At Golm, the Mountain Playground Is Becoming the Destination

On the mountain above Vandans, the view is usually the main attraction. At Golm, however, families now have another reason to linger.

A new adventure playground has opened beside the terrace of the Grüneck restaurant at the summit station of Erlebnisberg Golm, expanding a family offer that already includes themed hiking, an alpine coaster, a forest slide park, a high-ropes course and a zip line over the Latschau reservoir. The project is designed to turn the mountain station into more than a place where visitors arrive, eat and move on.

The playground occupies a prominent position opposite the mountain station and Restaurant Feineck. Built across several levels, it offers play and movement opportunities for children of different ages while remaining close to the restaurants and the surrounding mountain scenery. That layout reflects a practical calculation familiar to family destinations: children need space to explore, while adults want somewhere they can rest without losing sight of them.

“Families receive a place where children can play and let off steam while adults enjoy the mountain landscape or take a break on the Feineck terrace,” Judith Grass, managing director of Golm Silvretta Lünersee Tourismus GmbH, said in the announcement.

A playground shaped like Golm

The centrepiece is a set of large wooden letters spelling “Golm.” They function as both a visual landmark and a piece of play equipment. Children can climb through and around the letters, transforming the destination’s name into a small wooden landscape of ladders, platforms and challenges.

Elsewhere, the equipment is deliberately varied: a seesaw, a wheel resembling a hamster wheel, a ball track, natural-stone climbing sections, slides and speaking tubes. The mix encourages more than passive play. Children can balance, climb, crawl, communicate and experiment with gravity and movement—activities that echo the larger adventure environment around them.

The playground was designed by Erlebnisplan AG of Switzerland. Monz GmbH handled construction, while Wachter Tiefbau carried out the earthworks. Its use of wood and natural stone is intended to help the installation sit within the alpine setting rather than appear as a brightly coloured object imposed on it.

Completing an all-weather family offer

The outdoor playground is the latest element in a broader redesign of the Golm experience around families. The Grüneck and Feineck restaurants already contain indoor play areas, allowing children to play and climb when rain, cold temperatures or a sudden change in mountain weather makes outdoor activity less appealing. The indoor facilities are free to use during the relevant summer operating periods.

At Grüneck, the indoor play and climbing area extends across two levels. Feineck has a dedicated playroom next to the restaurant, making it possible for adults to eat or take a break while children remain nearby. Together with the new playground, the facilities offer families a choice between energetic outdoor play and a sheltered indoor alternative.

That flexibility is particularly important in the mountains, where a day’s plans can change quickly. A family may arrive intending to hike, encounter rain, and still find that the trip has not been lost. The play areas provide a reason to stay, eat and wait out the weather rather than immediately descend.

From a playground to a day on the mountain

Golm’s family appeal extends well beyond the new installation. Its best-known attractions are designed to combine movement with the landscape.

Golmi’s Research Trail leads downhill from the Grüneck mountain station over approximately 2.4 kilometres and includes 22 interactive stations focused on the plants and wildlife of the Montafon. The trail is aimed at children and families, although it is not suitable for pushchairs.

The Alpine-Coaster-Golm offers a faster alternative. The all-weather toboggan run covers 2,600 metres between Latschau and Vandans, with 44 jumps, a 360-degree spiral and 15 180-degree bends. Riders control their own speed, and the route can reach up to 40 kilometres per hour. Children aged eight and above who are at least 1.40 metres tall may ride alone.

For a slower, more playful descent, the forest slide park combines a hiking route with seven enclosed slides. The slides range from 30 to 62 metres, with a total sliding length of 380 metres. The route is designed to remain usable in light rain, making it another example of Golm’s effort to reduce its dependence on perfect weather.

Older children and adventurous adults can move higher into the trees at the Golm Forest Rope Park. The course includes 17 routes, reaching up to 16 metres above the forest floor, while the Flying Fox carries riders 565 metres over the Latschau reservoir. The zip line reaches speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour and links the rope-park area with the Alpine Coaster station.

The result is a destination that can be adapted to different ages and energy levels: a toddler on the playground, a child exploring Golmi’s trail, teenagers on the coaster or rope park, and adults taking in the Rätikon panorama from a restaurant terrace.

The business of keeping families longer

The playground may be small compared with Golm’s larger attractions, but its strategic importance is considerable. Mountain destinations increasingly compete not only on skiing or scenic views, but on how effectively they can serve families throughout an entire day and across changing weather conditions.

A family-friendly mountain station needs places to rest, eat, play and regroup. It must offer activities for children who are too young for high ropes or alpine coasters, as well as alternatives for visitors who do not want an adrenaline experience. By placing the playground directly beside the restaurants, Golm has added an accessible, low-threshold attraction to the centre of its summer offer.

It also strengthens the connection between hospitality and recreation. A meal at Grüneck or Feineck no longer marks a pause between activities; the restaurants and play areas become part of the activity itself. The mountain station becomes a destination in its own right.

That approach is visible elsewhere in the Golm offer. The attraction markets its summer activities as a combination of outdoor adventure and family discovery, while in winter it shifts toward beginner-friendly skiing, ski school, tobogganing and snow walks. The same location is therefore being developed for several kinds of family visit rather than a single seasonal purpose.

A new symbol for a changing mountain resort

The wooden “Golm” letters may ultimately become the playground’s most recognisable feature. They provide an obvious photo point, but their more important function is symbolic: the branding is not placed beside the experience; it is built into it.

That is a fitting idea for Erlebnisberg Golm, where leisure infrastructure is increasingly woven into the terrain. The forest slides follow the slope, the research trail turns the landscape into a classroom, the coaster traces a route through the valley and the Flying Fox crosses the reservoir. The new playground continues the same principle at a smaller scale, giving children a mountain landscape they can climb with their hands.

For parents, the attraction offers something less dramatic but just as valuable: a place where a family day can slow down.

The mountain may still be the star at Golm. But with the new playground beside Grüneck, the pause between the major attractions has become part of the story—and for many young visitors, it may be the part they remember most.