4 September 2023.
From the highest path we’ll hike this trip to the valley floor (still rather high by our flatlander/sea level standards), we’ve continued our treks to — and from — lunch.
The other day (See: On the road again) we started our hike from Muottas Muragl, at over 8000 feet and ended at about 7600 feet. We gazed across at Piz Bernina and down at St. Moritz and the Val Roseg. An amazingly long funicular carried us up to Muottas Muragl, and a cold ride in a chairlift delivered us to Pontresina post lunch. Very cold. Windy. Rocking back-and-forth. A regular thrill-ride!
The next two outings took us down to those gems and found us staring up at Muotta Muragl.
The glittering lakes of St. Moritz and the tiny jewel of Laj da Staz (Lake Staz) far below us as we look down from the Panoramaweg.
The walk from St. Moritz to Laj da Staz did not require us to watch our feet nor use trekking sticks. A walk in the veritable park! It led us to a fine restaurant, only open 4 ½ hours each day, on the shores of the sparking alpine lake, Staz. Here we dined on quiche and sipped wine before taking a stroll in the woods following the pass between St. Moritz and a stop-on-request station for the little red train back to Pontresina. How civilized. Walking to-and-from lunch helped pay for the Cremeschnitte we shared for dessert.
This is Cremeschnitte. Just a light dessert.
The hotel is unique as it is only available for private bookings. They have 6 rooms and an event space so a group can rent it for a wedding, reunion, or other special event.
Laj da Staz, a glittering alpine lake a 40 minute walk from the St.Moritz train station and the charming full-service hotel and restaurant which welcomed hikers with style. No eating off paper plates or drinking from plastic cups for us.
Friday we repeated an outing we took in 2018: A Pferdeomnibus (horse omnibus) up the Val Roseg to the Hotel Restaurant Roseg Gletscher.
Our view from on high shows the ribbon of river and a road leading through the Val Roseg. Although the road ends in 4 miles at a hotel, one can walk a path several miles to get very close to the glacier. We hiked back through the forest on the left.
Riding the “horse bus” is a riot. Three sturdy mares (the driver called them her Fräulein) pulled our carriage built for groups. All the passengers were Swiss except us, and they were in a party mood this sunny Saturday, packing along a couple of bottles of the Swiss white wine, Fendant, which they generously shared with us. Nothing like an aperitif en route in your horse-drawn omnibus. After an hour we arrived at the restaurant where we once again dined in style. (No trail side soggy sandwiches for us!) Liveried waitstaff, lovely preparations of the freshest foods, a solid wine list, and a dessert bar to die from for. We had the Fitness Teller or health plate, a grilled chicken breast on a bed of salad. A light option as we knew the desert bar was inevitable. Nüsstorte for me and a cake with fruit and cream for Ric.
This day’s hike was a path from lunch instead of a path to it. The horse omnibus traverses a gravel road that also supports bicycle traffic. Some walkers take it, as well, but the true hiking path is a forested trail running above and mostly out of sight of the road. We hiked almost two hours to reach Pontresina. The horse trek up the valley took about an hour. The path seems very gentle but was actually an overall descent of 745 feet. We let the horses do the hard work of walking uphill.
Top left: View over the driver’s shoulder of the “girls.” Center top: Our convivial bus. Blankets not needed this fine day. Top right: View of the valley as we road the omnibus up.
Bottom left: View looking up the valley past the restaurant. Center bottom: Little blue alpine butterflies. The males take minerals from the mud and deliver them to the females during mating. Bottom right: Half of the dessert bar. There were at least 30 selections.
For better pictures of the horses and omnibus and more about the trip, see https://www.engadin-kutschen.ch/.
The lower elevations around here are still higher than anything we have within hours of home. St. Moritz is at 6000 feet as is Pontresina. Now that we are used to this altitude, we are moving to lower elevations. Off to Kandersteg tomorrow. Stay-tuned!
Girovaga 
Laurel,
Good heavens, what incredibly beautiful scenery (and the cake looks delicious too)! We have mountains, lakes and forests here too, but for some reason they always look better in Switzerland.
I chuckled a bit when I read the above comment about the languages in Graubünden, as I had a few interesting experiences during my visit to Chur several years ago. My basic Italian was of some help, but in one case the clerk from the hotel helped me out with a challenging language problem. One other interesting experience was hearing Romansh spoken in Appenzell. I wasn’t sure what I was hearing, so asked somebody. I don’t think I’ve heard Ladin yet?
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Thanks. Ken! Switzerland has its act together with transportation. That helps. I understand Canada came in at #2, just behind CH, in the World’s Best Countries list. You guys aren’t doing so badly! Romansch and Ladin are similar. Very different sounding from their root tongues of German and French with a bit of Latin, I think. You haven’t been to The Val Gardena yet, I presume?
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Laurel, I have been to Bolzano, Castelrotto, Alpi di Siusi and a few other places in that area. What incredibly beautiful scenery! I haven’t made it to Ortisei but hopefully one day. I wasn’t listening too closely, but the language seemed to be mostly German. I tried to speak Italian to a couple of young servers at a beer garden, but someone tapped me on the shoulder and said that kids there don’t learn Italian until later in high school. I was able to manage with my very limited German.
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I so enjoy your hiking trips. The scenery is spectacular.
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Thanks, Chloe! It’s what keeps us coming back!
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I’m just so impressed with how you dine here versus the fast food crap we’d likely get in the USA at locations like this. Very civilized. I love ❤️. And your views still look like magazine cover stories. Impressive and magnificent.
The horse carriage sounds like our kind of adventure! Keep on enjoying.
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It sure beats hauling your food with you or, worse, having to eat hotdogs and God-knows-what in a diner and drinking bad coffee out of styrofoam cups. Thanks, as always, for following along with us!
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On the Wohli’s Carriage blogsite you linked, the language (according to Google) was German. Is that the major language in Switzerland? Can you use your Italian? Do they readily understand English?
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German is the major language, specifically Schweitzerdeutsch or Swiss German. About 60% of Swiss speak it. Canton-by-Canton it differs but basically French in the West, German in most of the rest of the country, and Italian in the border Canton of Ticino. Many people in Graubunden, where we just stayed, also speak Italian. I used my Italian a lot in Pontresina. In Appenzell, where we started, German is the preferred language and I found a few people who were not comfortable in English so I muttered along in a bit of German. I was at least able to make a dinner reservation! In most touristed areas there are plenty of English speakers with language sufficient to accomplishing transactions if not detailed conversations.
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The horse bus sounds like a blast! It is lovely they do this for free….were tips expected? Also, did you spend the night at the hotel at Laj de Staz? It looks charming. The hikes all sound lovely and you’ve had great weather so far.
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Sadly it is not free. We paid CHF 20.00 per person for the hour long omnibus ride. A bargain, if you ask me! We paid three times that much for a short taxi ride yesterday! 😱 We did not stay the night. We had an apartment in town. It would be fun, though!
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Love the bus. When we were on the train to St. Moritz we met a woman who came annually to a small private hotel with a group of her girlfriends and they just hiked, visited, ate, and relaxed. I wonder when I see this hotel if it might be the one – or at least similar. She was getting off ‘over the hill a bit’ from St. Moritz. I think the way you vacation is one of the best I have ever heard of. Thanks for all the tempting detail.
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“Over the hill a bit” could well be Hotel Roseg or somewhere in any of the three villages: Pontresina, Celerina, or Samedan. They are all cute and quaint and good hiking bases. Sounds like a great girlfriends trip! Maybe we can get our group to do a getaway in the Gorge!
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