The Bernina Express in Brusio, Graubunden, Switzerland.Christoph Benz/Tourism Switzerland
Like many visitors to the alpine nation, I’m familiar with Switzerland’s most popular destinations – Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lucerne, Zermatt. My family has spent many hours wandering trails in the Swiss Alps, but Graubunden was not, until recently, on my radar. That tennis champ Roger Federer, one of Switzerland’s greatest athletes and its most famous tourism ambassador spends time here, intrigued me. Federer knew something about Graubunden and I needed to find out what.
Known in English as Grisons, Graubunden is in the southeastern part of Switzerland, bordering Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. It’s the country’s largest canton, its least populated and home to the bulk of Switzerland’s Romansch-speaking population; Romansch being one of Switzerland’s four official languages, including Swiss-German, French and Italian.
Start in the city centre
Chur is the largest town and political centre of the canton.Andre Meier/Tourism Switzerland
The political centre of the canton is its largest town, Chur. Reportedly the oldest city in Switzerland, with human settlement dating back 5,000 years, Chur’s present-day roots are Roman. As was common throughout the empire, they planted vineyards, and today this cool-weather region is responsible for a substantial portion of Switzerland’s Pinot Noir production, including excellent vintages from Gantenbein and Pola wineries.
Walking through the pedestrian-only streets of Chur’s Old Town, I’m struck by the diversity and age of the architecture. Despite being repeatedly beset by large fires, including a devastating city-wide blaze in 1464, and more fires in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries, a mix of medieval buildings and Baroque-period apartments survived, some with dates of interior renovations inscribed below the roofline. Overlooking the city, the 12th-century Romanesque Cathedral sits in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace.
At street level, we’re met by the sight of bakeries, boutiques and cafés doing brisk business on a weekday afternoon. The Buhler’s Zuckerbackerei is famous for producing one of Chur’s culinary specialties, Pfirsichsteine, or peach pit candy.
Pfirsichsteine were created by master confectioner Otto Hursch-Muller in 1887. Hursch-Muller used to carry a silver peach pit charm on his watch chain, highlighting his love of the sweet summer fruit and inspiring the shape of his creation. The confection of ground almonds, sugar syrup, almond extract and spices is formed into a peach pit-shaped candy using a special metal press. Nibbling on the marzipan-like candy while enjoying a glass of locally made Churer Roteli cherry liqueur is a good way to fit in with the locals on a sunny afternoon.
Then book a train ride into the hills
Boarding the Bernina Express, a UNESCO-ranked masterpiece of railway engineering, takes travelers over the legendary 65-metre high Landwasser Viaduct.Andrea Badrutt/Tourism Switzerland
Graubunden does experience more sun than other Swiss regions. According to Chur’s Mayor Urs Marti, “the weather is always good here,” though it’s not quite at the level of Ticino, the Italian-speaking, so-called Swiss Riviera canton to its west. In spring, temperatures in Chur and the Rhine Valley range in the high teens, with moderate amounts of rainfall.
Chur is an intriguing urban locale, but the mountains are calling. My Swiss Travel System pass grants passage to the entire Swiss transportation network of on-the-clock trains, trams and buses, with prices starting at 281 francs, about $422. I board a coach for the 30-minute ride to the village of Valbella, part of the extensive Lenzerheide-Valbella ski area.
It’s exactly as advertised: a beautiful wide valley surrounded by alpine peaks dusted with snow. I casually search Valbella in vain for a glimpse of Federer’s Swiss-style modern chalet but never find it. I settle instead for spectacular views of the Rothorn and Statzerhorn mountains, carpeted in deep green spruce trees.
Despite the mayor’s weather-boosterism, the next morning’s low cloud obscures the view. We ascend the Rothorn Gondola into fog, stepping out to begin our hike in a light snowfall. The wet flakes stick to yellow primula and bright blue gentian wildflowers, the alpine pastures ring with the hollow, melodic clang of the bells worn by grey Ratisches Grauvieh cows.
Follow it up with something to eat
Our destination is the Tschugga Cheesery, the oldest in Graubunden and home to passionate cheesemaker Toni Salzgeber and his family. Salzgeber uses milk from surrounding farms to produce rounds of raw milk cheese, known as alpkase, during the summer months.
After forming the cheese and washing the rinds with brine and a mixture of carrot juice and white wine, “for colour and taste,” Salzgeber says, he ages the rounds in the cellars until winter when he mixes young and old cheeses with garlic, wine, kirsch and nutmeg for traditional Swiss fondue.
After the cellar tour, we gather in the cheese house’s cozy restaurant as Salzgeber places steaming pots of bubbling, fragrant fondue in front of us. I greedily dip my bread cube into the gooey mix, swirling the pot to ensure full coverage before gingerly popping the morsel into my mouth. Like a fine wine, alpine cheese should taste of its terroir, and Salzgeber’s ambrosial melted alpkase is redolent with a rich nuttiness and hints of white wine and kirsch.
And never forget the views
Lago di Saoseo.Nicola Fuerer/Tourism Switzerland
Meeting local artisans and savouring Graubunden’s culinary traditions gives me a sense of its people but travelling on one of the world’s most scenic trains enables me to gain a sense of place. Boarding the Bernina Express, a UNESCO-ranked masterpiece of railway engineering, our train passes over the legendary 65-metre high Landwasser Viaduct, snaking through misty valleys past high mountain peaks en route to Diavolezza and the Morteratsch Glacier.
At 3,000 metres above sea level, Diavolezza provides phenomenal views of the glaciers and surrounding peaks, including 4,048 metre Piz Bernina, the highest in the Eastern Alps. But all is not well with the ice. Since 1999, the glaciers have retreated about 40 metres annually, and local glaciologists are looking to unconventional methods to help stop that retreat.
The MortAlive glacier care project developed snow-making technology that can delay, not prevent, glacier melt. The intent is to recycle meltwater from a nearby glacial lake, propel it through suspended cables and “snow” the Morteratsch Glacier, covering it year-round. Visitors can get a sense of what that might look like at Diavolezza’s VR Glacier Experience. But the MortAlive Project is still just virtual reality. The technology hasn’t been approved by authorities, though advocates hope that it could one day be employed in the Alps, Andes or Himalayas.
Descending down into the Bernina Valley that day, the beauty of Graubunden already has me thinking of a return visit. Next time, I’ll pack a tennis racquet. You never know who you may meet here.
The writer was a guest of Switzerland Tourism. It did not review or approve the story before publication.