Easy Walk from Flims to Trin via Lake Cresta in the Surselva

Saturday December 27, 2025 -- Unusually warm weather in the areas where there should be a lot of snow, to the great disappointment of winter fans during these holidays... For us, though, a good opportunity once again for snow-free walking and mostly avoiding the non-stop fog in the low areas. 

So this Saturday we traveled three hours to Flims in Canton Graubünden and walked 10.5 km along trails which at this time of year are officially considered winter trails, prepared for walking along wide roads. We had never been to Lake Cresta before, so we wanted to visit this beautiful lake. From there we passed the wide open plain which usually consists of cross-country skiing trails. Passing through the town of Trin, we visited both the village church, and then climbed up to the ruined fortress tower called Canaschal. From there we unfortunately ended up walking along the very busy main road to our planned bus stop, for the 15:40 bus back to Chur. 

This was an easy stroll, mostly with lots of sunshine but a few sections in the cold shade of the mountains. We traveled altogether almost six hours to spend four hours out of the fog!

Once again our trip takes us via the city of Chur, where we will change to a bus and head out toward the snow-covered mountain on the right, i.e. up the Rhine Valley. This is at 10:45 a.m. 

On the Autobahn toward Flims, we pass the church at Domat-Ems, one we haven't visited as there aren't really good hiking trails past here. 

Here is where we started our hike, one bus stop before the town of Flims. A look back shows us a bit of snow in the town, and enough on the ski hill but not ideal. 

This was a fairly easy 11-km hike for us, barely any "uphill". Starting on the east side of the town of Flims at 11:25, we caught the 15:40 bus on the busy road east of Trin. Back to Chur for the total 2½-hour trip home.  

On the shadier side of the various hills, there is still some snow. 

Heading eastward now along the trail we had chosen to walk this day (one we had not walked before). 

It seems to happen a lot that there is no snow around the end of December. 

Here we cross the Flem River, the main river that passes through Flims. The littel collection of houses just below the cliffs is called Fidaz, and we walked through there in January of this year when we did a winter hike in the high plateau called Bargis, on the far right of this massif (Flimsertein).  (Photos HERE). 

In the shady parts of the forest, the trails were snowy. But there was also sunshine. There were several other people headed down to Cresta Lake. 

There were a few cabins in a couple of clearings on the way to the lake. At one of these buildings (not this one) we found a bench and stopped for our picnic lunch, just a few minutes short of the lake.

We then reached the restaurant at Lake Cresta, and headed down to the lakeshore. 

Once we got to the lake (Crestasee) at 12:30, we saw that there were several benches here, and we could have had our picnic lunch here instead of in the forest! The lake lies in a depression in the forest. 

We didn't stay long at the lake as suddenly lots of people showed up! So we headed south along the west side of the lake. 

Beautiful reflections on the very still water. 

This lake is similar to the other beautiful Lake Cauma nearby, which we visited on a hike from Flims to Trin (and then to Tamins) back in October of 2015. 

There is a narrow trail all around the lake, but we only followed it a short way, and then returned to the forest trail. 

Lake Cresta (Crestasee).

After a long stretch on a forest road, we reached the large plain which is actually a popular cross-country skiing arena! The sign tells us to beware of the cross-country skiers, which isn't a problem on this day!

A look back toward the Flimserstein Massif. The upper plateau of Bargis is on the right, and on that January 2025 hike we walked from there below the cliffs via the houses in that clearing, and then down to Flims. 

These girls are enjoying the late December sunshine as well!

These pink signs indicate all the prepared winter hiking trails one can walk along in. So we were following winter hiking trails, and what a shame that there was not snow for this!

Crossing the Flem River again into a small village on the way to Trin. This village is called "Trin-Mulin". 

Following the main road through Trin-Mulin as we continue on our walk. 

Now the trail heads back up to the main road, with a great view over the cross-country ski arena. The mountains (the first, I think) is Piz Mundaun, where we hiked this year in October (Photos HERE). 

It's always nice to see the paragliders... a couple of them landed here on the cross-country field. 

Great view near the main road. 

After a short 5-minute stretch in the dark shadow along the main road (and past a military museum), we got the first views of the town of Trin. Later, after a walk through the village, we visited the church and then climbed up the hill to have a look at the tower. 

We love the cats!

View to the tower (ruins of the fortress Canaschal). 

Walking through the village above the main road with a view of the church, which we first had a look at before going up to the tower. 

Lovely typical houses of the region. There is even a little vineyard in the village!

More nice houses with lots of wood. 

Back down at the main road and on the way to the village church, we passed this cute figure!

The church in Trin is a late-gothic build from 1491, used as an Evangelical church since the Reformation in the 1530's. 

Details of the inside of the town's Evangelical church, including a nativity scene. 

Heading up the main road in Trin to the trail up to the tower on the hill. 

A gorgeous old house on the main road with an arched entrance, and a tunneled passage below it. 

We walked through the arched tunnelway under the house and found a series of steps up the hill behind the house, although, in retrospect, this was probably someone's backyard!

A short uphill hike and we got to the ruins, with a view over the town of Trin. 

We took a 10-minute break on a nearby bench. There were no steps up into the tower: It was just an empty four walls!

Continuing on our walk, we could see to the south into the Domleschg valley, which is where the Glacier Express train line travels from Chur to St.Moritz via the Albula Valley. There really should be more snow here! (We did a hike there quite recently in November, photos HERE). 

We are being watched very carefully!

Here we joined the trail we had walked in October 2015 when we visited the other lake (Lake Cauma) and passed below the village of Trin at the time. 

Unfortunately, the bus stop wasn't marked correctly on our hiking map, and we had to walk about 500 meters along this busy road to find it... and later realized we could have continued on the walking trail below the road and reached the bus stop without ever having to be on the road! Our 15:40 bus was late, but we arrived about five minutes early anyway, just as the sun was setting. 

Passing the Domat-Ems church again on the way back to Chur by bus. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

These are all the hikes we have done around the region of the Rhine Canyon and Flims. 

Location of Flims within Switzerland. 

Winter Walk from Bargis High Valley to Flims

Thursday January 16, 2025 -- This day had a better forecast than Wednesday, so Urs switched his day off, and we headed to the popular vacation resort town of Flims in Canton Graubünden, to hike a high elevation winter trail which we knew about and had long wanted to visit. There is bus service in winter also, along a forestry road from Flims to this hidden upper valley called Bargis, as there are many kilometers of prepared cross-country ski trails as well as a 3-km loop trail for walkers. 

As the trip to get there is just over three hours, a 45-minute walk was much too short of an endeavour, but we knew that there were several other winter walking trails in the area, including one that descended from Bargis back down to Flims, and even though the snow conditions there weren't ideal (a lot of the snow has melted due to warmer termperatures), a large part of the trail was through the forest and on panoramic trails, so this is what we ended up doing. Plus we discovered an additional walking loop in Bargis, and spent more time up there than originally planned... with the most spectacular mountain backdrop and lots of sunshine.

Once we got to the paved roads, our walk beneath the Flimserstein Massif was pleasant enough, with plenty of sunshine, great visibility of the surrounding mountains, and few other pedestrians. Furthermore we were witness to the sound of several rock falls from the 700-meter vertical cliffs, although we never actually saw them. 

Back in Flims at 3 p.m., our trip back home was only two hours and 40 minutes. Any trip under three hours is worth it to us!

We got to Flims at 10:30 a.m. after leaving home at 7:45. From here we take another bus for a 20-minute ride to Bargis. 

The bus to Bargis was more than full, even the aisles were packed with people standing. Later, a large group of seniors passed us on the walking trail, and that was the reason that the bus was full. I was glad to get out here at the final stop at the Bargis Berghaus restaurant.... 

We started down the hill to the large open plateau, and were stunned by the magnificent backdrop. 

This flat and wide open pasture is great for cross-country skiing. No private cars are allowed up here, so people wanting to ski here also have to take the bus up here. 

The prepared walking trail had perfect snow conditions. 

As we headed out on the circuit trail, we looked back to the Bargis Berghaus, and the mountains that are further to the east. 

What a beautiful backdrop for this three-kilometer walk!

Passing a lovely mountain home along the way. (In summer these upper pastures are most likely used for grazing animals). 

Crossing the "river" at the back of the loop

VIDEO:

I love the "crunch" of the snow on the prepared trail

when snow conditions are perfect.

Heading back now on the other side of the loop. Once in a while a cross-country skier passes us. 

These houses are near the restaurant. 

Here we are getting back to the start of the loop, after walking for about 45 minutes. Up ahead we saw a couple of benches, and went up there to eat our sandwiches. 

We spent about 20 minutes here on the bench, enjoying our sandwiches, the sun, and the view. Also up here was a smaller walking loop, which we also followed before heading back to the bus stop. 

The blue tracks on this map are all the crosscountry ski trails up here, and the pink one with no.271 is the Bargis loop trail. It took about 45 minutes to walk the first loop trail. We walked up to a sunny bench for our picnic lunch, and then we discovered another smaller loop which we also walked, before we headed out of the valley. 

This was the view from our bench, and the start of the second loop we did after our lunch. By this time I was too warm in jeans with stockings, so I packed away the jeans and continued in my stockings.  

Close-up look at the hamlet of Bargis at the back part of the walking loop. 

On the south side of the plateau we could see a trail heading up that steep rock-face, which is actually a summer hiking trail which we would like to try some time!

Descending from the second loop, and heading back toward the restaurant at 12:30.

A final look up the valley (from the restaurant patio) before we head out on the second part of our walk at 12:45

After walking for almost four kilometers and spending just under two sunny hours in the beautiful upper Bargis Valley, we headed down the second winter trail toward Flims Dorf at 12:45, and got on the bus there at about 3:20 p.m. We passed through the mountain hamlet of Fidaz, where there is a cable-car used to transport milk from the upper pastures, 900 meters higher up!

The first half hour of the lower walk was through the forest on a nicely prepared snow-covered trail. 

On the way down to Flims, a large section of our walk was right next to this fabulous, virtually vertical rock face. This is called the Flimserstein, or "Flimser Rock". As we walked along the base of this massif, we heard several rock falls, but never actually saw the rocks. 

Up here is a mountain village called Fidaz. 

This beautiful house is called "Casa Martin Pign" 

Dates inscribed on the side of this house: 1697, 1654, and 1523!

Heading through the mountain village of Fidaz. We decided to continue on an upper winter trail instead of descending directly to the town of Flims. 

The cliff walls rise about 700 meters practically vertically from here. 

We inspected this cable-car station, called the "Milchseilbahn" which leads up to the high alpine meadows 900 meters up, but is currently only for cargo and transporting milk from the upper pastures, and needs to be renovated. But we read that they might be rebuilding it to include passage for regular pedestrians, which would be a great way to get up to new elevations we can't really reach on foot!

The pink signs show which winter trails you can walk! Here we are joining Trail no. 273, but will descend to Flims on the "35-minute" trail. 

More lovely houses along the way. 

From this high trail, we get this fabulous view over the rooftops of Fidaz, down to the junction of the two valleys where the Anterior Rhine River meets the Posterior Rhine River. The city you can see at the junction of those two valleys is Bonaduz. 

A placard informs us that there is a "historical" Via Ferrata route up the vertical cliff face. 

A hundred years ago, a via ferrata was created for tourists, but later fell into disrepair, and then was restructured in 2006-2007 to reflect what it originally looked like. 

The community of Flims "invites us" to enjoy a unique experience... which we probably would never do, although it's surely exciting!

Enjoying the sunshine and the view of the Graubünden Alps before we head down to Flims. 

A practical bench for a break. 

We were studying the mountains across the Rhine Valley from where we were sitting, and realized this valley across from here is the Safien Valley, where we have been many times. The first time we walked out of the valley along the center mountain range, and around the front to descend to Rhäzüns near the entrance to the next valley on the left, where the Posterior Rhine flows out of. (July 2016)

This is a huge collection of cow bells... most of which are quite small!

In Switzerland, cows must have access to the outdoors in winter. They can stay in the barn if they prefer, or go outside to enjoy the sunshine like we are doing!

Here we started on our final descent to Flims. 

Below is the town of Flims where we started our excursion and will catch a bus back to Chur. 

This is what our walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps. We took a bus to the Bargis upper valley, and spent two hours there and then walked down to Flims via Fidaz. 

Once we got to the main road in Flims, we had time to take a bus in the other direction to a part of town called Flims Waldhaus. While waiting for the bus there, I noticed those peaks up high... Those are the Tschingelhorns, which we have never seen from this side! 

Close-up of the beautiful Tschingelhorn peaks. They are in the center of the UNESCO Sardona Tectonic region. We have seen them several times from Elm on the other side. 

And this is what the town of Flims and the Flimserstein look like from the eastern side, as the bus heads back through the town to continue on to Chur. The Bargis side valley is on the right, and we walked parallel to the vertical cliffs from right to left. 

A better look of the side valley to the upper pasture of Bargis, and where we walked below the Flimserstein cliffs. 

The only other hikes we have done near Flims were in 2015, once via Lake Cauma to Trin, and once when we walked along the bottom of the Rhine Canyon. 

Location of Flims within Switzerland. This is near where the Posterior and Anterior Rhine Rivers (Hinterrhein, Vorderrhein) meet in Reichenau-Tamins. 

This photo from July 2016 when we walked out of the Safien Valley shows what Bargis and the Flimserstein cliffs look like from across the valley to the south.