Four-Day Trip to Bernina Region: Overnight at Sassal Masone

(This post published October 23, 2025)

Friday August 30, 2013 -- Shortly after my arrival in Switzerland, Urs organized a four-day trip to the Bernina and Pushlav region of Canton Graubünden, in the southeast part of Switzerland.

For the first night, we left home at about 1 p.m. for the five-hour trip via Pontresina and got to the Bernina Pass (Ospizio train station) at about 5:30 p.m. It was a 90-minute walk along Lago Bianco to our mountain hotel at Sassal Masone (4 km) and unfortunately the sky was pretty overcast, so our views weren't great.

As it turns out, the power generator at the hotel just happened to be broken, so we had no electricity (this made a trip to the bathroom at night kind of difficult!). The personnel had to fire up the wood stove to cook our dinner, which we only got at about 7:30 p.m., and the selection was limited. Even though it was a neat experience to overnight in a mountain hotel, there was a group dinner that evening (all the people arrived by car) and the personnel was pretty loud with clean-up till after 11 p.m., so it was hard for us to sleep as the hotel was not very sound-proof. I was happy to head out on our first long hike the next morning.

Travelling on the Bernina Express from Pontresina through the Bernina Valley. This is called Piz Lagalb.

Bernina Valley, heading toward the Ski Lift called Diavolezza.

North end of Lago Bianco with the smaller of the Bernina mountains. Piz Caral is 3421 m, and Piz Cambrena is in the clouds.

This is the Cambrena Glacier, source of water for Lago Bianco.

Lago Bianco, at 2236 m above sea level. We got to the train station here at about 5:30 p.m., after a 5-hour trip from home.  

The interesting thing about this glacier-fed lake is that the North end forms the source of the waters that eventually flow into the Black Sea, and the water at the other end flows into the Adriatic Sea.

Dam at the South end of Lago Bianco, and our path behind it to our Hotel Sassal Masone.

Scala Dam, 190 m long and 26 m high.

Scala Dam, 190 m long and 26 m high. Although the dam is not part of the hiking trail, this one is not off limits to walk across.  

After crossing the dam, we head to the road on the right, which is an uphill walk to the Sassal Masone mountain hotel. 

A look behind us as we head up the road toward the hotel. We walked along the trail on the far side of the lake, and then crossed the dam before starting on this road. It is now about 6 p.m. 

It was a bit of a boring uphill walk!

A view down past Alp Grüm (in the center) into the Poschiavo Valley, which we will be traveling into after tomorrow's hike. 

First view now of the mountain hotel where we will be spending the night. 

A zoomed view of the hotel/restaurant at Alp Grüm (along the Bernina Line) all the way to Lago Poschiavo. 

We finally reached the hotel at 6:45 p.m. There is not a lot of sunshine at this point, as the sky is fairly overcast. 

Urs had been here a year earlier with a friend and was excited to show me these structures, which are above-ground cellars called Trulli. 

The restaurant keeps all of its beverages in this above-ground cellars, because it is really cool in there!

A look down at Lagh da Palü from the terrace at the Sassal Masone Hotel. (We walked past this lake the next day, and down into the valley below the lake). There is a bit of sunshine below!

Panorama view from the terrace at the Sassal Masone Hotel

We were told that supper would be quite late, as the generator broke down and they had to start up a fire in the wood-stove. So we walked around the site for a bit. 

Sassal Masone mountain hotel/hostel (Berggasthaus). 

A look to the back of the valley below the Palü Glacier. In the dip is Lake Caralin, which is where we are walking to the next day. 

Down below, the train heads to Alp Grüm train station before descending into the Poschiavo Valley. 

After putting our things into the room upstairs, we headed into the dining room at about 7:30 p.m. 

Traditional Grisons dinner of Barley Soup and Polenta with Luganighe sausage. No electricity means a candlelight dinner! The polenta was bland, but the soup was good. We knew that the cooks had to get a bit creative without electricity in the kitchen!

Evening light on the cloud-covered peaks. Here's to hoping the next day will be cloud-free!

This map shows the walk we did from the train station at Lago Bianco to the Hotel, and then the hike to Lagh da Caralin (Lake Caralin) the next day, and down to the train station at Cavaglia, a very long hike!

Locaton of the Bernina Pass and the Poschiavo Valley within Switzerland.