The Grand Canyon of Switzerland, from Ilanz to Reichenau

(This post made on January 23rd, 2025)

Sunday April 26, 2015 – The largest landslide of the Alps took place 10,000 years ago about 60 km from the source of the Rhine River. This is known as the Flims landslide and was apparently one of the largest landslide events in world history. The valley that existed at the time was filled with 8000 million cubic meters of rock.

In these past 10,000 years the Rhine has been carving out this massive volume of rock to create a canyon which is known as the Grand Canyon of Switzerland (stretches from Valendas to Reichenau, approx. 14 km). On Sunday we walked through this canyon along the impressive white cliffs some several hundred meters high. It was truly wondrous. But somehow I can’t imagine that it ONLY took 10,000 years to carve it out, seems it should take much longer….

The canyon can only be discovered on foot or bike, by train, or river rafting. The trail mostly follows the railway tracks except for one 4-km piece where you'd have to hike up out of the canyon. So we took the train for that piece (from Versam to Trin) and got out where we could walk again, to the town of Reichenau-Tamins.

On the train heading toward Ilanz, we travel over the portion of the Rhine Gorge that is not accessible on foot.

These are the cliffs of the Rhine Gorge near Versam Station.

This is the little red train from the Rhätian Railway, making its way through the Rhine Canyon toward Ilanz, where we started our walk.

In Ilanz, the trail markers show us the way to the Ruinaulta, the Romansch word for "Rhine Canyon". The next train station within the canyon is called Castrisch. We started here at 10:35.

The first part of our hike from Ilanz to the canyon takes us through forests and along the Rhine riverbed.

At 11:15 we got to the train station at Castrisch.

Across the river to the north is a village called Schluein, and all those little barns on the hillside look so pretty. Further up the mountain is another village called Falera.

A look behind us as we leave Castrisch. The mountain at the back is called Piz Mundaun, and the village on the hill is called Luven.

Walking along the Rhine River.

Walking along the Rhine River. This is now the start of the canyon with its bizarre cliff formations.

Rhine River in the Rhine Canyon. Carved out from the massive landslide 10,000 years ago.

The next little train station along the river as we head northwards is called Valendas-Sagogn. (Valendas is a village further up the mountain).

We got to Valendas train station at 12:30, and spent about half an hour here for a lunch break.

The train of the Rhätian Railway passing through Valendas. We continued on from here just after 1 p.m.

This is the north side of the gallery/tunnel from Valendas.

Lathyrus vernus (Frühlingsplatterbse) - Something in the pea family.

This is a small delta where a side river (Carrerabach) enters the Rhine River.

A bridge crosses the Carrera River where it enters the Rhine River. It's now 1:30 p.m. and according to the train schedule, there should be a train passing here soon!

Here's the train passing us at 13:35, on its way toward Chur.

While I took a photo of Urs as the train passed on the bridge, Urs also took a photo of me as the train passed by!

A look behind us as we continue down the canyon.

At a place called Isla, we had to leave the riverside for a while, and head slightly uphill.

Looking down at the Rhine River from slightly higher up at Isla.

Heading back down toward the river.

A very interesting section along cliffs

Another train heading through the canyon, this time from Chur toward Ilanz.

The cliffs carved by the river are spectacular, as we head to the next train station called Versam-Safien.

Fantastic.

Starting in Ilanz at about 10:30, we got to Versam Station at about 2:30 p.m. From there you can only walk another 30 minutes along the river before you have to hike out of the canyon on the Flims side. As there was a train headed eastward a few minutes after we got to Versam, we rode the train to the next station at Trin, where we then continued our walk to the Reichenau-Tamins station.

At 2:45 p.m., we got to the train station at Trin, from where we continued walking along the river toward the Reichenau station, another 1¼ hours of walking from here.

At this point in September 1927, the waters of the Rhine were as far up as the railway line.

VIDEO:

The small red train from the Rhätian Railway passes us

as we walk next to the railway track.

The sign across the river shows the high-water level reached in 1927.

The trail takes us up and across the train bridge over the Rhine near Reichenau-Tamins.

Addendum: The trip toward Chur and the Rhine Gorge is always a scenic ride, especially when visibility is good, as it was this day. Here are photos from the trip to the canyon after we left home at about 7:45 in the morning:

This is the train journey from home to the Rhine Gorge via Lake Zurich, Lake Walensee, and the city of Chur.

As we head northwards, this is a look south past the town of Zug to the Bernese Alps which are clearly visible this morning. On the left is Mt. Rigi, on the right is Mt. Pilatus.