Graubünden through the eyes of a native of Graubünden

My jour­ney of dis­cov­ery through my home­land begins on the train, or more pre­cise­ly on the Gour­mi­no – the unique din­ing car that trav­els on the Rhaet­ian Rail­way from Chur to St. Moritz. Through the styl­ish wood­en win­dow, I admire the pass­ing land­scapes that encom­pass green forests, deep gorges and the impres­sive Lan­wass­er Viaduct. I am already look­ing for­ward to my stay at the first youth hos­tel. On my trip, I will stay overnight in three dif­fer­ent Graubün­den youth hos­tels. Pre­pare to be sur­prised by the range of delights that they offer.

Fresh air and sunshine

My first des­ti­na­tion is the youth hos­tel in St. Moritz. When I get off the train, I imme­di­ate­ly feel the fresh, cool moun­tain air in my lungs. The sun is shin­ing and the Engadin Bus takes me straight to the youth hos­tel. A glance at my watch tells me that there will still be plen­ty of time for a detour to the lake. With a book in my hand, I soak up the peace­ful atmos­phere of St. Moritz sit­ting on a bench by the shore.

Journeying high to the Morteratsch Glacier

The cable car takes me from the Diav­olez­za val­ley sta­tion to 2,973 metres above sea lev­el to the moun­tain sta­tion in no time at all. The view of the Bern­i­na Mas­sif from this dis­tance is breath­tak­ing. I chose the Expe­ri­ence Trail, a two-hour hike that takes me even clos­er to the impres­sive glacial land­scape. The path is steep and rocky in places, but the stun­ning views make the effort worth­while. A pic­nic with a view of the majes­tic ice-cov­ered scenery rounds off the expe­ri­ence. Please note: You shouldn’t ven­ture up the glac­i­er with­out a moun­tain guide, as the ice is con­stant­ly mov­ing and some areas are dan­ger­ous­ly unsta­ble. There are a wide range of routes of dif­fer­ent lev­els of dif­fi­cul­ty.

Onward journey to second accommodation

After the hike, feel­ing a lit­tle exhaust­ed but hap­py, it’s time to head back down into the val­ley and on to the next youth hos­tel. When I arrive at Pon­tresina Youth Hos­tel, I receive a warm wel­come and quick­ly find myself hav­ing a nice con­ver­sa­tion about all kinds of sub­jects with a mem­ber of staff. After a warm meal – crispy dumpling soup, mashed pota­toes, peas and falafel – I sink into bed, tired. Tomor­row, anoth­er excit­ing hike awaits me.

Engadin lakes, mountains and valleys – a true feast for the eyes

Ear­ly in the morn­ing, I ven­ture into the cool moun­tain air, which is par­tic­u­lar­ly cold today. The low-hang­ing clouds slow­ly start to dis­si­pate as I take the chair­lift up to Alp Lan­guard. With every­thing packed up, I set off on the panoram­ic trail. The land­scape that stretch­es out before me is breath­tak­ing. I mar­vel at the sweep­ing view over the Engadin lakes, moun­tains and val­leys. As announced by my weath­er app, the sky is clear­ing up and the view is fan­tas­tic.

After about 40 min­utes, I reach the Unter­er Schafs­berg, where a sign promis­es cof­fee and cake. But instead of tak­ing a break, I con­tin­ue on the windy path up to Muot­tas Muragl. I was delight­ed by the sight of the red funic­u­lar rail­way, which car­ried me com­fort­ably down into the val­ley. From there, I take the bus back to Pon­tresina. But my jour­ney is not over yet. Low­er Engadin is call­ing and I make my way to my last place to stay. Can you guess where?

A room made of Swiss pine

The youth hos­tel in Scuol is my last stop and my per­son­al high­light. When I enter the lounge, which is made entire­ly of Swiss pine, I am enveloped by the sooth­ing scent of this pre­cious wood. This invit­ing space beck­ons you to relax and enjoy the stun­ning views of the sur­round­ing land­scape. My room, also fur­nished with lots of wood, is cosy and typ­i­cal of the Engadin – an ide­al place to end the evening in a relaxed way.

Taking in the sights of Guarda

The next morn­ing, a vis­it to the Bell Ursli Muse­um in Guar­da is on the agen­da. The small vil­lage of around 200 inhab­i­tants enjoys a pic­turesque loca­tion beneath a dust­ing of snow. The colour­ful flow­ers defy the snow and adorn the large entrances of the tra­di­tion­al Engadin hous­es. A stroll through the charm­ing vil­lage, fol­lowed by deli­cious Swiss dumplings called capuns, is the per­fect way to round off my jour­ney of dis­cov­ery in Graubün­den.

Have you ever been to one of the three youth hos­tels I vis­it­ed on my trip through my home­land?

Don’t miss these autumn highlights

From gold­en hikes and chest­nut fes­ti­vals to Swiss tra­di­tion: There are numer­ous events and activ­i­ties around our youth hos­tels that you should def­i­nite­ly try out.

Dis­cov­er now