Laax, Switzerland: The alpine escape you did not know you needed

Switzerland never runs out of mountain villages with sweeping views and postcard-perfect chalets. Which is exactly why Laax feels like a surprise. It is not just a ski resort, nor merely a pretty Alpine stopover. It is a place where nature and design, geology and gastronomy, leisure and adventure, all overlap in ways that make you wonder why it has stayed just under the radar.

Go for the landscape that tells a story.

A short train ride from Zurich delivers you to the Graubünden Alps, where Laax sits cradled among peaks and forests. What sets it apart is not just beauty but drama. At the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sardona, the mountains literally reveal the mechanics of how the Alps were formed. Hiking here is like walking through a textbook that has been cracked open: jagged ridgelines, the Tschingelhörner peaks, and the vast Segnesboden plains are lessons written in stone.

Stay because it feels like a modern Alpine village.

The rocksresort, with its cube-like stone apartments, is unlike the chocolate-box chalets of most Swiss towns. The design is minimal yet warm, with restaurants, cafés, and boutiques woven in, so it feels lived-in rather than touristy. It also belongs to the Responsible Hotels of Switzerland group, which means sustainability is more than a tagline. It shapes how the resort is run.

Swim in a turquoise lake you will not forget.

Lake Cauma, in nearby Flims, is the sort of water you think only exists in filtered travel photos. Turquoise-blue, edged by pine forests, and so clear you can see your own shadow beneath you. It is one of those places that makes you want to dive in no matter the temperature. You can swim, paddleboard, or simply sprawl on the deck, but either way, you will carry the colour of that lake with you long after.

Walk above the trees.

Laax offers the world’s longest treetop walkway, the Senda dil Dragun. Suspended for 1.5 kilometres through spruce forest, it is both a playful stroll and an education in local flora and fauna. It is the sort of thing that makes you feel like a child again, even as you admire the engineering.

Eat well, in unexpected ways.

Food in Laax goes beyond fondue and rösti. Riders Restaurant is entirely vegetarian yet manages to surprise with inventive plates full of texture and flavour. Tegia Larnags, a mountain hut up the slope, leans into tradition with hearty Swiss dishes by a crackling fire. And at Ikigai in rocksresort, you can suddenly be transported to Japan or Thailand, proof that even in the Alps your palate can travel far.

See Switzerland’s ‘Grand Canyon’.

The Rhine Gorge, just beyond Laax, is an immense river valley carved 400 metres deep into the landscape. From the lookout platforms, the river bends like a brushstroke across pale cliffs. It is a reminder that Switzerland is not all gentle meadows and polished peaks. Sometimes it is wild, raw, and epic.

In short, Laax is for those who want a Swiss mountain escape with more depth than clichés. You can swim in turquoise lakes by afternoon, walk above the forest at sunset, and dine on regional food in a rustic hut by night. You can learn about geology one day and take in the serenity of a gorge the next.

Why should you visit? Because Laax makes the Alps feel both ancient and new. And because in a country where beauty is abundant, it gives you reasons to pause, stay, and see more than the surface.