An Excursion to the Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur

Sunday October 18th -- We have traveled with the Rhaetian Railway dozens of times on the stretch between Thusis and Tirano (Albula and Bernina), an area which is one of Switzerland's 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, showcasing marvels of engineering with 196 bridges and 55 tunnels along the stunning 122 km of railway line. The railway is one of the most spectacular small-gage railway lines in the world, and features among other things the highest altitude railway station in Europe at the Bernina Pass and the 360-degree viaduct in Brusio (Poschiavo).

Another fabulous and well-known feature along this line is the imposing, 65m-high, curving Landwasser Viaduct, featured in the movie "A Cure for Wellnes" (with a fake background AND the wrong train). One particular thrill of this construction is that the train passes straight from the bridge into the entrance of a 216m long tunnel high up on the vertical cliff wall.

I have made many pictures and videos from the train window as we cross the bridge, but we never yet viewed the viaduct from above or below, so that was the plan this day. We combined this with a planned hike along the Regional Trail no.33: "Via Albula Bernina" from Filisur to Tiefencastel, which we cut short because at least half that stretch was, once again, in the shadows of the North side of the mountains.

This past week was "Historical Train Week" in the area, so we also got to observe the historical train as it made its way from Davos Wiesen to Filisur. As far as watching trains, it was a successful day. And the clouds parted in time for a couple of hours sunshine. The trip home by train was less than ideal, as even First Class was jam packed full of vacationers returning from St.Moritz....

The Rhaetian Railway lines start in Chur, and on the way to Thusis we pass Reichenau-Tamins, a familiar sight for us. So far, it's not looking promising with the low clouds.

Another notable stop on the Albula line is the town of Tiefencastel. Our plan was to walk here from Filisur, but the trail was in the shadow of the mountain, so we cut our hike short and took a bus.

Still heading toward Filisur in the train, along the Albula River. This valley is where we walked, starting at the base of the pyramid mountain at the back. At this village of Alvaneu-Bad we crossed the river on this bridge, but the next hour was all in dark forest.

This is how the Landwasser Viaduct looks when the train heads into the tunnel. Unfortunately I could not open windows this time, so there is a lot of reflection.

The section of the "Via Albula/Bernina" Trail between Preda and Filisur is also called the "Railway Adventure Trail Albula". We walked the section from Bergün to Filisur almost exactly a year ago.

From the train station in Filisur, we headed to the first of the two look-out spots from where you can see the Landwasser Viaduct (first from above, then from below). This is a typical Grisons/Graubünden-style house in this region

Heading to the look-out point, we passed by the other line, the one that comes from Davos-Wiesen in the Landwasser Valley. We were lucky that the historical train was just coming into the train station

VIDEO:

Historical train run from Davos to Filisur

This trail and the one we later followed toward Tiefencastel is part of the Regional Trail no.33: "Via Albula-Bernina", the 130-km trail that runs along the entire railway line from Thusis to Tirano

From the viewing platform we watched as the train from Tiefencastel passed across the bridge. Next stop is down below at the little bridge.

Heading down to the valley bottom to below the bridge, we get a good look westward down the valley toward Tiefencastel. From here it's already pretty evident that we will have lots of shade on the South side when we cross the Albula River

30 minutes of walking later, we arrived below the bridge. It is unfortunate that there was little sunshine here. It comes later in the day.

The single shuttle-train between Alvaneu-Bad and Filisur (specially only for this event) is just crossing the bridge.

This massive stone pillar is 65m high

We crossed under the bridge and a short way into the Landwasser Valley for a look at the bridge from the other side.

VIDEO:

Trains crossing the Viaduct

Because we cut our planned hike to Tiefencastel short, our total walking time was under three hours. For us, a bit of a short hike for the long distance we traveled. But we basically came to have a better look at the viaduct. (We started in Filisur and ended in Surava)

Then we headed West down the Albula Valley. At least we did enjoy a couple of hours of sunshine

We found a great place for our picnic lunch, where we could spy on the one or two other people who walked by!

As we walked further and further away from the Viaduct, it almost looked more impressive. Possibly because it is now lit up with more sunshine.

A zoomed view of the Grisons town of Filisur. We have visited this on a separate occasion when we walked the stretch of the Via Albula-Bernina between Bergün and Filisur (exactly one year ago) so didn't go this time.

Our trail took us through the village of Alvaneu-Bad where we crossed the Albula River to the South side. 

Staying on this side of the river meant more sunshine, but we would have had to walk all the way along the main paved road, which is not fun. So we were still hoping for some sunshine along the river.

On the South side of the Albula River is a Golf Course, which still has sunshine at this time of year, but the walking trail is through the thick forest next to the river. Little sunshine and not much of the river either.

Best part of our forest walks this autumn are the beautiful fungi

After an hour of thick forest and little sunshine, we decided to cross the Albula River again to its North side. The rest of the way to Tiefencastel, another hour, would also have been on the left side.

At the tiny town of Surava there was a bus coming in 20 minutes, so we decided to end our hike here.

A quick look at the artwork in each town's church has become a part of every excursion we do!

Heading toward Tiefencastel by bus.

A look at the church tower in Tiefencastel, from the train station. A visit to that town is something we have to do on another trip.

The region of the Albula Valley between Filisur and Tiefencastel is in the little circle on the map.

VIDEO:

Crossing the Landwasser Viaduct by Train

(February 2014)

And here is a link to the section of the Railway Adventure Trail we did on Oct.23, 2019 (between Bergün and Filisur).  That was a particularly beautiful warm autumn day:  Click Here