Switzerland's largest holiday region
Grisons is a magnificent mountain world with heavenly high valleys, quiet tributary valleys, deep gorges, flower-filled Alps, untouched forests, lively mountain brooks, raging waters, over 600 lakes and 1000 mountain peaks. This is the home of the famous 4,000 m high Piz Bernina with the breath-taking Biancograt. Right next to it stands the Piz Palü scraping the sky. They overlook a magical world of glaciers and summits and are the landmarks of the Upper Engadine.
There is an entire bouquet of Alpine passes from the Albula to the Wolfgang Pass, as well as countless pass crossings that are mere mountain trails leading from one valley to the next. It is impossible to say which of the 150 valleys is the most beautiful! The Bergell valley with the famous Bondasca group and the picturesque mountain village of Soglio, the Puschlav with the Italian-sounding Poschiavo, the Val Müstair with the mystical Val Mora as well as Prättigau, Lugnez, Surselva and the southern valleys Misox and Calancatal have their own charm.
Hiking trails covering almost 12,000 kilometres cross Grisons, many of which are located in the Swiss National Park. You may spot marmots, chamoises, ibexes, bearded vultures, wolves and occasionally even bears. No wonder then that this enchanting region is the largest holiday region in Switzerland.
Attractions
Grisons, which is the "home" of Schellen-Ursli and Heidi, offers an almost infinite number of attractions. One of the best-known is the Rhaetian Railway. Its highlights such as the Landwasser Viaduct or the loop tunnels make it one of the most beautiful railway lines in the world.
Rhaetian Railway as a landmark of Grisons: the Albula Railway Museum, a place for families and railway enthusiasts has opened recently in Bergün, directly on the Albula line of the Rhaetian Railway.
The pretty and varied villages are also worth visiting. The Bergell village of Soglio with its stone roofs, the Engadine villages like Guarda with their beautiful Sgraffito-adorned houses, Vrin, which was awarded the Wakker Prize for its townscape, and the Walser settlements in Safiental: all are enchanting in their own special way.
Magnificent grand hotels that have been around since Alpine tourism started in big tourist towns contrast with the cosy and modern chalets far away from civilisation. Castles and fortresses such as the Tarasp Castle and the ruins of the Mesocco Castle, churches and monasteries such as St. Peter Mistail with the three apses and the Monastery of St. Johann in Val Müstair, which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, are all worth a visit - whether they are well-known or an insider tip.
To relax, you can visit the sulphur bath in the Alvaneu bathing facility, the Tamina Therme at Bad Ragaz or the famous thermal spring in Vals, which was built by architect Peter Zumthor using indigenous quartzite. Art aficionados also get their money's worth, for example in the art museum in Chur (Grisons), the Kirchner Museum of Gigon Guyer in Davos, the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz and in the Giacometti Museum in Stampa.
Grisons delicacies
The most popular specialities of Grisons, which have regional variations, include the Grisons barley soup, Bündnerfleisch, the nut gateau and the Birnbrot (pear bread). Plain in Pigna, Maluns, Tatsch and Capuns sound like unknown magic words, and these dishes are simply delicious.
Wines from the Bündner Herrschaft and the Churer Röteli liqueur, one of the oldest Grisons specialities, are widely known.
