Graubünden

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Why going to Graubünden?
Overview of Graubünden

Why going to Graubünden?

Graubünden is a large canton, situated in the south-eastern part of Switzerland, adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Graubünden will generally not be the first choice of the large number of tourists visiting Switzerland from all parts of the world. The majority of the tourists may prefer the Bernese Oberland or the region surrounding the Matterhorn in Wallis. However, the beauty of Graubünden can be well-matched to the other cantons. The rough nature in this sparsely populated canton will please many lovers of hiking, photographers and rest-seekers. This canton is also very interesting from a language and culture point of view. German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic are spoken here. More information about this subject can be found in the overview of Swiss history. But in most cases you can use German in the areas where Rhaeto-Romanic is spoken. Especially in the touristic sector English can be used as well.

Graubünden is located in the south-east of Switzerland adjoining Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.

Graubünden can be reached easily, but it takes some time to get there. Coming from most of the resorts in the canton it is rather time-consuming to make day trips to other parts of the country. The canton itself, however, offers more than enough. Apart from this you can, depending on your where you stay, make day trips to Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, or to the adjoining canton of Ticino.

Graubünden offers a lot of hiking possibilities. Several gondolas take you to magnificent viewing points, sometimes covered with snow even in summer. The number of large cities is rather limited. More extended possibilities to shop or go out can be found in, among others, Chur and St. Moritz. Graubünden offers you nature in the first place, and: a lot of it.

Overview of Graubünden

The river Rhine finds its origin in the very west of Graubünden. The river runs through a beautiful valley to the east and reaches the most densely populated and industrial region near the canton's capital Chur. The Rhine leaves Graubünden north-west of Landquart. The area of Schanfigg begins near the sprightly city of Chur. It is a magnificent valley with at the end the car-free health resort of Arosa. The fresh and green valley of Prättigau is situated east of Landquart. Here you can find, among others, the famous tourist city of Davos. The Albula valley lies in the center of the canton. In this rather narrow valley you can find nice villages like Filisur and Bergün, and it is one of the entrances to the south of Graubünden: the Engadin.

Overview of Graubünden. Click on the map for a larger view.

One of the other entrances is the region Oberhalbstein. The Julierpass takes you to the sunny Engadin, which consists of the Oberengadin (upper Engadin) en the Unterengadin (lower Engadin). The Oberengadin includes the well known town of St.Moritz and the lake area south-west of town. Another important tourist centre in this region is Pontresina, where the Berninapass begins. You can reach the valley of Poschiavo through this pass, where culture and language are more Italian than Swiss. This includes the weather as well, which is evident when you look at the vineyards. The Oberengadin is better known than the Unterengadin, but the Unterengadin is definately worth to pay it a visit. Here we find the health resort of Scuol and a beautiful National Park, which is partly situated in Switzerland and partly in Italy.