Arosa is charming – living up to the reputation as a summer and winter resort, it has quite a lot to offer, excellent views, and a largely harmonious mix of large hotels, apartments, and fancy homes at a wide range of price points and degrees of repair. It’s bigger than you might expect, though easy to navigate on foot if you can handle a bit of elevation change. For people looking for a classic Swiss holiday, this would be a nice choice.

Hotels

• *Hotel Altein a Faern Collection Resort was almost a two. If you have smaller children, it likely is a good choice. Rooms were a bit low on amenities (though with views), breakfast was quite mediocre, dinner was acceptable. Decent bar downstairs, parking for a fee, helpful staff. Easy to get to from the train. Naked sauna area was too small and crowded, and everything else was catering to kids (bonus points for a good lazy river).
• **Hotel Stoffel looks like an excellent option for a future stay – a historic building in an excellent location (if you can, try to stay somewhere nearby), with a beautiful dining room overlooking the mountains. Parking, no spa, kids not allowed. We had a very good lunch.

We spent a fair amount of time walking around assessing options for a future trip with kids. On the no list: Sunstar Arosa (looks fairly grim), BelArosa Suiten & Wellness (not bad, but weird design and too expensive), Waldhotel Arosa (looks nice, too expensive), Tschuggen Grand Hotel (not our style, felt dating in an unappealing way, way too expensive). By too expensive, I mean places trending in the 800, 1000+ CHF/night – really expensive. On the maybe list: Blatter’s Arosa Hotel, Hotel Sonnenhalde.

Dining in Town

• I somehow managed to book ‘The Black Room’ at **Le Bistro Arosa, expecting a casual meal and ending up with a very fancy one in a private, black-walled room. The food was very good, service was excellent. We came away with the impression the chef is bored with his normal pizza and pasta, and created a space to cook haute cuisine. Well done!
• **Restaurant Charlie’s was pretty good, with bonus points for dog decor (Charlie is a Jack Russell). It’s a nice setting and service was charming. The menu is a little odd (Asian-ish) and leans too vegetarian/vegan for Galen’s taste.
• **Restaurant Grischuna is classically decorated and Swissy, near the kids ski area.
• The restaurant in Hotel Hold is very popular with families, and also with a more casual local crowd. We had a drink. The food looked fairly tasty. Right next to the kids ski area.

See notes below for Arosa on-piste dining options.

Lenzerheide

Lenzerheide is the regional center for mountain biking and skiing, with a giant ski area that crosses over the mountain to Arosa. It’s a pretty spot, a relatively narrow valley that connects through to the Julier Pass and St. Moritz. This is definitely not “a hidden find,” but due to sheer size it has a bit of that feel, with lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

We stayed at the very charming, high end ***Guarda Val hotel, which has two restaurants of note, lovely rooms with linen sheets, two cats, and a very nice spa complex (hot tub, relaxation room, and a large sauna). Great breakfast, and the staff does drop-offs/pickups from the lifts. Our meal at the more casual restaurant was heavy and tasty and expensive, very traditional options in a cozy setting. The whole facility is a tiny village, scattered across original farm buildings.

Town Dining

Book your meals in advance! We always say this, but it was hard to get tables in this area, for lunch or dinner. Trying the day before, we struck out close to a dozen times.

• *BuccaFina, at the golf course, was just a hair short of a two star. Nothing was really wrong with it, nice setting, friendly staff, very average food (and a big menu). I just can’t imagine making a point to go back.
• **La Patata was really good – beautifully prepared meat dishes, for the most part. Not incredibly formal setting but high end (and expensive), excellent service. It was packed, clearly a popular spot.
• Our meal at *Restaurant Saal in the Kurhaus Lenzerheide was perfunctory at best. They’ve done a nice job dressing up the dining hall, but the food was decidedly below average. It’s an odd place, a historic hotel with a “modern” facade, very tired but with effort to make some more hip central areas. I wouldn’t stay here.

On the Piste

In Lenzerheide you should begin on the Sesselbahn Scalottas as it has great groomed runs and amazing off-piste, shockingly in the trees, which is very rare for the Alps. The recommended tour is to go from there, sweeping North, across the five lifts on the east-facing side. The ski area on the East side of the valley is much more aggressive, as the mountains are higher. The West side of the valley has a lot of rolling hills that are excellent (plus the aforementioned tree skiing).

Try to cross the bottom of the valley late morning to allow time for the Arosa side (which is huge). Take the lifts and then the cross-mountain tram to Hörnli. You’ll find wide open slopes, lots of groomers, some very steep and excellent for speed. 

Medium sized lift lines, can be crowded, but things do move along. Quite a few snowboarders, lots of skiers, and the ability level runs higher than average for Swiss skiing. 

• The best meal we had was at ***Bergrestaurant & Hotel Alpenblick (Arosa side), in the Caduffstube (the set menu option). Worth the effort (you can ski there, or walk from Arosa), with wonderful food and wine, a truly top notch cheese cart, and a cozy setting. They also have a few rooms you can stay in.
• Several of the fancier (newer) restaurants on the hill are owned by the same group, and share a common style. We ate at **Bergrestaurant Scharmoin Grill (Lenzerheide side), which is fine, if you’re in the mood for grilled meat (not a lot else on the menu). There’s a large cafeteria on the lower floor. 
• *Motta Hütte (Lenzerheide side) is their “high end” restaurant of the moment, and books out well in advance. It was not great – the food was actually pretty good, but the service, crowd, setting were all fairly grating. Trying to be a party and feeling more like unmanaged chaos.
• *Schirmbar (Lenzerheide side) was a loud semi-outdoor bar. It’s fine, trying hard to be hopping, unfortunately allowing smoking inside. Just below it we preferred **Chilihütta for a drink stop, which has a sunny outdoor area.

• *Tschuggenhütte (Arosa side) attracts a lot of non-skiers and appears to be aiming for a party vibe. We could take it or leave it, not really bad, but big and feeling rather cafeteria-ish. Staff were nice. Nearby, **Carmennahütte is another casual party bar option.

Churwalden

Churwalden has the world’s longest **Toboggan Run (mostly a summer thing, but we’ve seen it open in winter when the snow levels are lower). Because, well, why not. The town is a lower-rent option (lots of affordable basic apartments) with access to the ski area, within very easy driving distance of Chur.