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On various social media platforms, I’m often fed incredible travel content – from hiking to scuba diving…recently one of these videos was a scenic toboggan route down a gorgeous valley, though didn’t have a name/location attached. After some researching, I discovered the nameless reel was actually the Rodelbahn Pradaschier in Eastern Switzerland!
In the Eastern part of Switzerland is the Canton of Grisons – this is the only region of the Alpine country in which Romansch, a Romance language with about 50,000 speakers, has official status (Romansch is one of four “official” languages of Switzerland – the others being German, French and Italian). Grisons is in the middle of the Alps, and thus is home to many mountain resorts such as Lenzerheide, which are home to various activities such as the Rodelbahn Pradaschier toboggan, along with winter sports such as skiing, bobsledding, etc.
You can find another of my ski-related posts about the Winter Park Express here!
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
Rodelbahn Pradaschier is the longest toboggan run in Switzerland
Curving 3,100 meters (almost 2 miles), this toboggan track is the longest in the country. According to the website and looking on the map, the Rodelbahn Pradaschier has 31 curves and an elevation change of 480 meters (~1,500 feet).
Riders reach up to 40km per hour traveling down the toboggan route
From start to finish, the ride takes about 10 minutes, however speeds on the toboggan can reach as high as 40km per hour (~25mi per hour). The Churwalden chairlift directly next to the toboggan run transports both riders and toboggans to the top – the carts are attached to the lift and hang before being delivered directly to the top of the track.
Rodelbahn is actually located in a small section of one of the largest ski resorts in Switzerland
When looking around the area on Google Maps, I noticed the massive system of ski lifts (noted as the dotted red lines – see below) and was curious about this resort. What I found was that there were two distinct areas – one in Lenzerheide where the toboggan run is located, and the other on the other side of a mountain in a town called Arosa. This is actually a combined resort called (unsurprisingly…) Arosa Lenzerheide, which was officially combined in 2013/2014.
The resort has a combined total of 140 miles of skiing and is one of the largest in Switzerland, and the two distinct areas are connected by a large cable car called Urdenbahn. This cable car is more than 1 mile in distance and has 2 cars with ~150 person capacity.
Additional links and sources
- Information on the Rodelbahn Pradaschier from the official website (link, accessed in 2022)
- Background plans on the Arosa Lenzerheide ski resort overall, including the Urdenbahn cable car (link, published in 2017)
- Survey related to the Grisons Canton in Switzerland, from the official government site of the canton (link, accessed in 2022)
Have you ever taken a ride on Rodelbahn Pradaschier?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
