Saint Moritz Things to Do

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Piz Nair (3057m) is the highest skiable mountain in the region. It is located above St. Moritz in the Albula Range, accessible by aerial cable car from Corviglia.

The Piz Nair Wall was the start of the men's downhill in the 2003 World Championship with a 100% drop results in an acceleration from 0 to 130km/h in 7 seconds.

VIDEO of my visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf7WwoksLlg

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Enjoy the mountain views, going by aerial cable car to Signal (2130m) and then by foot to Corviglia (2486m).

Corviglia is a minor summit situated above St. Moritz. It is also the name of the ski area directly above the town of St. Moritz.

This area, together with the fully integrated Marguns area which is centered above the neighboring town of Celerina, is the largest skiing area in the Engadine.

It has been the scene of several large tournaments, including the Olympic games twice, and the FIS alpine ski world championships several times.

From here you can go by aerial cable car to the Piz Nair (3057m), the highest skiable mountain in the region.

VIDEO of my visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfgBR0754UQ

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Lake St. Moritz measures approx. 1.6 km long and 0.6 km wide and depending on how fast a walker you are, it may take 1 to 1-1/2 hours to walk around it.

Lake St. Moritz = Lej da San Murezzan, in Romansh.

VIDEO of my walk around the lake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGdoL2Bd9sU

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Also known as "Top of the World", St. Moritz is considered the oldest and one of the most famous winter resorts in the world.

Due to its favorable location residents enjoy over 300 days of sunshine a year.

In summer on can enjoy horse riding golf, walking, climbing and biking.

St. Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes, particularly cyclists, runners, and race walkers.

St. Moritz basically consists of two villages, St. Moritz-Bad and St. Moritz-Dorf, respectively on the lake and on the hillside.

It has been the host city for the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. It also hosted the 1934, 1974 and 2003 Alpine Skiing World Championships. It is one of three cities that have hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice.

St. Moritz was mentioned in the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger" and in the 1981 James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only".

VIDEO of my visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpAO1KXFwa4

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Sils' main attraction is the surrounding landscape. That won't ever change (hopefully). But it has to offer some more things to do and see, some of them often overlooked. The Nietzsche house is probably the best known of them. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spent the summers 1881-87 in this house. He was sick with headache (probably light allergy), retired from the University Basel and had discovered that he felt better in the cool and dry climate in the Upper Engadine. He praised Sils as "loveliest place of the world", did long walks in the sun along the lakes and wrote - e.g. the famous "Thus spoke Zarathustra", "East of Good and Evil", "Ecce Homo". At the end of the beautiful peninsula Chaste is a monument for him, a stone with a poem engraved:

Sils-Maria
Hier saß ich, wartend, - doch auf Nichts,
Jenseits von Gut und Böse, bald des Lichts
Genießend, bald des Schattens, ganz nur Spiel,
Ganz See, ganz Mittag, ganz Zeit ohne Ziel.

Da, plötzlich, Freundin! wurde Eins zu Zwei -
- und Zarathustra ging an mir vorbei ...

The interior of the Nietzsche house is well preserved. You can see the basic room where he lived e.g. It is also home for the Nietzsche Association which researches his works and hosts conferences/seminars. Check the website for opening hours and admission fee.

Each part of Sils has a Parish church - Sils-Baselgia's is very picturesque from outside, in the most beautiful setting, a late-Romanesque church without any works of art worth to see, though. The Parish church of Sils-Maria was built in the early 17th century and renovated 1009/10. Again, the interior is nothing special but at least the woodcarved pulpit (Swiss pine) is beautiful and there is a decoration around the apse with an interesting pattern.

Another place to see is the small Robbi museum next to the Parish church in Sils-Maria. Andrea Robbi (1864-1945) grew up in Italy as son of a family from the Engadine. He studied in Munich (together with Giovanni Giacometti), Milan, Rome, Paris and Dresden before returning to the Engadine. His paintings were only recently discovered as excellent art. Now many of them are on display in this small museum which also shows temporary exhibits on contemporary local art.
Open Tue-Sun 4-6 pm.

Last but not least I'd like to recommend the botanical garden in Sils, right in the centre of the village on the small hill Muot Marias. Open always and free. You can see about 150 species of Alpine flowers plus enjoy the panoramic views of the landscape.

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Sils is my favourite village in the Upper Engadine. It has the most beautiful location between two lakes, right on the entrance of the marvellous Fex valley. Sils is probably the "cultural centre" of the Engadine. Famous writers, musicians, artists etc. used to stay there (Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Marcel Proust to name a few). Every year many cultural events take place in Sils to keep this spirit alive.

While the main road runs along the northern edge of the Engadine Sils stretches to the southern side - no traffic passing through, which makes it fun to stroll along the 'main' street marvelling at some houses in typical local style with sgraffito decoration, but also at some grand old hotels.

Sils is actually split into two different parts - the smaller Sils-Baselgia, which is located close to the main road, more of an authentic farmers village, and the larger (whatever that means here!) Sils-Maria at the entrance to the Fex valley, where the most hotels, shops and restaurants are located. Inbetween is the so called Sils plain, good for leisure walks toward the lakes (benches) offering the best panoramic views.

The tourist office is located in the small town hall right on the main square. The post office and bus stop are a three minutes walk down the main street (all in Sils-Maria, another bus stop in Sils-Baselgia).

Sils is also an excellent base for both cross-country skiing and downhill skiing (Furtschellas-Corvatsch) in winter and hiking through all seasons. Buses frequently connect Sils with St. Moritz and hourly with the Bregaglia valley.

Please see my next tips on special attractions.

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Only about one hour by bus away from St. Moritz is one of the most romantic places in the Alps: the Bregaglia valley with picturesque villages, Italian ambience and unspoilt landscape.

My advice is to take the bus from St. Moritz to Stampa (994 m) and hike to Soglio. The path leads you though the nice hamlet Coltura. A steep part follows (I call it "staircase to heaven":-)) and then at once the gorgeous mountains on the other side of the valley appear - and the quaint village Soglio (1097 m) is in front of you (pic 5).

Stroll along the narrow cobbled streets, feel the atmosphere of past times and don't miss the cemetery. Have lunch or at least a coffee in the beautiful garden of Palazzo Salis (Hotel and restaurant).

While everyone concentrates on Soglio - which has of course the most spectacular location - don't miss the other villages in the valley. Vicosoprano, Promontogno and Bondo are all worth a stroll and offer interesting architecture, not to mention the views of the mountains! Stampa has a museum on the Giacometti family (they are from this village), the Palazzo Castelmur is worth to see from inside, too, the churches are interesting as well. More on this valley in a separate page that I plan to build at some time.

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Fex valley is a side valley of the Upper Engadine, stretching from Sils-Maria south to the Swiss-Italian border. The valley is car-free, only the very few inhabitants plus hand full of hotels have permission to drive their cars in the valley. Visitors take horse-drawn carriages (starting at the main square and bus stop in Sils-Maria), walk or bike into the valley.

From Sils take either the small street (as mentioned, almost no traffic) passing Hotel Waldhaus or the trail through the gorge of the Fex creek. Both take you up to the first of the hamlets in the Fex valley - Platta, spread over a wide plain with beautiful views. The views get even better after you reach the next hamlet, Crasta, which is located about 100 m higher. Attractions here are the Hotel Sonne and B&B Crasta with their excellent food, but even more so the cute Romanesque chapel with stunning frescos from 1511 (always open).

The valley floor becomes quite flat from here on, the walk via the hamlet Curtins to Hotel Fex is easy. The location of Hotel Fex is spectacular - at the end of the valley, view of the mountains and glaciers. P. Tremoggia is the highest with 3441 m. There's nothing better than lounging on their terrace on a sunny day and enjoying a meal, believe me!

The valley is famous for the vegetation - rare Alpine flowers bloom on the south facing hillsides. I personally love to hike to the Fex valley starting at the top station of the Furtschellas cable car: The hike via Marmore offers gorgeous views and leads down to Hotel Fex, crossing through these areas with the blooming flowers, sometimes you even get to see marmots.