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When I was five I had the good fortune to get rheumatic fever. I say “good fortune” because that year  when I was confined to bed with no television, unable to walk, and too contagious for playmates, was the year I discovered books and most fortunately — Heidi.  Lying in bed, I learned to read on that story and for a year I lived inside it.  Heidi is the tale of a ruddy-cheeked orphan girl who comes to live with her gruff  grandfather called “Uncle Alp” in his hut above the village of Dorfli. Her days with her friend Peter  tending the goats were the stuff of my fantasies. To yodel across a mirror-top glacier, to lie in a sea of wildflowers, to eat bread and cheese washed down with fresh goat’s milk, to sleep on a pile of straw!  The images from that movie haunted me so strongly that this year I traveled to Switzerland to see for myself the Rhine Valley in the eastern canton of Graubunden, the region that the Swiss Tourism Board recently has dubbed “Heidiland.”  My journey to Heidiland was a pilgrimage not so much to an external destination but to a loved place within my heart. Of course I felt the risk of possible disappointment. I mean, after all, Heidiland!!!   The very name conjures up images of the worst tendencies of tourism boards. In the past few years the enduring worldwide passion for Heidi has fueled a local industry of major proportion. What be-wigged adolescent would greet me in a central casting pinafore pretending to be Heidi thus ruining my own fantasy of a simpler, pristine world?

Johanna Spyri wrote her famous book Heidi in 1880-1881. She was born in 1829 and died in 1901 and married lawyer Bernhard Spyri in 1852. She spent most of her life in Zurich writing.

After checking in, I made my way to little town of Maienfeld, just a few miles away.  If you’ve read Heidi, then you know that Maienfeld is not only the picturesque town in which Johanna Spyri wrote Heidi, but it features in the book from the very first sentence. 

The pretty little Swiss town of Maienfeld lies at the foot of a mountain range, whose grim rugged peaks tower high above the valley below. 

Maienfeld is as lovely as its postcard picture. It is a steep village with cobblestone streets  that are lined with half-timbered shops selling handmade wooden toys. From Maienfeld, you can easily walk up to Oberfols, a tiny hamlet which was Spyri’s inspiration for the fictional village of “Dorfli” in the book. Oberfols is considered the Heididorf or Heidi Village, home to the Heidi Haus,  a mid 19th century Swiss hut outfitted with Heidi-era  furniture, crockery and clothes to give visitors an authentic feeling for what life in Heidi’s time was really like.  Readers of Heidi from all over the world come here to worship at the source, each one seeking something private and personal that speaks of health, tranquility and freedom. Thus the sign on the path that reads:

May the Heididorf be a place of inner reflection where our dream of oneness and our search for peace become a fruitful reality. 
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The Swiss Tourism Board has recently declared the Rhine Valley in the Eastern Canton of Graubunden Heidiland. And people are coming to try to get closer to the emotions that the landscape conveyed in the three movie versions of the book. The first movie was made in 1937, the second in 1968 and the latest version was made in 1993.

In Oberfols I also found a souvenir shop, a  small petting zoo and a post office where you can send  letters with the Heidi cancellation postmark. From Oberfols I began my hike up the Heidi Weg or Heidi Path. This is a  gorgeous 1 1/2 hour walk in the woods that rises to the mountain top. The way is shaded with fir and pine trees, natural springs and small waterfalls. The trail curls upward and as I went, I passed family groups from all over the world. The higher I went, the more breathtaking the view. Along the way, I passed 12 signs, each with a different excerpt from Heidi and an explanation of some aspect of the scenery. The signs are intelligently made, geared to both children and adults and are written in several languages.  The Heidi Path is a delightful instructional activity for your children and for adults a scenic, educational  ramble.  Best of all, just when you feel the need for a rest,  you come to “Heidi’s Alp.”  It took nearly an hour to reach the high pasture where Uncle Alp’s hut stood on a little plateau. The little house was exposed to every wind that blew, but it also caught all the sunlight and commanded a glorious view right down the valley. Here, at the very top of Mount Calanda sits a 200-year old cow herder’s hut.   The setting is spectacular and best of all, my central casting fears were put to rest. This is the home of, Luis Karner Alpöhi, a retired Swiss-Italian who got the job of playing Heidi’s grandfather because he speaks several languages, smokes a pipe and generally looks like he should be someone’s grandfather.  He’s around his hut most of the day to greet the literally thousands of HeidWeg hikers who arrive annually. When he’s not playing grandfather, he’s responsible for tending the 75 brown cows in the pasture or doing his wood carving.  I asked him why so many people make this pilgrimage, and as we talked, the deep, jangled sound of  75 enormous cow bells filled the warm Alpine air.

Luis Karner enjoys playing Heidi’s grandfather because he enjoys people and finds it a peaceful job. “We don’t do this Disney-style” he boasts. “We don’t push the fictional element so much. This is our antidote to Pokemon and Potter (Harry, that is). We’re more relaxed and real.”

When I arrived, he had just said goodbye to a group of young Japanese hikers. They had made him a gift: an origami swan mobile that he’d already hung in his hut, and they left him a stack of  origami paper to while away the long evenings. 

There was rich grazing land immediately above the hut, but then came a mass of tangled undergrowth, leading to bare and rugged peaks.

“It is warm” he announced suddenly,  “I’ll bring you a very nice cold drink.” While he was busy at the little oil-cloth covered table inside his dim hut, I sat at the picnic table outside the door. I had a wide-angle view that was nothing less than magnificent. The June day was brilliant, blue and cloudless and I could see to the Falknis, the highest mountain here at 8,406 feet and had a sweeping view hundreds of miles across the Rhine Valley. 

He emerged with a glass pitcher and poured me a tall drink of the most delicious beverage I  have ever tasted. If fine French perfume had a flavor, this would be it. The drink was cold  fresh and delightfully fragrant. 
“Elderflower water,” Mr. Alpöhi smiled.  In spring, he picks the snow-white flowers in the emerald meadows and makes from them this cool drink for his visitors which he says they all love. 

It was in these moments sitting with “Uncle Alp” listening to the soft song of cowbells,  gazing at the clean lines of the snow-capped Alps and drinking  fragrant flower water that it all came together.  I felt connected to that moment and to the moments nearly a half century earlier when I lay in bed and dreamed of having these moments and the two times were one.

In the next three days I discovered more of Heidiland, a region intensely inspired by Johanna Spyri’s book.  Best of all, I  gained insight into how this land inspired her. Suffering from  depression, Johanna Spyri believed that two things could cure it: 

1. Gazing on the sublime beauty of the Alps. 

2. Taking the warm mountain mineral waters
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Johanna Spyri traveled each year from her home in Zurich to Maienfeld for the views, and to Bad Ragaz for the waters.  Today,  Bad Ragaz is a pretty and  peaceful spa town. From Bad Ragaz you can take the bus that runs every thirty minutes up to Bad Pfafers at the Tamina Gorge. With a  sound like ocean roar, hot mineral water rushes out of an Alpine gorge into a deep, fern-filled ravine. Standing on the wooden catwalk that hugs the narrow gorge,  I saw an awesome sight. Nature both at its most violent and beneficial. The force of the water is so great that it creates a kind of sauna in the ravine, mysterious and sublime. In the fifteenth century a monastery once straddled the ravine. The monks rightly figured the churning hot waters could cure many illnesses and they would lower hapless blindfolded souls by straw basket from the cliff hundreds of feet above, dipping them in the curative water. This vertiginous practice continued until the early eighteenth century when a grand bath house complete with chapel and hospital was built on the site, later enticing worldwide luminaries such as Thomas Edison, Franklin Roosevelt, Oscar Wilde and of course, Johanna Spyri.  Today the renovated complex boasts a museum, restaurant, snack bar and souvenir shop yet its remarkable location astride the gorge still evokes a Baroque romance.  Throughout the Rhine Valley, I saw that the delights of Heidiland were many,  far beyond nostalgia for the book itself.  As in Johanna Spyri’s day, Bad Ragaz remains a center for the most advanced European spa treatments that  are  unknown in the United States but sound ever so tantalizing such as ‘grape leaf body wraps” and “wine soaks.” Certainly the curative Alpine mineral water is a delight at the Tamina Spa, the impossibly clean and elegant public baths in the town’s center.

In Bad Ragaz as in the other small towns and villages of  Graubunden, visiting Heidiland is comfortable and easy.   Hiking and biking trails are everywhere, many designed for families. The lakes offer fishing, swimming, sailing, pedal boating and windsurfing.  Best of all the transport is made easy. You can pick up a ready made “Heidi Box Lunch”, take the “Heidi Shuttle”  to the main Heidi sites or you can take the “Heidi Express” that runs through to the Bernese Oberland for what is said to be the most spectacular high Alpine views in Switzerland. Accommodations in Heidiland can suit any budget. They range from the Grand Hotel Quellenhof Spa and Golf Resort in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland’s only 5-star hotel in a small town, to numerous comfortable and pretty 3-star inns,  to cheery youth hostels, some boasting family rooms.  Families especially might want to take advantage of  Graubunden’s new Sleep in the Straw program which offers nearly 250 bed and breakfast farm stays in which you and your children can not only observe and even partake in traditional Swiss farming life but you can bed down as Heidi did, on a fluffy hill of fresh, sweet straw. 

Graubunden is also a wine producing region, home of  the famous “blue burgundy.”  And, it is rich in gastronomic treats.  Brook side cafes and mountain inns offer a variety of regional delights including grilled lake carp, meadow flower salad,  local cheeses and of course locally-made Swiss chocolate delicacies. 

With jewel-like baroque churches,  historic villages, mirror-clear recreational lakes and a magnificent network of hiking trails, Graubunden is an ideal family or honeymoon destination. The perfect antidote to our disquieting world. 

I left  Heidiland having completed a quest since childhood yet knowing I would return. I will come back  to Graubunden for its soul-inspiring scenery, natural mineral spas, and fresh food make Heidiland as seductive a region as it  eternally appears in the beloved children’s classic. 

If You Go

A visit to Heidiland works well for all budgets.  If you want ultimate pampering, then the grand Hotel Quellenhof, Switzerland’s only 5-star hotel that is not in a big city, would be ideal. 
Tel. +41 (0)81 303 30 30
Fax +41 (0)81 303 30 33
reservation@resortragaz.ch
www.resortragaz.ch

Switzerland, to my mind, has the best hotels in the world, so a moderately priced hotel, such as the one I stayed in, The Cristal, is always a delight and a bargain.  The Cristal is not only cleaner than clean, but boasts walking distance from the train station, tranquility, fabulous Alpine views from the dining room and excellent food. 

Cristal Hotel
Bahnhofstrasse 36
7310 Bad Ragaz
Tel:081-302-77-77.

If you’re budget is very tight, consider Heidi’s Backpacker  Hostel, also walking distance from the train station. It’s  clean, comfortable and has both single and family rooms, garden and a BBQ area.

Heidi’s Backpacker
Bahnhofstrasse 29
7310 Bad Ragaz

For more detailed information on accommodation including “sleeping in the straw,” as well as comprehensive information on activities, transportation and restaurants, visit  the website for Heidiland: www.heidi-swiss.ch.
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