Flims sits on a terrace above the Rhine, backed by the jagged wall of the Flimserstein and facing a landscape that, once, was catastrophically rearranged. About nine thousand years ago, a vast chunk of mountain collapsed and slid into the valley in one of the largest landslides known in the Alps. The debris dammed the Rhine and left behind a rolling, forested hill landscape, hummocky and strange, now cut by the river into the dramatic Ruinaulta, the Rhine Gorge, often called the Swiss Grand Canyon. Flims is built on the bones of that event.
The town itself is a resort, with grand old hotels from the nineteenth century and modern chalets, serving ski, bike and hiking crowds. It is not a quiet village, but it has all the practical advantages of one that expects visitors: petrol, supermarkets, bakeries, and plenty of restaurants with terraces. Two turquoise lakes in the forest, the Caumasee and the Cresta Lake, are warm enough for swimming in summer and fed by water filtering through the old landslide, giving them their unreal colour.
The riding approach from Chur or Reichenau follows the Rhine, then climbs to Flims in smooth, open curves with views across the valley. There is little technical difficulty here, but the road is busy in high season, particularly on weekends. A short drive along the plateau toward Laax and Falera gives you some quiet roads and good views of the Surselva, the long valley where Romansh is still spoken. For the best view of the gorge, head to the viewpoint at Conn, reached by a short road and a walk through the forest, where the whole cleft of the Rhine opens beneath you.
The weather is typical of the Grisons: bright, dry air, afternoon thunderstorms in summer, and abundant sun in autumn. Mornings are the best time to ride, before the day-trippers arrive. In spring and early summer the meadows are full of flowers, and in autumn the larch forests turn gold.
If you want a good meal, look for a place serving Capuns, the Romansh speciality of chard leaves wrapped around dough and baked with cheese, or Pizokel, thick noodles served with cheese and sometimes cabbage. They are filling, plain and exactly what you want after a long day.