Flims/Laax day trip: any tips? (where to arrive/park, etc.)

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Hi all

I am planning a ski trip to Flims Laax tomorrow.

I will be traveling by car, departing from outside Zurich

I was wondering if you had any tips about, for example, which one of the villages to choose as my destination, where to park, etc.

General advice about the resort will also be greatly appreciated (I have had a look at this already, though it's from 2008 or so)

I am an advanced beginner/early intermidiot skier (can ski blues, easy reds)

thanks a lot,

j.

2
1) Follow signs to Flims

2) Arrive at 8am

3) Park in "the" car park in the village (1.60chf per hour)

4) Ski on Nagens and Mutta Rodundo

5) Don't go on a weekend

6) 73chf for a day card

3
You can stop first in Flims dorf (by the gondolas on your right) or continue to Laax murschetg. For one day, I'd suggest the latter and park in the rocks resort, there you can take a direct cable car to Crap Sion Gion which is high enough still to have ok snow I guess.

Use Crap Sion Gion as your base and at the end of the day you can ski back to your car through the probably slushy snow.

If you know what you are doing, it's possible to visit the vorab glacier which is a bit higher but some way behind Crap Sion Gion. Its also possible to ski around the back to Flims dorf, snow permitting.

Car takes 1:45 from Zurich.

I'll be there too tomorrow. If you need more specific help, you can pm me.

4
Possible it should be ok tomorrow, it being end of season, and no more school holidays.

Know what you mean about the lift pass price though!

5
Last weekend it was taking 30mins to get on the Flims Gondola first thing in the morning (according to the guy I was with on Wednesday). The snow was OK till about 1300 - but even at 1430 the Flims exit was in a pretty bad state.

Saturdays tend to be a little quieter than Sundays - but not a lot. The saving grace is that the World Cup is on in Lenzerheide.

6
Yeah, queues there have become way worse over the last few years, also at murschetg. Occasionally worse than the dreaded Flumserburg!

7
Flims is mostly south facing and suffers badly in this weather despite the altitude. You might find Obersaxen (at least the north facing 70% of it) better at the moment.

8
I was skiing in Laax today. Weather was great and there was enough snow, except on piste number 25, which I would avoid.

The snow got slushy rather quickly, but you can still ski down to Rocks Resort (it’s not much fun).

According to laaxinside.com 7442 people skied today. On weekends that number can double easily and the car park in Rocks Resort fills up fast in the morning.

9
thanks for the tips everyone!

I'll try to get there as early as possible (though 8am is somewhat brutal )

I was counting on the not-so-great weather as a crowd deterrent, and maybe it'll be cloudy enough to prevent slushiness...hope I get lucky.

thanks again,

j.

10
And so I went.

I arrived at around 8:20 or so, parked in Laax.

People were already starting to arrive, but it was still not crowded.

The weather was cloudy at the bottom

I was the last person to get on the gondola, so did not have to wait, which was nice (the feeling of being a canned sardine was not especially nice, though...but you get that everywhere).

The weather at the top was foggy, but the fog was quite thin.

I could actually (barely) make out the mountains in the distance...on a clear day it must be magnificent.

I went up to Cram Masegn, where we were told that due to windy conditions you could not reach higher points (e.g., the glacier).

The snow was very hard in the morning, my joints started complaining very quickly.

As time went by, the lower parts of the pistes started becoming softer, and as more time went by they became full of slushy moguls.

The wind also seemed to pick up at the higher points, later on.

So you would start skiing very hard snow at the top, and finish up over slushy moguls.

The snow conditions did not make it the the best fun for me

Overall it was not too crowded, i'd say. i did not have to wait more than 3 minutes in any queue.

The pistes did feel crowded at times, but I think that was because skiers at my level were struggling with the moguls

The resort itself is amazing, at points it feels like it's just one huge piste.

Everything feels new. The 6-seater lifts are children-safe, fast and very comfortable.

The piste selection is huge and the pistes themselves are wide and well-groomed.

With so many many of them, though, you may make the wrong turn somewhere and end up somewhere you did not intended to be (as I did a couple of times )

I could not unfortunately make it to the other side (Fuorcla, LaSiala), because piste 43 was closed.

I'm definitely going back sometime.

However, it makes for quite an expensive outing: lift pass + parking + gas make it a well over 100chf day trip.

For me, it's probably not best for single day trips.

Next time I'll be staying for a little longer

Also, the ticket guy said i could not get the 5chf card deposit back

But he asked if I had any other resort's card with me (which I didn't), so I think that it may be a good idea to bring one with you the first time you visit the resort, it may save you 5chf.

cheers

j.