St. Moritz, Switzerland

Several of the surrounding mountain peaks are accessible by cable car, including this one that takes you up to 10837 feet to the top of Corvatsch.

I bought the Wanderkarte (hiking ticket) which takes you all they way to the top, then half way back down. From the mid-station it's a 2-3 hour hike back to the base. The hike begins above the tree line and proceeds down through skiing areas (winter), down by streams and past grazing cows and finally down tree lined roads to the bottom.

You can get to this area either by car or by train. From the north you'll probably enter through either the Julier Pass or the Albula Pass. Both are very scenic and take you high up in the mountains. Both are slow-going because the road is very narrow and winding (Albula Pass is the more scenic, but also the slower going of the two). Or, you could also arrive via the Inn river valley from the northeast, almost as slow going. The Inn goes through Innsbruck, Austria. (Brucke means Bridge in German, and Innsbruck means Bridge over the Inn river.) You can also get here from Italy from the south (Bernina pass, another mountain road), or from the southwest via the Maloja pass, the most crooked of them all and the most crooked road I'd ever seen anywhere (that is, until I visited Norway). This picture shows just a few of the hairpin turns of the Maloja pass. But no matter how you get here, you have to cross over some mountains.

This is the Flüela Pass, another route you might take to get here. It connects Davos to the north with the Inn river valley east of St. Moritz. It's not the most direct route from Davos to St. Moritz. There's also a train tunnel under construction in this pass (I don't recall seeing any evidence of this when I was here in October 1997); eventually you'll be able to go this way by train. The Flüela pass isn't quite as scenic as the others, but is still a good mountain drive. Like the others (except Maloja), it goes up above the tree line so in summer you'll see just grass, or apline flowers in season. Parked along the road you see one of the Swiss Postal Buses (I rode over this pass on this bus). Leaving Davos, the bus was filled with hikers. By the time it reached the top, most had left, getting off at trailhead bus stops (no building, just a sign and a footpath) along the road.

The most interesting drive through this area for me was from St. Moritz down through the Maloja pass then back up the side of the mountain to the little town of Soglio just before the Italian border.

I went to Soglio twice, once by car and once by Postal Bus. If you choose to use Switzerland's trains instead of a car, these Postal Buses are a good way of getting to places the trains don't go. Postal Bus transportation is included with the Swiss Pass train pass (but not with the Eurail pass).

To get here you have to descend from the St Moritz valley down into a lower valley on the road show above, then go back up the side of the mountain on a very narrow road just as crooked as the one you just came down to get to the town. The peaceful old town itself in it's picturesque setting on the side of the mountain is the only real attraction, it's not a highly developed tourist town. There's not much in the way of hotels, restaurants, or museums. Instead, just walk around and enjoy the atmosphere.