Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a

mountain resort A mountain resort is a place to holiday or vacation located in an elevated and typically at least relatively isolated area. The term resort implies integral hotel or inn accommodations, restaurants, and either or both sports facilities or scen ...

in the canton of Graubünden,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at the foot of the

Parpaner Rothorn The Parpaner Rothorn is a mountain of the Plessur Alps, overlooking Parpan in the canton of Graubünden. The summit is easily accessible with a cable car from Lenzerheide, the upper station being located 30 metres below the main summit. See ...

. The village lies in the municipality

Vaz/Obervaz Vaz/Obervaz is a municipality in the Albula Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. The municipality of Vaz/Obervaz includes the following villages: Lain, Muldain, Zorten, Lenzerheide, and Valbella, as well as the hamlets of Nivaigl ...

in the district of Albula, sub-district

Alvaschein Alvaschein ( Romansh: Alvaschagn) is a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzaul ...

. The village lies in a broadened section of the valley between the cantonal capital

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg), ...

to the north and

Tiefencastel Tiefencastel ( rm, Casti) is a village and a former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/ ...

, beyond which are the

Julier Pass The Julier Pass ( Romansh: ''Pass dal Güglia'', German: ''Julierpass'', Italian ''Passo del Giulia'') (el. 2284 m) is a mountain pass in Switzerland, in the Albula Alps. It connects the Engadin valley with central Graubünden, the nearest inhab ...

and

St Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

. The high valley forms a pass of no official name, often referred to as

Lenzerheide pass Lenzerheide is the common name of a passage past a high mountain pass in the Alps in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland, reaching summit at 1549 m between Valbella and Parpan, approximately 5 kilometers south of the resort of Lenzerheid ...

, with a culmination point located 5 km north of the village. Lenzerheide is popular as skiing resort and for its lake (

Heidsee Heidsee (Romansh: ''Igl Lai'') is a lake at Lenzerheide, Grisons, Switzerland. Its surface area is . It lies at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. See also *List of mountain lakes of Switzerland This is a list of high-altitude lakes in Sw ...

), which is frozen in winter. The

Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. The v ...

offers access to the skiing areas of Stätzerhorn, Danis, Scalottas, and Rothorn. There are slopes approved for all

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ...

races for women and men. At the end of 2013 the Lenzerheide ski resort was linked with

Arosa , neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton o ...

by cable-car, creating the new ski resort of

Arosa Lenzerheide Arosa Lenzerheide is a ski area located in Arosa, Lenzerheide, Valbella, Vaz/Obervaz, Valbella, Parpan and Churwalden, Canton of Graubünden, Graubünden/Switzerland. It originated 2013/14 by connecting the existing ski areas of Arosa and Lenzerh ...

. Since then transport passes are available to both resorts. A two-day hike connects Lenzerheide with two more resorts in Graubünden in different Valleys, which are

(can be reached in one day) and

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

(a two-day hike).Hiking Alps in Switzerland, Lenzerheide, Graubünden

Historical note

On 31 July 1954,

Antoinette, Crown Princess of Bavaria Antoinette Roberte Sophie Wilhelmine (7 October 1899 – 31 July 1954), commonly referred to as Antonia, was the last Crown Princess of Bavaria before World War II. By birth, she was a member of the Luxembourgish House of Nassau-Weilburg as the c ...

, wife of

Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine by (the) Rhine (''Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand''; English: ''Robert Maria Leopold Ferdinand''; 18 May 1869 – 2 August 1955), was the last hei ...

, died in Lenzerheide. Lenzerheide was also the location where philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote his famous posthumous fragment about Nihilism.

Sports

Lenzerheide has hosted several stages of the

Tour de Ski Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

, a

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

stage event. It was host to the 2018

UCI Mountain Bike World Championships The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing ...

, and is a stop in the 2019 UCI MTB World Cup tour.

References

External links

Website of tourist office of LenzerheideThe municipality of Vaz/Obervaz
* {{authority control Vaz/Obervaz Villages in Graubünden Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland