For two weeks in December, the mountain village of Lenzerheide hosts the Zauberwald, aka Magic Forest, a festival of light and music in a snowy forest. We were excited to finally visit after this event sitting on my to-do list for years. We had a great time wandering the magic forest, which is filled with elaborate light installations done by different artists. I was particularly happy that many of the installations were interactive, making it more fun for the kids.
In the middle of the forest, there’s a small Christmas market with food stands and a concert stage, where each night different musical guests perform, the main attraction for many visitors. They also have a concert for children, which often includes a mix of music and storytelling. It’s a special festive evening for the whole family, a nice treat for the holidays.
In 2021, a similar event is being held in at the Zürich airport, called Zauberpark.
Note: Thanks to Arosa Lenzerheide tourism for hosting our visit.
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| Location: | Lenzerheide, Southeastern Switzerland |
| Car: | 1hr40 mins from Zurich to Lenzerheide Main parking: Parkplatz Fadail (more info below) |
| Train: | 2hr20 from Zurich HB to Lenzerheide Lai/Post |
| Open: | December 10 – 30, 2021, every evening (except 24.Dec) 17:00 to 23:00 |
| Price 2019: | Adult CHF 20, Youth CHF 10, under age 11 free. Extra for concert tickets. |
| Services: | food stands, WC, stroller accessible |
| More info: | zauberwald-lenzerheide.ch |
Location
Lenzerheide is located in southeastern Switzerland, about a 1hr40 drive from Zürich (see on Google Maps). The Zauberwald event is held in the Eichhörnliwald forest next to the main village.
Getting There
Since this is a bit far from Zürich, we had planned to do this trip an overnight with a ski day at the Lenzerheide ski resort. But we had some scheduling conflicts, so instead we went there and back in one evening, which was a little rough on the family. Instead, I would recommend traveling to Lenzerheide one afternoon and going to the Zauberwald that night. Then stay overnight, ski the next day and travel home that evening. Or two days of skiing with the Zauberwald in between.
By public transport: Take a train to Chur, then bus 182 to Lenzerheide Lai/Post (about 30 mins). If there is an Express bus (labeled on the bus itself), take it since it’s faster, not stopping at every stop along the way. From the Lenzerheide Post bus stop, it’s a short 450m walk through the village to the entrance of the Zauberwald as shown below. Walk back the way you came on the main street and take your first left, walking down the hill. Then cross the street to your right and walk by the church, following signs to the Zauberwald.
By car: Drive to Lenzerheide and park in one of the following lots. On very busy nights, you might have trouble finding parking in the village, so use Parkplatz Fadail, which has a free shuttle to the Zauberwald.
- Julierparkplatz – Small metered lot on the main road, near the entrance to the Zauberwald
- Allod metered parking – Small lot in the village near the entrance to the Zauberwald
- Parkplatz Fadail – Large lot with flat fee CHF 5 and free shuttle to entrance of Zauberwald (every 15 mins from 17:30 to 22:00) or 15 min walk.
Tickets
The pricing has changed since our last visit and I think now it varies depending on which concert is playing the evening you go. Tickets range from about CHF 20-40/adult. I’ll update the pricing here when tickets are on sale for the 2022 season.
In 2019, you could pre-book “Priority Pass” tickets online for CHF 28/adult and CHF 15/youth (12-15). These tickets guarantee entry when the event is sold out (happens occasionally for popular concerts). You also get a token with each ticket which can be exchanged for a hot drink like Glühwein or hot chocolate. So if you get the drinks, you’re only paying slightly more for pre-booking.
Insider tips: If you’re not interested in the concerts and just want to see the light installation, Zauberwald usually hosts one free evening at the beginning of the season. There is no concert on this evening and the food booths are closed, so it’s not quite as festive.
In 2021, customers of EWZ (Swiss utilities company) could get a 20% discount on Zauberwald tickets. Hopefully this discount will be available for future events.
What to wear
Since this is an outdoor venue in the mountains at night, you need to wear warm clothing, including hats & gloves. You should also wear winter boots with good tread as you will be walking on snow and ice. They rent crampons in case you need extra stability walking on slippery ice.
Accessibility
The path is snowy, icy and lumpy, but no stairs. So it’s possible with all-terrain strollers and we saw many families pushing strollers around the path. It might be possible with a wheelchair, but it would be tricky depending on the snow conditions. Those who have trouble walking on uneven surfaces might want to bring a hiking stick for balance and perhaps crampons for the ice (these can be rented at the ticket booth).
Concert venue & food stands
At the entrance to the forest, you’ll find the concert venue with a stage and a dozen or so market stands, most selling food and drink. You’ll find the typical Swiss fare, like sausages and raclette, normal Swiss prices, bring cash. We particularly liked Flammenküchen and the risotto with goat cheese. There is a “children’s hut” which sells chicken nuggets and fries if you need “safe” choices for the kids.
For the kids, there’s a hot chocolate stand and most drink huts also sell hot apple and orange punch. They all accept the priority pass drink tokens.
The children’s concert begins at 18:00 and lasts about 30 mins. When we were there, the performers were dressed up in costume and did a very lively comical performance, lots of interaction with the children gathered around the stage. There were not too many people at the Zauberwald this early, so it’s good time to visit with children.
The main concert starts at 20:15 and we noticed that the concert area was much more full and longer lines at the food stands. Of course, it depends on who is performing. So if you are with children, it’s better to come earlier.
Be prepared for kids to ask for some treats, like the glow stick cotton candy or light balloons.
There are a couple stands selling trinkets and gifts, but this is not a full blown Christmas market.
Light Installations
To see the light installations, walk straight past the market stands and into the dark forest on the snowy path, as shown below. Since the light installations are spread out, it is sometimes quite dark and the path can be icy, so be careful to avoid slipping.
As you walk, you’ll pass a dozen or so artistic light installations scattered around a 750 m loop path in the forest, as shown on the trail map below.
The light installations are different every year, each done by a different artist. I’ll show you some of our favorites so you know what to expect. But I’ll leave some surprises too, that’s part of the fun.
Many of the installations have music or sound effects that add to the experience. On the left, there is a live piano player playing beautiful classical music that echos through the forest. On the right, glowing balls that fade on and off.
This installation was one of our favorites. If you stand close enough, an avatar of your body will appear on screen and you can control it by moving around. As you move, you can make light balls and throw light around, which also has sound effects. We all loved this one and stayed here a long time experimenting.
The kids also loved the playground, which had lights added to the equipment. As you rocked the see-saw, it activated a light that slid back and forth and also made noises. The swings had lights underneath that lit up the snow as you swung. This statue had a ring that you had to navigate around the outline. If you touch the sides, the color turns to red. If you make it all the way around without touching the sides 3 times, it lights up green. My kids did this many times until they final succeeded.
Even if there are a lot of people at the Zauberwald, people are continually moving from one installation to the next, so we didn’t feel an extreme bottleneck anywhere along the path. But some installations, like these wings, are designed for a photo opp, so you might have to wait a minute or two if you want a picture with a particular statue or light thing.
Since some people park and use the shuttle bus, big groups of people come in waves. So we just waited a couple minutes for the wave to pass so we could take pics alone.
This huge transparent screen had animated creatures playing out little scenes. From far away, it looked as if they were really in the forest.
Some are just pretty to look at it like this flock of origami birds or fairy.
There are several other light installations I didn’t show here, most that only make sense in motion as a full sensory experience. So you’ll just have to go and find out for yourselves.
What do you think? Will you go this year?
See also: If you need some amusements closer to home, try the Illuminarium at the Zürich Landesmuseum.
