the ridge walks.

Arosa also runs a Humor Festival in December and a classical music festival in summer, both of which fill the village.

Getting there

• By train — Zurich to Chur an hour and a quarter, then the Arosa line for an hour. No change of station in Chur; the narrow-gauge platform is outside the main building.
• By car — the road up has around 240 bends and is not recommended in winter; the train is better in every respect.

When to go

December to April for skiing, June to October for walking and the lakes.

May and November are the quiet months when much of the resort closes.