The Swiss Adventure: Day 4 - A day in the Alps

An incredibly picturesque train journey, sledging through the Alps and a quiet New Year's Eve in with friends. The makings of a perfect day.

We started with a quick trip out to the bakery to get breakfast, as the fog was lifting from the town of Davos and the sun rose it gave a mystical feel to the streets.

Breakfast devoured, we all got wrapped up, packed our bags for a day on the mountain and off we headed.

The train to Preda

First to the bus to the station, then to the train all the way up through the mountains to Preda.

This journey up through the mountains was just stunning. It was difficult to get photographs through the windows of the train due to the reflections but here's a sample of some of the incredible views we enjoyed along the way.

Preda: The top of 'the run'

The plan when we got to Preda was to jump off of the train and onto sledges to ride down the mountain to Bergün: the longest illuminated toboggan run in Europe!

Excited? We could not wait! The idea of sledging down a seemingly non-stop slope is the dream of nearly every child growing up experiencing snow and when I was young I shared this same wish. Now, here we were at what felt like the top of the world; preparing to jump feet first down the slope on a sledge!

Warning: If there is any potential chance that your trip to Switzerland results in you heading up into the Alps and encountering snow, make sure you have the correct footwear. My inexpensive, faux-leather boots really struggled to keep me upright on the icy snow, hence why I walked around ankle deep just to get some kind of grip!

Here we go!

Now, obviously, I couldn't keep my camera out all the way down the slope... I needed both hands to try and steer this wooden frame down what felt like an Olympic, frozen toboggan run, but we did stop halfway down the slope for photo opportunities.

The 'pit-stop'

About halfway down, we all stopped (eventually), caught our breath and enjoyed the view and ...wow! What a view it was!

At the bottom

After several kilometres and a drop in altitude of over 400m, we arrived in Bergün; a nice, quaint little village in the mountains and the end of the toboggan run.

We returned our sledges and went in search of food! We found a restaurant that was still open and we sat at a table with an incredible view out of the window. Imagine sitting and seeing this whilst eating 'Schweineschnitzel'.

The train back to Davos

At the restaurant, we checked the time of the next train. Realising it was in 15 minutes and we still had our meals to eat, we ate as quickly as we could, wrapped up and set off running to the station. We made the train by a matter of seconds.

Once again, reflections were not my friend, but the views definitely didn't disappoint.

A quick change of train in Filisur

What a fun, exciting day! That is a huge tick on the bucket-list.

The rest of the day

Once back at our friend's apartment in Davos, we packed the car and drove back to Zurich to see in the New Year with an attempt at astrophotography, some 'light-painting' and a board game.

Supplemental post to follow.

The trip so far...

• Trip Preview
• Day 1: Home to Zurich, via Amsterdam
• Day 2: Bern, City of Bears
• Day 3: Up through the Alps to Davos
• Day 4: A Day In The Alps