Sleigh Ride
A couple years ago, we treated our family to a horse-drawn sleigh ride a few days after Christmas. It was just as magical as it sounds and my kids loved every minute of it. I’ve been singing “Jingle Bells” my whole life and finally, I knew what it meant to be “dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh.” Well, maybe two horses.
We went to the sleigh ride near Raten, a tiny town near Einsiedeln, about a 30 mins drive from Zurich. The sleighs leave from a little booth directly across the street from Restaurant Raten and Skilift Raten.
We called ahead to make a reservation, which is recommended.
Each sleigh fits about nine people. We squeezed six adults, four kids, and two babies into ours, with one adult sitting up front with the driver. They had two sleighs for larger groups. In 2009, it cost CHF20/adult and CHF10/school-aged child. The ride was about 45 minutes, “over the hill and through the woods” in a loop. Although they provided heavy, warm blankets, it was a cold ride and you should definitely bundle up.
Raten is a good choice for families as there are other attractions besides the sleigh ride. At the parking lot (where the sleigh ride starts), there is a little ski hill with plenty of room for sledding as well. There’s also a big playground, with a zip line as the main attraction. Our kids enjoyed it even in the snow. There’s a café and restaurant next to the ski hill. The restaurant is a bit fancy and expensive for little kids, but we went anyways with our unwieldy crew and managed to have a nice time. The food wasn’t anything special, but we sat in a lovely sun room with huge glass windows overlooking the alps. This was a treat after sitting in the cold for a long time. The café next to the restaurant has less expensive, more kid-friendly fare.
Lots of mountain towns have horse-drawn sleigh rides (Pferdeschlitten), they just aren’t very well advertised. Most also offer a moonlight ride at night, which sounds magical. I have a couple friends with holiday homes in Klosters and they warmly recommend the sleigh ride from Klosters to the Alphütte Garfiun, which has the option of sledding back from the restaurant instead of taking the horse sleigh. This is definitely on the top of my list.
Here are few others in Switzerland I have my eye on:
• Rigi
• Dischmatel near Davos
• Engadin near St. Moritz
• Lauenen near Gstaad
Contact Info for Raten Sleigh Ride:
Hansruedi Nussbaumer
Grubenstrasse 41
Oberägeri
041 750 19 56
079 341 59 82
pferdefahrten@bluewin.ch
– by Tanya Deans
