Light Ragaz • Interactive light tour through the Tamina Gorge

Note: Unfortunately, Light Ragaz had it’s last season in 2023 and does not currently have plans to continue this exhibition.

This narrow river gorge is lit up with fanciful animations and music. A shuttle bus brings you to the narrowest part of the gorge where you walk a short loop through tunnels and on a safe elevated walkway over the river. Some of the animations are designed for children, making it a fun outing for the family.

At the end of your visit, you can enjoy warm drinks and snacks at the Apero Lounge or dinner in the charming Bad Ragaz village. For a full day, you could hike at Pizol during the day (perhaps the Heidi trail), dinner in the village, then end with the gorge light show.

Location

The Tamina Gorge is located in Bad Ragaz, which is southeast of Zürich. You can easily reach this village by car or train.

Opening times

Light Ragaz is open from July through late October, but dates vary throughout the season. It’s open daily during high summer from beginning of July through third week of August. Then open Tues-Sun through second week of October. It also opens for a couple weekends at the end of May and beginning of June. 

You must book for a specific day and time slot, which corresponds to your bus departure time from Bad Ragaz. During high season, the time slots are every 40 mins from 5:30 to 9:30. They close earlier after high season. Times do sell out, particularly on the weekend. So best to book at least one week in advance. 

See current opening times.

Ticket prices

Your ticket for Light Ragaz includes entrance to the gorge for the light walk and the bus shuttle from Bad Ragaz village to the gorge entrance. 

In 2023, tickets for Light Ragaz cost CHF 29/adult, CHF 15/youth (10-16), CHF 10/child (5-9), under 5 free (more on weekends and holidays). Book tickets online.

During the day, you can visit the Tamina Gorge without the special light installations. Learn more.

How to get there

You cannot drive directly to the gorge entrance. You need to get to Bad Ragaz village, then take the shuttle bus to the entrance of the Tamina gorge (bus included in your ticket). 

By public transport: Take a train to Bad Ragaz. Then take Bus 453 to Bad Ragaz, Dorfbad bus stop. From this stop, walk to the Hotel Krone to pick up your wristband and wait for the shuttle bus.

By car: Drive to Bad Ragaz and park at the Parkhaus Zentrum (Bartholomépl., 7310 Bad Ragaz). We paid CHF 1 for our visit. From the parking, walk to the Hotel Krone to pick up your wristband and wait for the shuttle bus.

Where to eat

There is an Apero tent at the gorge that serves drinks and snacks. Hotel Krone, where you get the tickets, also offers an apero associated with the Light Ragaz event. Best to make reservations here if you want to eat before or after your visit to the gorge.

Where to stay

If you want to stay overnight in the area, our first choice would be Hotel Krone, where you pick up the Light Ragaz tickets and catch the bus. We’ve also stayed at Boutique Hotel Ochsen, which we really enjoyed.

Photo story

Whether you arrive by car or bus, make your way to Hotel Krone, where you can show your tickets and get an armband. You might like to arrive a little early and have dinner or an apero a the hotel while you wait for your bus.

The bus shuttle picks up directly outside the hotel. It’s about a 10 min drive up the gorge, very pretty if you arrived when the sun is still out.

The bus drops you off at this building. Walk through the Light Ragaz entrance and past these signs with happiness quotes. These put me in a really good mood for the visit.

When you exit the building, you’ll see the Apero tent where you can get drinks and snacks before or after your visit. In this text, you can download an English translation for the written and audio stories in the gorge.

Here’s the entrance to the light walk though the gorge. I was glad we arrived near sunset, so we could see this part in daylight first and later in darkness.

You start in a long tunnel that has a few story stations along the way, where you meet the elemental spirits that live here.

This station describes the history of the gorge and thermal waters. I liked that the kids were entertained by the animated story, so the adults could read all the plaques.

The kids really enjoyed the stories, which were in German only but pretty easy to understand even if your German skills aren’t stellar.

At one station, you can push buttons to start different animations on the tunnel walls.

After you leave the tunnel, there are a series of large animations projects on the gorge walls, accompanied by music. Each lasts a few minutes then loops back to the start. Take your time.

It’s absolutely love in the gorge section, with the river rushing through below. I was able to get pretty nice pics with just my phone. But you might like to bring a proper camera and tripod.

We spent about an hour on the light walk. Then we stopped at the Apero tent to sign the guestbook. We enjoyed warm drinks, pretzels and garlic bread, while we waited about 30 mins for our bus to pick us up.

I hope you enjoy it!