Monday June 28, 2021 -- We have a week off for hiking, but the weather isn't great. The best forecast was for the Albula Valley in Canton Graubünden, which is in one of Switzerland's Nature Parks called Park Ela. The famous small-gauge Rhaetian Railway from Thusis to St.Moritz runs through this area, and because of the massive engineering efforts to get the train through this terrain (144 bridges and 42 tunnels), the railway line was given UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2008. (MORE INFO HERE)
Tuesday was also supposed to be nice weather, so we spent a night in a lovely small hotel in Bergün called the Albula Hotel (they gave us a large room with a terrace!) with the intention of starting early the next morning on a challenging hike nearby (more information to come on that plan). But for the day of arrival, we decided to take the chair lift up the local mountain Piz Darlux (the ride was free with the Hotel Guest Card we picked up on the way, saving us 28 SFr.) and walk the ca. 3-hour panorama trail to the back of the adjoining valley called Val Tuors.
At the back of the Val Tuors is a small scattering of summer homes, which are reached by a narrow road from Bergün. To walk out would have been another 2 hours, but there is an "Alpine Taxi" which services the route, although it runs only about three times per day. You have to reserve this ahead of time because there is no cell reception in the valley, and for a supplement of 10 SFr. per person, we were able to catch a ride back out the valley at 4 p.m. (Along with about 10 other people, so we lucked out that we still were able to make a reservation! Also, we discovered that one can rent trottinettes! That would be fun).
It was a good decision as the weather was perfect, even though the first 35-minute ascent to the high trail was a bit warm. But the hillsides were abundant in alpine roses, the trail was easy to walk, and the views were spectacular.
Once we got back to Bergün, we opted for another short bus trip to a small village called Latsch, perched on the hillside above Bergün. Both villages have the prettiest and most fascinating painted buildings. There wasn't enough time to take it all in.
PART I: Train Ride to Bergün
The train ride with the Rhaetian Railway from Thusis through the Albula Valley is so beautiful that it is always worth repeating some photos:
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| Leaving the train station at Reichenau-Tamins (On the right is a V-shape in the mountains, that is the Kunkels Pass. We have hiked over that once before) |
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| Solis Viaduct between Thusis and Tiefencastel |
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| Village of Tiefencastel |
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| Approaching the impressive Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur |
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The ever-fascinating train crossing of the Landwasser Viaduct:
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| Just before Bergün is a gorge called Igl Crap. The motorway winds along the vertical cliff below. |
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| Arriving at Bergün (or Bravuogn in the local Romantsch language) |
PART II: Bergün and the Chair Lift to Darlux
The chair lift up to Alp Darlux is actually about 1.3 kilometers from the railway station south of the town. Our hotel was near the station, so we stopped there to get our guest passes (you get these when you spend a night in the area) for a free ride on the chair lift. We were also lucky that we decided on this excursion on Monday, as the chair lift does not run on Tuesdays! They also only run once every hour on the hour, and you have to be there five minutes before. We were able to get on the 11 o'clock run.
On the 15-20 minute walk we passed some of the very attractive houses in this village.
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| Our quaint Hotel (Hotel Albula), a five-minute walk from the train station. We stopped here to get our guest passes and continued on into the village. Our room is on the left with the terrace |
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| All the houses here are works of art, with fancy doors and interesting window details |
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| Houses in Bergün |
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| Houses in Bergün |
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| On our way out of the village to the South is the 11th-Century church which we looked at the next day. |
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| Waiting till 11 o'clock for the chair lift run. It goes over the railway line. |
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| Riding the chair lift up the mountain called Piz Darlux |
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| A look at Bergün on the way up the hill with the chair lift |
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| Fantasic view South into the Albula Valley |
PART III: The Three-Hour Hike to Chants in Val Tuors
We started our hike at 11:20. The first section to Alp Darlux where there was a fountain with bottled drinks keeping cool, was a 30-minute uphill hike. The rest of the 2.5 hours was along a wonderful high trail with views into the steep Tuors Valley and down onto the village of Latsch (which we visited later) and a descent through the most fantastic alpine-rose-covered hillsides to the summer settlement of Chants, where we enjoyed a cold drink along with the other 10 people who were waiting for the 16:10 Taxi.
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| At the top of the chairlift is this trail marker, which claims that it takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Chants. But even drawn on the national hiking map, it's no less than three hours! (We had more!). I guess the locals walk quickly.... |
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| A zig-zag forest road gets you up to Alp Darlux in 30 minutes, with this fantastic view into the Albula Valley |
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| This is the only part of the hike where the timing was correct: It took us 30 minutes up to Alp Darlux |
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| Panorama view from Alp Darlux, with the main mountain here: Piz Ela, which gives its name to the Nature Park. |
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| We didn't purchase any, but thought it was a great idea to offer bottled drinks cooled in the fountain! |
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| Heading East on the Panorama Trail toward the back of the Tuors Valley |
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| The mountainside on the opposite side of the Tuors Valley has seen a lot of erosion! |
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| A look down at the plateau above Bergün where there is a small village called Latsch |
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| A zoomed view of the village of Latsch which we decided to visit after returning out of the valley |
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| Some left-over avalanche snow which we had to cross |
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| Near Alp Muotta Sur, the settlement of Chants comes into view, at the back of the valley |
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| We had our picnic lunch here at Alp Muotta Sur. The trail marker claimed it would take 1 hour 15 minutes to get here. We had one hour and 30 minutes without any breaks |
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| Along the way there were several streams which we had to cross |
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| Looking down at Chants, which is the end of our hike |
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| Here we reached a hillside full of pink alpine roses, before our descent toward Chants |
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| This side valley behind Chants is called Val da Ravais-ch, which descends from the Sertig Pass, a valley near Davos. It is our plan to one day cross that pass and descend this valley as well |
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| Urs among the alpine roses |
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| My favourite view of the whole day. As we rounded the corner, we came onto another side valley to the South: Val Plazbi |
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| Stunning landscape |
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| Gabrielle among the Alpine Roses |
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| Taking some photos up-river |
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| Wonderful cold mountain water... |
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After crossing the river near Alp Digl
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| It's hard to see, but the whole mountainside was pink with Alpine Roses |
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Chants in the Tuors Valley:
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| Arriving down at Chants, with 40 minutes to spare! |
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| There are some pretty nice houses here, which are only used as summer homes... |
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| Amazing that we were walking up that high, above the tree line |
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| Cooling off with a panaché while waiting for the alpine taxi at the Berghaus Piz Kesch |
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| The lady who runs this place offered a really nice selection of drinks. Very much appreciated! There were 10 other people here, also enjoying refreshments while waiting for the taxi-bus. The bus holds 16 people, so we were lucky to still get a spot! |
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| Looking down the Tuors Valley. It takes two hours to walk to Bergün from here, mostly along the road. Twenty minutes by car. You can also rent a trottinette for 18 SFr.! If we had known that ahead of time, we might have done it. |
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| Back at Bergün station, talking to our Chauffeur. He was speaking Romansch to his partner on the way down, it was interesting to listen to. Amazing that there are still people who can speak that language. This is the only place in the world where this language is spoken. |
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| The panorama trail from the chair lift station to Chants in Val Tuors, via Alp Darlux |
PART IV: A Quick Look at Latsch
As we were walking on the High Trail, we looked down at this village and decided, if time permitted, we'd have a look once we got back to Bergün. As it turns out, there was another small bus doing a run up there, so we caught a ride, and spent about 20 minutes looking around this most attractive village. We caught the bus again on its way down, but 20 minutes wasn't near enough time...
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| We only had to wait 15 minutes at the train station for another small bus which makes the run up to two villages on the hillside. We had about 20 minutes to look at Latsch before the bus returned. Obviously, it wasn't nearly long enough |
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| The centerpiece of every village is the church. This one smelled beautifully of wood |
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| From the church cemetery we could look down at Bergün |
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| A panorama view of the Albula Valley, Piz Ela, and the village of Bergün |
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| Some more beautiful artistic houses up here in the village of Latsch |
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| Walking through the alleyways |
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| At every turn there is something wonderful to see |
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| Particularly the door and window details are fascinating |
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| Walking through the alleyways of Latsch, a very small village but with so much to admire! |
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| Each village also has a town fountain. This is a double one! |
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| Heading back to the bus stop to wait for the bus-van to take us back to Bergün |
PART V: Back in Bergün and an Evening in the Hotel
The evening was pretty and we could have gone to see the 12th-Century Church, but we decided to do that the next day and rather enjoy a picnic dinner on our Hotel Terrace, which was right next to the river. First we went to the grocery store to get what we needed for next day's picnic....
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| Picking up a few items from the local shop and bakery for next day's picnic and our supper (photo taken earlier in the day) |
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| Another beautiful house on the main square. |
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| This house was my favourite |
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| The landmark of Bergün: The Tuors Tower, originally a private residence from the 13th Century, converted to clock and bell tower in 17th Century. |
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| Heading back to our hotel, the little pink building |
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| They gave us a very nice room!! There were maybe only a half-dozen people at the hotel that night, and it was VERY quiet! |
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| Enjoying a light supper on our very large terrace with the sound of the rushing river... |
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| The Albula region is between Davos and St.Moritz in Canton Graubünden. |
