From Pany to Schiers in the Prättigau, through Colourful Autumn Forests

Saturday October 18, 2025 -- Finally, the fog in the lowlands has lifted, and it turned out to be a beautiful day in most regions. This is the ideal time of year to enjoy the changing colours of the leaves—and better yet, of the larch needles, but that beauty is mostly to be enjoyed on a two-day trip to the Engadine or Canton Wallis—and Urs had a previous engagement on the Sunday, so we could only do a day trip this time. So we returned to the Prättigau Region of Canton Graubünden (we've been several times this year!) to do a very long walk through the forests of deciduous trees, also very pretty.

It was a 12-km walk, not very strenuous, although the final hour through the forest did drag on a bit. The main idea for this walk between Pany and Schiers was to enjoy the colourful forests and surrounding mountainsides, and to admire many pretty houses which are still adorned with lots of colourful window boxes and garden flowers. We could have done a hike at higher elevations, but it's all brown up there now, and we have had a lot of brown lately.

(Unfortunately, the weather isn't great this coming week, so we might not be able to see the larches in the south this year...)

Every trip toward Graubünden along Lake Walensee starts with a photo of the Churfirsten mountains!

Changing to the bus at the Schiers train station in the Prättigau, we get a nice look into the Valzeina Valley on the left and out toward the Rhine Valley straight ahead, where the train heads off in this direction from Landquart.

We got to the bus stop in Pany at 10:30, after leaving home at 7:40 a.m.

Already at the start of our walk in Pany, we are admiring the pretty buildings that still sport the colourful flower boxes!

A view down into the valley as we head out on our walk down from Pany toward Schiers.

This was not a very strenuous walk, starting in Pany at about 10:30, and catching the 15:29 train in Schiers. So we were outside for about 5 hours, walking a 12-km, 3½-hour trail, with the last hour section through the forest.

Barely out of Pany, we came across a farm called Chrazenboden (Chräzaboda) with a farm shop (apparently this can also be rented as a bed-&-breakfast), so we did a detour.

Urs bought some more cheese, i.e. Alp Cheese which is produced in the summer months up on the alpine farms. (In this case, it was the nearby Ascharina Farm which we had passed by recently on our hike from Klosters-Madrisa to St.Antönien in September (Photos HERE).). This was a nice set-up: You could let out a coffee and sit here in this cute corner to enjoy it... or outside on the deck if you preferred!

The brown goats (Gämsfarbige Gebirgsziege / Chamois-coloured mountain goat) are so very pretty!

At the end of the road, before heading onto the first forest trail, is a little hamlet called "Rosenberg".

A view up the Prättigau to the southeast in the direction of Klosters and the Silvretta and Vereina Alps.

A break on a bench with a view! (11:35)

Next stop: The Castels fortress ruins in the village with the funny name of Putz.

All kinds of nice houses here as we descend through the village of Putz.

All kinds of nice houses here as we descend through the village of Putz. There is still a lot of colour in the gardens and window boxes.

So much colour still in the gardens.

A short detour to the ruins of the Castels Fortress. Hopefully the door isn't locked!

Good, we can get in!

The Castels fortress was first mentioned in documents of 1338, but was apparently destroyed in 1649, and bits and pieces carried away since then.

A look toward the west from the fortress wall.

A quick walk around the site of the fortress along the remaining walls, before we head out back on our trail. There is a vertical drop of 300 meters to the Landquart river on the south side of the site.

The fortress was destroyed in 1649, but this sketch shows where the residences might have been located.

A look up at the little village of Putz before continuing on our hike.

And a look up into the forest where we had walked down from Pany. In the back is the mountain where we did the September hike from Klosters-Madrisa to St.Antönien (photos HERE). And from here we can just see the herd of Valais Black-Necked goats which we had also seen as we were descending. They were busy showing each other who is the boss.

VIDEO:

The Valais Black-Necked goats we observed on the hillside were butting heads,

sometimes in groups of three!

(It is hard to hold the camera still with such a long zoom!)

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Down below and across the valley to the south is the village of Fideris.

This was quite an impressive house in the part of the village called Unter Putz, with some very beautiful painting around the doors and windows. At the front of the building was an inscription of 1635, the date of the build of this beautiful house!

Beautiful fresco painting in the plaster around the windows, doors, house corners, as one often sees in villages of Canton Graubünden, mostly in the Engadine Valley to the south. (Note: Putz = Plaster!).

Also in Unter Putz, we discovered this fabulous old house which turns out to be a 1628 build typical for this region in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Actually, the house seems to have origins as far back as 1518! The house was used as a farmhouse for 300 years, and is under Federal and Cantonal Monument protection. It can be rented for up to six people via a program called "Vacation in a Heritage Building".

There are always interesting details along the way: I particularly enjoyed this sign!

Now we are off toward the next village called Buchen, a 50-minute walk from here, about half of it through the colourful forest.

Zoomed view past Under Putz toward the Flüela/Vereina Alps.

Continuing along a wide forest road.

Across the valley is the village of Jenaz. The village at the clearing on the mountain at the back is called Furna, where we have also been a couple of times. (Most recently, a round tour we did in November 2020).

Down below, a small distance away from the village, is the Evangelical Church of Jenaz.

At 12:45 it was high time to stop for our lunch break, and even though we didn't have a "bench with a view" this time, at least we found a free bench!

Another long stretch along the forestry road.

Even though this section of forest was in the shadow of the mountain, the colours were pretty!

Back in the sunshine along pastures on the hillside.

Looking behind us at the forest we had just walked through.

Just below the village of Buchen we passed this beautiful tree, before we had a bit of an uphill walk into the village.

After a short uphill section, we reach the top part of the village of Buchen.

As we reached the village of Buchen, the first sight we got was of a large garden of flowers where I spotted three Hummingbird Moths flitting around. I spent about 10 minutes here trying to photograph them, but they move quickly!

These are the best photos I could take of the Hummingbird Moths!

VIDEO:

Trying to take a video of the three hummingbird moths!

Now at the main fountain in the village of Buchen. Very pretty village!

A look up the road to the wonderful fall colours of the forests here.

In a bend in the road down the main road in Buchen, we get the first glimpse of the town of Schiers at the valley bottom, which is the goal of our hike, still another 90 minutes from here, and a large part through the forest.

Another look down the valley to Schiers. The peak at the back is Mt.Sassauna, which, in retrospect, would have been a great outing for this day, as we can reach to 600 meters below the peak with a cable-car from Fanas, an excursion we wanted to do when we spent two nights in Fanas in July of this year, but it was overcast and raining at the time!

As we descend through the village along the vehicle road, we are greeted with many more very pretty houses.

And a few cows "in the backyard"!

I couldn't believe that we even passed a pasture still full of meadow flowers, mostly daisies!

Many trees have already lost their leaves, but there is still a lot of colour in the gardens!

As we continue out of Buchen, we get a nice look at Mt. Furnerberg, with a whole hillside of autumn colours.

Leaving the village of Buchen now to enter the long stretch of forest, we get a look into the Furner Tobel (Furna Ravine) to the south past the village of Pragg-Jenaz, where we spent a night in a really nice Gasthaus back in July 2016 when we walked to the back of the ravine from Furna up the mountain.

This was quite an amazing tree which we passed in the forest.

Dry-stone walls are always interesting to walk along.

Up ahead along the main road is a stretched out village called Lunden (Upper, Lower, Middle...)

This house was interesting... that is, the flower boxes were interesting!

Looking down at the houses of Vorderlunden. In the ravine below flows the Landquart River. From here we walked 40 minutes through solid forest without a view.

Now out of the forest at 3 p.m., we can see that the town of Schiers is in the shadow of the Landquartberg to the south. The super long train from Engadine to Landquart is just arriving in Schiers. (There is a train every 30 minutes, and our plan is to take the next one at 15:29)

Only the main road near the church in Schiers still has sunshine, but this was also gone by the time we got there.

Final stretch to our destination of Schiers. We had sunshine all the way until the final 15 minutes of our walk through the town to the train station.

A look up the Bahnhofstrasse in Schiers, toward the church. The town is in shadow, but the hillside above it is still full of sunshine!

From the train station is a look at the mountains where we did the final 50 minutes of our walk low down but above the valley bottom. From here you can see the narrow winding road where the bus takes you up to Stels, a trip I did exactly a year earlier when I walked higher up to Pany. (Photos HERE).

The 15:29 train to Landquart is right on time! From here we are home before 6 p.m.

What our hike from Pany to Schiers via Buchen looks like on Google Satellite Maps.

Heading out of the valley toward Landquart, these are the colours of the forest.

Out of the Prättigau now and heading toward the Landquart train station, this is the region called Heidiland, and there are vast vineyards here, which we walked through in November 2023.