Our weekend in the Engadin
Discover...
... Why were goods and especially food and luxury foods smuggled into the barren mountain valleys? Explore this question with your family on the smugglers' trail, the «Percorso dei Contrabbandieri», in Maloja. The approximately one-and-a-half-hour hike from Maloja southwards leads through a larch forest to the small lake Lägh da Bitabergh. At 17 posts, you will gain an insight into the life and work of the smugglers. You and your children will also search for hidden smugglers' goods and learn how to locate yourself in nature, orientate yourself by the direction of the compass and the position of the sun - or what first aid recipes nature has in store.
Information: Tourist Information, Maloja. www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/maloja
... Would you like to experience the unspoilt nature and wildlife of Switzerland? The National Park in the Engadin offers great opportunities to do so with family and children's excursions, wildlife watching and nature trails. Pick out a section from the 80-kilometre network of hiking trails or take your children on a digital hiking tour with GPS navigation. It is certainly worth preparing yourself a little beforehand at the national park visitor centre in Zernez: Four exhibition rooms bring you closer to the park. A discovery trail invites children to explore the experience areas on their own.
The national park is closed in winter to protect nature. The first hiking trails will be open again from around mid-May. The latest information on the condition of the hiking trails is available online or at the Swiss National Park Visitor Centre, Zernez.
Telephone 081 851 41 41 Opening hours (until 30 October 2016): daily from 8.30 am to 6 pm. Website: National Park Centre
... If your children are between 5 and 15 years old, the summer programme of the municipality of Zuoz offers them an almost limitless programme with a trained guide.
4 July to 19 August. www.zuoz.ch > Families
Enjoy...
... A magnificent view of the mountain scenery with Piz Bernina and Piz Palü awaits you from the Berghaus Diavolezza. A cable car takes you from Pontresina up to 2978 metres above sea level.metres above sea level. Culinary Grisons and Valtellina specialities await you there. Are you fascinated by the eternal ice and would you like to see huge crevasses and moulins with your own eyes? Or find out how moraines are formed? If your family is fit for a five-hour hike and sure-footed and your children are older than eight, the guided glacier hike over the Pers and Morteratsch glaciers to Morteratsch railway station might be just the thing for you.
Berghaus Diavolezza, Pontresina. Telephone 081 839 39 00. www.diavolezza.ch. The glacier hike is organised from mid-June, cost: adults CHF 60, children and young people (up to 16 years) CHF 40
... If an indoor activity is more on the agenda for the day, your family will enjoy the Bellavita adventure pool and spa in Pontresina: the children will have fun on the 75 metre long Blackhole slide or in the water play garden, while the little ones can have fun in the paddling pool. Or you can have fun in the Zernez family pool. Here you will find a children's area with a slide and waterfall, a 25-metre pool, an outdoor pool with a current channel, massage loungers and whirlpool - and water at 34 degrees.
Pontresina, Via Maistra 178. admission: adults 11, children (6 to 15 years) 5.50 francs
Zernez, Via Suot 4. admission: adults 9, children (6 to
15 years) 5 francs. www.familienbad.ch
Spend the night...
... St. Moritz and Pontresina are geographically favourable starting points for a stay in the Engadin. In both places you will find a youth hostel that is easily accessible by public transport. The one in St. Moritz Bad is situated right on the edge of the forest, has modern facilities, two games rooms, a large children's playroom and a cosy foyer. The Cuntschett Youth Hostel in Pontresina is located near the railway station and is also modern and cosily furnished.
Pontresina (open from 4 June), Via da la staziun 46. www. youthhostel.ch/pontresina
St. Moritz, Via Surpunt 60, www.youthhostel.ch/st.moritz
... Do you like it a little more remote and a 45-minute hike suits you? Then consider the Varusch park hut near S-chanf . The hut at the entrance to the national park offers space for 35 people to spend the night, from dormitories to double rooms. From June to October, you can also take the Express Parc Naziunel and save your energy for a hike in the national park. Back in S-chanf and still full of energy? The Serlas Parc has climbing and bouldering walls for all levels of difficulty and training. You will be supervised by trained professionals.
Varusch park hut, Val Trupchun, S-chanf (open from 11 June). www.varusch.ch
Express Parc Naziunel: from June to October from S-chanf railway station to the Varusch bus stop, www.alpintrans.ch
Serlas Parc, Serlas 413, S-chanf. www.serlas.ch