We’re not the type of bike tourers who cycle for weeks on end, just getting from A to B. We like to stop and sightsee. Often this simply means spending a day doing a relaxed, unloaded ride around a city. Other times, it means walking. Many of our friends call these “rest days”, though since our bodies are used to biking, not walking, is sightseeing by foot really a rest day?
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- Hike MAP
- Hike VIDEO
- Up Next…
We’d sure find out on our “rest day” in Chur, which we spent going on a classic Swiss hike up a mountain!
CHUR FACTS
- Pronunciation – Koor – I remember this by thinking of the beer “Coors” but without the “s” on the end. Apologies for mispronouncing it “Kurr” on our hike (see video at the end of this post).
- Population – 41,000
- Elevation – 592 m (1,942 feet)
- Claim to Fame – First city on the Rhine River! And the oldest city in Switzerland.
- Local Mountain – Brambrüesch
My travel research revealed that Chur is a very popular destination for hikers. Even better, one of the hikes ends at a toboggan run! Pier has been showing me YouTube videos of these for the last couple years, and we decided if we were ever on a mountain with a “summer toboggan”, we’d do it.
So we set out to make Pier’s alpine toboggan dream come true!
We walked to Chur Bergbahnen where an aerial cable car runs year-round from the city centre to the slopes of Brambrüesch. Bergbahnen literally translates to “mountain railways”, and the network of cable cars on Swiss mountains are public transit. This means that if we’d had a Swiss Travel Pass, we could’ve used it to get 50% off the cable car, and probably get the bus back to Chur for free (buses, ferries and trains are fully included in the pass). However, since we were biking most of the time, we didn’t get a Swiss Travel Pass, though for future trips, it definitely sounds like it’s worth it! Especially since regular priced tickets are pretty expensive.
Our tickets included the cable car to Känzeli (1170 m), the chair lift to Brambrüesch (1595 m), the hike to Dreibündenstein (2160 m) and Pradaschier (1724 m), the toboggan run (Rodelbahn) down to Churwalden (1229 m), and the bus back the Chur (585 m).
Hike MAP
- START / END = Chur (585 m)
- 1 = Känzeli (1,170 m) — Here we get off the cable car and get on a chair lift.
- 2 = Brambrüesch (1,595 m) — Chair lift drops us off and we start walking!
- 3 = Edelweisshütte — We stop for a snack here.
- 4 = Malixer Alp — Farm where we fill up our water bottles.
- 5 = Furggabüel (2,174 m) — Highest peak of the day!
- 6 = Dreibündenstein (2,160 m) — Historic stone monument and boundary marker.
- 7 = Pradaschier (1,724 m) — The toboggan run starts here!
- 8 = Churwalden (1,229 m) — Catch the post bus back to Chur.
Signs in Brambrüesch
Snack Stop at Edelweisshütte
Malixer Alp
The Malixer Alp (also called Alp Malix) is a cooperative alp, meaning it’s leased by multiple farmers whose cattle graze the lush meadows from June to September. Pretty neat! We took advantage of the cattle’s water trough to fill up our bottles. Good thing, too, because it would be the last source of running water we’d see on the trail until the end of our hike in Pradaschier.
As we hike higher, the trail becomes much less obvious, and we have to watch for these stone markers to make sure we’re still on the actual trail.
There are also signs warning hikers not to get close to cows with babies! Though in late summer, the calves were more like teenagers, almost full grown.
Furggabüel (2,174 m)
At about the halfway point is Furggabüel, the highest peak!
From the peak, we head through this alpine meadow to Dreibündenstein.
Dreibündenstein Monument
This is a historic stone monument and boundary marker of the former Free State of the Three Leagues. The monument has three sides, each bearing one of the leagues’ coat of arms.
By this point, we were more than halfway through the hike! We’d gone 4.7 kilometres from Brambrüesch and had 3.6 kilometres to go to Pradaschier.
From here, the alpine meadow got even more lush!
Often it was difficult to tell whether we were on a trail or just a cow path or… nothing! We learned to look for the painted stones and signposts in the distance.
The path became clearer the closer we got to the end.
Until it crossed this road just above Pradaschier.
We probably could have taken the road into Pradaschier, but we followed the teenagers down the steep shortcut instead. Which, I realize now after taking a close look at this photo, is the actual trail (there’s a little red and white trail marker on the gate).
Pradaschier Rodelbahn
As you can probably tell from the photos, this wasn’t a restful day. Going up was fine, albeit a decent cardio workout, but going down hurt our middle aged knees. Our butts were happy to be back in the saddle the next day!
But we made it! And we didn’t have to walk anymore because we were taking the TOBOGGAN down. Can you tell Pier is excited?
It was as awesome as we hoped! Check out the video for the riding-a-toboggan-down-the-Alps footage.
Video
Up Next…
After that epic hike, we were sure that the next day of cycling was going to feel like a rest day. Though maybe not with the “persistent rain” the forecast was calling for…
Rhine River Bike Tour – other posts!
- DAY 1 – Rhine River Bike Tour: Cologne to Monheim (GERMANY)
- DAY 2 – Rhine River Bike Tour: Monheim to Dusseldorf (GERMANY)
- DAY 3 – Rhine River Tour: The Scenic Train to SWITZERLAND!
- DAY 4 – Cycle-Sightseeing in Zurich
- DAY 5 – Swiss Alps Hike to Devil’s Bridge
- DAY 6 – Rhine River Bike Tour: SWITZERLAND – From the top! (Stage 1)
- DAY 7 – Rhine River Bike Tour: SWITZERLAND – Gorge(ous) views! (Stage 2)
- Up Next…
- DAY 9 – Rhine River Bike Tour: SWITZERLAND + LIECHTENSTEIN in the rain! (Stage 3)