Dancing with the wind

The nimble kites that dance above Lake Silvaplana create a magnificent show of colour against the piercing blue Engadin sky. On good days, they number in their hundreds. There’s plenty of room for them – and the famous Maloja wind blows for all.

It was a simple but groundbreaking idea: to equip a power kite with inflatable tubes. Soon after the birth of kitesurfing at the end of the 1990s, the sport rapidly conquered the waters of the world. Lake Silvaplana was one of the first locations where this popular new sport was practised and developed continuously.

The steady wind conditions, the top-quality facilities by the lake and the impressive alpine backdrop made Silvaplana a coveted kitesurf destination right from the beginning – and today more than ever.

The “Kite meadow”, where the colourful kites lie on the grass waiting for action, is located right in front of the Mulets sports centre. The lower floor of the building houses the “Kite Sailing School Silvaplana”, effectively the HQ for Engadin kite sports, in summer and winter alike.

Here, kitesurfers obtain all necessary info and can buy passes for using the kite meadow (CHF 10.00 per day, CHF 30.00 per week, CHF 100.00 per year). The venue also features a shop with equipment rental, a small bar and spacious changing rooms with showers.

The upper floor of the building houses the Restaurant Mulets, serving pizzas, salads and regional specialities, with a large sun terrace and lounge for relaxing and talking shop. Next door there are tennis courts, beach volleyball courts, slacklines, a football pitch, a pump track and a skateboard park. Silvaplana’s campsite is also just a stone’s throw away.

The development of kite sports in the Engadin (and in Switzerland as a whole) was shaped by Stefan Popprath, popularly known as “Mr. Kite”. He founded the “Kite Sailing School Silvaplana” in 1993 – the world’s first kite sports school. He has tried out every conceivable variant – with surfboard, skis, snowboard, buggy, roller skates, canoe – and often contributed personally to each discipline's development.