Graubünden and the Engadine, a loop over the passes

Seven passes, lakes at 1,800 metres and villages with decorated façades, in the only Swiss canton with three official languages. A week on a loop from Chur, with a stretch through Italy, from Tirano to the Stelvio Pass.

Switzerland· Italy

St Moritz on the shore of its lake, with the golden larches of autumn.

Seven passes around the Engadine

From Chur, the loop crosses seven passes: the Julier, the Maloja, the Bernina, the Stelvio, the Umbrail, the Ofen and the Flüela. At 2,757 metres, the Stelvio is the second-highest paved pass in the Alps; at 2,501 metres, the Umbrail is the highest road pass in Switzerland.

In the Upper Engadine, the road runs along a chain of lakes, from Maloja to St Moritz, at around 1,800 metres. In the afternoon, a steady wind draws kitesurfers to Lake Silvaplana. The Muottas Muragl funicular, opened in 1907, climbs to a summit with a view over all the lakes.

The Bernina road runs at the foot of the glaciers. From Morteratsch station, a path leads in fifty minutes to the snout of the glacier, which has retreated by nearly 3 kilometres since 1850. Higher up, the Diavolezza cable car climbs to 2,978 metres, facing Piz Palü and Piz Bernina. At the pass, Lago Bianco drains towards the Adriatic, and its neighbour Lago Nero towards the Black Sea. On the way down to Poschiavo, the road meets the red trains of the Bernina line, a World Heritage Site since 2008.

The Via Mala, its schist walls and the Hinterrhein far below.

The Via Mala and the church at Zillis

Between Thusis and Zillis, the Hinterrhein flows at the bottom of a gorge with walls up to 300 metres high. In Romansh, Via Mala means “the bad road”. For centuries, it was the most feared passage on the road to the Splügen and the San Bernardino, and on to Italy. A staircase of more than 350 steps, built in 1903, leads down to the water’s edge. It is open from late March to early November.

Further on, the church of St Martin in Zillis has a wooden ceiling painted in the early 12th century. Its 153 panels tell the life of Christ and that of St Martin. It is one of the oldest figurative painted ceilings to survive almost in full.

In Romansh, Via Mala means “the bad road”.

Languages and Engadine houses

Graubünden is the only trilingual canton in Switzerland: German, Romansh and Italian are all official languages. Romansh, a Romance language, is the main language of about one person in seven, mostly in the Surselva, the Engadine and Val Müstair. Val Bregaglia and Val Poschiavo speak Italian.

The Lower Engadine has kept its Engadine houses: thick walls, small splayed windows and façades decorated with sgraffito, patterns scratched into the plaster. Guarda is the best-known example. Alois Carigiet drew on it for the house of Ursli, in “A Bell for Ursli”, a children’s book by Selina Chönz published in 1945. On 1 March, for Chalandamarz, children ring bells to drive away the winter.

Lai da Palpuogna

Bergün Filisur, Graubünden · 30 minutes from Filisur

A small lake at 1,918 metres, ringed by larches that turn yellow in autumn, beside the Albula Pass road. In 2007, Swiss television viewers voted it the most beautiful place in the country. The pass is closed in winter, usually until late May or early June.

Practical notes

When to go: Mid-June to mid-October. The Stelvio and the Umbrail are usually open from late May to early November. In October, the larches turn yellow.
Getting there: Chur is about an hour and a quarter from Zurich. The Swiss motorway vignette is compulsory.
Access: Everything is tarmac. The Umbrail climbs at up to 12%; it is closed to vehicles more than 10 metres long or 2.50 metres wide. In Soglio and Guarda, you park at the entrance to the village.
Sleeping in a van: Campsites at Morteratsch, Silvaplana, Scuol and in Val Müstair. Overnight stays outside campsites are banned in several Upper Engadine municipalities and in the National Park.
Worth knowing: The loop crosses into Italy once, from Tirano to the Stelvio: bring your papers. In the National Park, you stay on the paths, and dogs are not allowed, even on a lead.
Allow: A week for the loop, eight days with the Albula Pass and Bergün.

Maloja and Lake Sils, where the Upper Engadine begins.

What not to miss

1The Caumasee and the RuinaultaAt Flims, a turquoise lake lying on the debris of a huge rockslide, and the Rhine gorge seen from the Il Spir platform.
2St MoritzAccording to tradition, the hotelier Johannes Badrutt brought his English guests here for the winter of 1864: this is said to have been the start of winter tourism in Switzerland.
3SoglioIn Val Bregaglia, a village perched opposite the Sciora peaks, which Segantini is said to have called “the threshold of paradise”.
4The Convent of St John at MüstairFounded around 775, by Charlemagne according to tradition, it has kept its Carolingian frescoes and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
5The Swiss National ParkCreated in 1914, the oldest national park in the Alps, with its visitor centre in Zernez.
6The Landwasser ViaductA railway bridge 65 metres high, to see from the path at Filisur.

Graubünden and the Engadine in pictures

A Bernina train on the Brusio spiral viaduct.

The campanile of Soglio in front of the Sciora peaks.

A street in Guarda and its sgraffito houses.

A Bernina train on the Brusio spiral viaduct.

The Graubünden table

Bündnerfleisch is beef that has been air-dried and cut into very thin slices. In the Engadine, the nut tart is a shortcrust pastry filled with caramelised walnuts. Capuns are chard leaves rolled around a dough made with herbs and dried meat.

On the Italian-speaking side, in Val Poschiavo, people eat pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with cabbage, potatoes and cheese. Around Tirano, the Valtellina makes red wines from Nebbiolo. In Val Bregaglia, chestnuts are still gathered in autumn, below Soglio.