Switzerland

We are on our way to Switzerland today and back to the Engadine Valley. It will be our fourth hiking adventure in this beautiful valley. We return to the Engadine every three years from our home on Cape Cod. On this trip we will be hiking for 17 days and returning to the USA on September 18.

The Valley is located in the far eastern part of Switzerland and is bordered by Austria and Italy. The Valley is only 60 miles long and the Inn River flows the entire length into Austria and eventually into the Danube River. The train and bus system connect each of the 5 small villages we will be staying in and make it much easier to move from hotel to hotel and to reach every part of the Valley. The major town (population only 4,000) in the Valley is St. Moritz, a world class ski resort. The town hosted the 1928 Winter Olympics and the 1948 Winter Olympics. With its beautiful mountains, massive glaciers, emerald blue lakes, endless hiking trails, charming hotels and breathtaking landscapes, the Engadine Valley is one of our favorite places in Switzerland.

Hiking is our passion and no matter our age, we will always find a mountain to hike around. We live in a busy and noisy world, for us hiking adventures are voyages of self discovery, they enrich our appreciation of life and offer a doorway to a new beautiful world. Maybe, just maybe, nature will survive humans and all that we do to destroy the environment. Switzerland's 1,400 glaciers have lost more than half their total volume since the early 1930s and researchers say that the ice is now retreating faster because of global warming. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, many of these glaciers will just disappear. A terrible loss for all of us.

The beautiful thing about hiking is that it is truly an activity everyone can do. Whether you are young or old, an expert or an amateur, there is a hiking trail out there that will be perfect for you. Switzerland has an incredible network of gondolas and ski lifts that transport you up from the valley floor to those hiking trails and mountain top restaurants.

We have included photos from our last Engadine Valley trip in 2022 to give you a preview of the adventures ahead of us and the beauty of the places we will explore.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Saturday, August 30, 2025

No thunderstorms, floods, Hurricanes or National Guard Troops at the airport. A great day to fly. 7 hour nonstop flight on Swiss Air from Boston to Zurich, Switzerland. After dinner and a movie, we settled in for about 4 hours of sleep. We arrived Sunday in Zurich at 6 am local time (midnight on Cape Cod). After immigration, we collected our luggage and headed for the train station in the building across from the airport. We took a 7:45 am train to the Engadine Valley. A very scenic 3 hours of train travel.

We are now in Sils Maria and we are staying 4 nights in the Hotel Privata with a balcony overlooking the main square. After a late lunch in the square, we attended an outdoor concert of music by German composers. After an enjoyable dinner with Swiss white wine, we went straight to bed to get 10 hours of much needed sleep.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Monday, September 1, 2025

A beautiful day for hiking before the early afternoon rain. A long hike into the Fax Valley and views of the snow covered mountains. Lots of benches on the trail to rest and to enjoy the views. We started early at 9 am. Perfect day for both hiking and photographs, cool and cloudy. 8 miles of hiking over 4 hours. After returning to our hotel, we had a late lunch of soup and local beer.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

It rained all night and still raining when we went to breakfast. Except for thunderstorms, rain does not stop us from hiking. Major exception is if the trail is really steep…slip and falls. We have all the right outerwear and pack covers to keep us relatively dry. Far better than an umbrella. However by 9 am the rain had stopped, the clouds started to clear, patches of blue sky appeared and the sun struggled to come out. However Mother Nature is unpredictable. An hour into our hike it started to rain again and it rained until 3 pm when the glorious sun took back all of the sky (last photo). Today’s hike took us on beautiful trails above lake Sils to the village of Maloja, where we had lunch. 6.5 miles of walking. We took the bus back to Sils Maria.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spent 7 summers (1881 and 1883–88) in Sils Maria and described it as the "most charming village on Earth.” Nietzsche spent considerable time by Lake Sils. He was a great walker. “Remain seated as little as possible,” he wrote in Ecce Homo. “Put no trust in any thought that is not born in the open” while walking. After returning to Sils Maria, we had an opportunity to visit the museum dedicated to Nietzsche in the house he rented a room in. Well worth a visit. Nazi propaganda selectively distorted and promoted certain aspects of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy to support their own ideology, despite Nietzsche's personal opposition to anti-Semitism and German nationalism. Nietzsche died in 1900 at the age of 55. His estate and papers were thereafter controlled by his sister. She forged papers supportive of German Nationalism. Her funeral in 1935 was attended by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi dignitaries.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

- Frederick Nietzsche

This quote comes from The Gay Science, one of Nietzsche’s most famous works. This quote suggests that some people, due to their limited perspectives or adherence to society norms, might not be able to comprehend the profound beauty and authenticity of those who live life passionately.

Nietzsche argues that those who dance to their own music have embraced their inner passions and desires to the fullest extent. They may be misunderstood or judged by others who lack the ability to perceive the depth and beauty of such individuality. This can be partnered with his quote in the same text, “We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”

The point of The Gay Science is to reflect how traditional religion and philosophy had become separated from life and enjoyment. Nietzsche's use of the phrase the gay science is meant to indicate the pursuit of knowledge and thought that is joyful and life-affirming. The history of the phrase can be traced back to a term for the art of making poetry. Save the next dance for us.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Great hiking day. 6.4 miles in 4 hours with lots of stops. Beautiful sunny but cool day. The Via Engiadina is a long-distance hiking trail along the entire length of the Engadine. The twelve stages connect the village of Maloja in the Upper Engadine with Vinadi in the Lower Engadine on the border with Austria. Today we were only doing one stage of that hike, Sils Maria to Maloja. The trail follows the course of the Inn river with spectacular views of Lake Sils below and the glistening glaciers of the nearby Bernina range across the valley. First hour of hiking thru the Forest was easy.

We met a couple visiting from Germany at the start of the hike. Barbara was able practice her German language with the couple during most of the hike. The trail continued up with a steep climb up to the ridge. Magnificent views. At the top of the ridge you look down on the tiny village of Grevasalvas. Perched at a height of nearly 6,000 feet, surrounded by the peaks of the Bernina and Bergell chains and overlooking Lake Sils, Grevasalvas is much as it was in the 16th century. Grevasalvas, in its entirety, consists of a tightly knit group of 20 farmhouses and barns - a mere speck in an open, uninhabited mountain landscape. Most of the buildings are two-story, built of rough stone and aged timber, decorated only with flowers in wooden window boxes. Thanks to its picturesque location and rustic houses, it served as the filming location of a 1978 Swiss/German Television 26 part series about Heidi. This was one of the 9 Heidi story remakes since the 1937 movie. Shirley Temple stars in that 1937 children's classic Heidi movie.

After leaving the village it was a long hike down to Maloja. Beautiful views of the lake and mountains. It was a challenging hike down. We took the bus back to our hotel in Sils Maria.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Another perfect day in paradise. Sunny and cool. The great thing about hiking in Switzerland is that if you spend three nights or more in a hotel, you are given a pass for free unlimited transportation including bus, gondola and chair lifts. Getting high up to the restaurants and hiking trails is really easy.

After breakfast, we took the bus to the Corvatsch Gondola to take us up the mountain. Great views from the Gondola of the valley below and Sils Maria between the two lakes. This region is teeming with gorgeous places to hike. Among all of them, one hike stands out in particular – Fuorcla Surlej. Fuorcla is a Romansh word meaning fork. The fork itself is a saddle between Piz Murtèl and Munt Arlas. The Fuorcla Surlej lake is only accessible on foot. It’s a little mountain lake, so small it almost looks like a pond.

We took the gondola up to the first station (elevation 8,864 feet) and then walked up to Fuorcla Sutlej (elevation 9,035 feet) and then returned to the gondola station. 5 miles of round trip walking.

On our next trip, we hope to view the glaciers with late afternoon sun. Nevertheless the views today of the glaciers were amazing.

Today we are also moving on. We are departing Sils Maria and our wonderful Hotel Privata and traveling 30 minutes by bus to Pontresina and the Hotel Albris. The hotel is still owned and now managed by the fourth generation of the same family. The first time we stayed here was in 2018 and loved it. We will be staying here for 5 nights in a beautiful room.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Friday, September 5, 2025

Today was an incredibly challenging hiking day. 9.5 miles, 22,816 steps over 8 hours of hiking. A day filled with breathtaking views of the mountains and nearby glaciers. A day that brought us within a few hundred feet of a large herd of Alpine Ibex. A day filled with an unexpected snow storm that caught us high up in the mountain.
Barbara had registered us for a guided hike offered by the tourist agency. In 2022 we did the same hike with a different guide. We saw lots of Ibex then. We met the new guide and eight other participants at the chairlift station close to our hotel. Very slow and cold ride up on the two person chairlift to Alp Languard (elevation 7,500 feet). Lots of heavy fog on the way up (first photo). At the top are stunning views of the mountains and valley below. Plus it was sunny at the top of the station (2nd photo). It is a popular summer destination with a restaurant and grassy slopes for picnics and just enjoying the views. It is also an excellent junction for other hikes in all directions.

From the Alp Languard, one trail leads into the Val Languard. The major goal was to find a herd of Alpine Ibex (in Switzerland they are called Steinbock). The trail follows the course of the stream, which ends at a fork in the trail almost at the end of the valley. The whole valley is beautiful but very desolate. No trees at this high elevation. However there are panoramic views of Piz Bernina, Morteratsch Glacier and most of the significant peaks of the Upper Engadine. Really stunning. The Valley is loaded with marmots sunbathing and stocking their underground dens with grass for their winter hibernation. At the end of the valley is a beautiful alpine lake, Lej Languard, where the group takes a needed break. At that point it starts to rain. After our break, we have a steep climb, in the rain, from the lake up to the high ridge above. A really steep and scary climb. By the time we reach the top of the ridge, the rain has stopped.

Our guide then leads us further up into another higher valley in search of the Ibex herd. After another hour of searching we find the Ibex herd at 9,300 feet. We stop and spend the next half hour viewing these amazing animals. We get within a few hundred feet of them. Probably 30 in all. Impressive. Lots of photos. Then it starts to snow. We start back, a long way to go before we can reach the Station. Lots and lots of snow is falling. The guide decides that the quickest way back is to retrace our path coming up. When we finally reach the steep climb down to the lake, the snow is quickly covering the path down. A slow climb down. When we reach the bottom we are covered in snow and we still had 2 hours to go before we reach the station. It will be for us an adventure to be remembered forever.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Saturday, September 6, 2025

Beautiful sunny day to hike. A big change from yesterday’s snow day high up in the mountain. We had an early breakfast, bought sandwiches at the COOP and caught the 9:15 am bus to the Muottas Muragl stop. We took the red funicular up the mountain. The funicular is over 100 years old and tackles the steep slope from the base station at 5,700 feet to the top station at 8,100 feet very smoothly. As soon as the funicular has reached the top of Muottas Muragl, we were treated to incredible views over St. Moritz and the Upper Engadine Valley. There is also a hotel and restaurant at the top. There are many short and long hikes that start from the top Station. After an hour of walking around the top, enjoying the views, a short nap and watching the paraglider’s jumping off the mountain, we started our 6.3 mile hike. Our goal was to hike from Muottas Muragl to Alp Languard (last photo) on the panorama trail and to take the chairlift down to our hotel. The hike is packed with stunning views of the Bernina massif and the peaks rimming the Roseg and Morteratsch valleys along with the summits towering above St. Moritz and the Upper Engadine Valley. The hike starts on a wide level trail going down. You hike down to the end of the valley past the white cow barn and then you cross the steam over a bridge and start up the trail you see on the right side of the photo (third photo). With lots of stops and lunch on the trail, the hike took us about 4 hours with plenty of sun and no snow.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Val Roseg is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Upper Engadine and is perfect place for a slow paced, enjoyable nature (including lots of cows and cow bells) hike. It is surrounded by the highest mountains of Eastern Switzerland. It offers spectacular views of the Roseg Glacier and the Tschierva Glacier.

We started our hike into Val Roseg from the Pontresina Train station. Val Roseg is mostly car-free and is crisscrossed by two paths: a nature trail with lots of signs and exhibits reserved for walkers and a paved path used by horse-drawn carriages (the so-called “horse-bus”) and cyclists.

Woodlands, fragrant forest air, mountain streams, meadows, towering peaks, and a convergence of glaciers make the valley a year-round attraction. Soon the pine forest gives way to meadows and the views from the valley floor open up to reveal the mountains on all sides. The Roseg and Tschierva glaciers appear at the head of the valley.

We had a wonderful lunch of hot soup and homemade bread at the Hotel Roseggletscher. A perfect meal with cold beer on the outdoor terrace. After walking into the valley and exploring the meadow for 6.5 miles we decided to take the 1 hour “Horse Bus” back to the train station. Great sunny day.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Monday, September 8, 2025

We took the bus from our hotel in Pontresina to the Bernina Pass and Lago Bianca (White Lake) which is dammed on both the north and south sides. On the north side, the lake drains to the Black Sea via the Danube River and on the south side it drains to the Adriatic Sea via the Po River. The Ospizio Bernina station is at the center of the lake.

The hiking trail from Ospizio Bernina begins parallel to the railway tracks where the Bernina Express runs. At the end of Lago Bianco, the trail turns right and continues behind the dam. While the beginning of the trail is almost flat and wide, it turns rocky until you reach Pozzo del Drago at 8,000 feet. After passing by Pozzo del Drago, the trail continues through a forest before reaching a spectacular viewpoint at the Restaurant Belevedere and the Alp Grum rail station. Here, you will be able to see stunning views of the Paiu Glacier, the Poschiavo Valley and Italy in the distance.

After lunch, we caught the train to the Diavolezza station (elevation 6,832 feet). Our goal was to take the gondola up to the Diavolezza glacier and spend time around the glacier. The hotel passes provided us with a free ride up (the gondola is normally $32 a person). So up we went. The glacier is at 10,521 feet. Diavolezza is famous for its beautiful views of the ever moving ice pack and the highest peaks of the Eastern Alps – including Piz Bernina (13,280 feet). The name of the Glacier, La Diavolezza” translates to “The Beautiful She-Devil”. Hunters were said to have unwisely followed a beautiful red-haired mountain fairy when she bathed in the lake. Some hunters disappeared for ever – hence the devilish name of the mountain, Diavolezza. A good hiking day, 5.2 miles.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Tuesday and Wednesday, September 9 & 10, 2025

After an early breakfast in Pontresina, the hotel van took us to the Train Station. We are traveling to Müstair, where we will be spending 3 nights. Our train takes us to Zernez, where we have to take an hour bus ride thru the Swiss National Park before reach the Val Mustair. The Valley is only 16 miles wide and is on the border between Switzerland, Austria and Italy The bus travels along the River Rombach through the old authentic villages of Fuldera, Valchava and Santa Maria to Müstair, the last village in the valley.

Across the street from our hotel is the ancient monastery of St. John that stems back to the eighth century. The church is the world’s best preserved testimony of religious medieval architecture, with the largest preserved fresco cycle stemming from the eighth and twelfth centuries. The monastery, inhabited by Benedictines was awarded the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

Our hotel, Chasa Chalavaina, was first documented as a hostel in 1254, making it one of Switzerland's oldest inns. After unpacking, we headed to the Monastery for a 3 pm guided tour.

Wednesday September 10 was a rain day. We first took the bus to Valchava, a village higher up in the valley. We visited the Chasa Jaura museum that focused on early life, housing and industry in the valley. We then walked the river trail to Santa Maria where we had lunch before visiting another museum with a working water wheel and grain mill. As the rain stopped and sun came out, we walked back to our hotel in Müstair.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Beautiful sunny day. Today we will be hiking on the Senda Val Müstair trail to the village of Lu. 7.1 miles of hiking. From our hotel, we took a 30 minute bus ride up the valley to Ofen Pass.

The Pass is the high point dividing the Swiss National Park on one side and the Val Mustair on the other side. This panoramic trail runs on the sunny side of the valley through a varied alpine landscape and offers fantastic views of the Val Mustair and the prominent snow covered peaks on the Italian side of the border. The first half-hour of the trail takes you through the forest – then the trail leads across a wide grassy plateau, to Alp da Munt. Then a long walk down to the village of Lu.

We had a late lunch of soup and homemade bread. We then took the bus back to our hotel.

Great day of hiking.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Friday, September 12, 2025

One last hike in the Mustair Valley before checking out of the hotel and taking the bus and then the train to Guarda. Cloudy but no rain for our 5.5 mile hike along the river.

Love,

Barbara and Joe

Saturday, September 13, 2025

A glorious hiking day. Sunny, puffy white clouds, a cool breeze and views in every direction. We arrived to Guarda late in the afternoon on Friday after spending three nights in Mustair. Our hike from Guarda would take us down into the Valley toward the village of Lavin. Lots of benches on the trail to enjoy the views of the Valley.

About a 2 hour walk to Lavin where we crossed the Inn River over an old covered bridge. The trail followed the Inn River before leading up to a forest trail. Our goal was the small village (population 200) of Susch and the contemporary art museum located there. Muzeum Susch occupies the remains of a monastery that was established in 1157 on a sloping site next to the Inn River. It was once a crucial stop in the ancient pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The monks saw a business opportunity and established a brewery as part of the monastery. It became a very popular stopping point for the pilgrims on their exhausting quest.

The site was bought by a billionaire Polish woman with a passion for contemporary art created by women. She hired Swiss architects to create exhibition spaces in the historic buildings and the grotto-like underground spaces, as well as creating a tunnel to connect all the buildings on the site. Additional vaulted basements were excavated directly from the mountainside as part of the museum’s construction, resulting in 9,000 tons of rock being blasted out. The Museum opened in 2019. It was an amazing place to visit not just for the art but also for the for the architecture. We had lunch in the museum cafe.

We returned late in the day to Guarda on the train.

Barbara and Joe

Monday, September 15, 2025

Our hiking trip to Switzerland is coming to an end. We hope you have enjoyed our stories and photos. Today we are leaving Guarda and traveling by train to Scuol. We are spending our last 3 days there before heading back to Cape Cod on Thursday, September 18.

We were sad to leave Guarda. It is a small fairy tale village that sits high up on the mountain. Spectacular views in all directions. The Hotel Meisser, where we stayed, makes everything even more perfect. (Meisser Resort Guarda: Meisser Hotel & Suites ) Great service and food. A beautiful hotel (first photo). After checking in to our new hotel in Scuol, we took the gondola up the mountain for a challenging 5.5 mile hike. The views from the Gondola of the valley below were great (2nd photo). The hike started with a very steep, heart thumping 2 mile climb to the top of a ridge at an elevation of 8,000 feet (3rd photo). Beautiful sunny day with great views of the valley below and mountains surrounding Scuol. At the end of the trail we hiked down to the Resturant located near the chairlift station. After a lunch of a bowl of soup and a glass of beer, we took the chairlift down to the town of Ftan (last photo). We then took the bus back to our hotel in Scuol.

Two more days of shorter hikes are planned. Most afternoons will be spent in the town’s incredible thermal baths and extensive Spa complex. There are more than 20 thermal mineral springs in and around Scuol. Our hotel in Scuol has direct and free access to the major spa which is fed by pure hot mineral water. The spa has six indoor and outdoor pools with massage jets, bubbles, waterfalls, a salt water pool, and sauna. A perfect ending to all of our Engadine Valley hiking trips. We are looking forward to seeing all of you soon.

Love,

Barbara and Joe