VIA ENGIADINA - INTRODUCTION

In August 2007 we set ourselves the challenge of walking the Via Engiadina. This long distance path runs along the Inn valley from the Austrian/ Swiss border at Vinadi (1074m above sea level) to its head at Majola (1803m).

  As a result of Fran’s increasing problems with her back and feet we decided that we would not slavishly follow the formal route, but adapt it to our circumstances. In any case the Via Engiadina has several alternative sections, with an easy and harder section, so we were clearly doing the walk in the spirit with which it was intended. Most of the route follows a mid level path along the northern side (sunny) of the Inn valley, although sections do also run along the valley floor.

We decided to base ourselves in two locations and use the local railway and bus services to get to and from each day’s walk. The first week was spent in Scuol and the second in Samedan.

In the first week we covered the section in Lower Engadine  (or in Romansche, the local language of this part of Switzerland, Engiadina Bassa). This section of the Via Engiadina runs from Zernez to Vinadi and with one day’s exception we walked down the valley, which is the recommended method.  

After reading descriptions of the walk on the Internet we decided that the section from Vinadi to Tschlin was beyond our “comfort zone”, with, by all accounts, some pretty horrendously exposed and extremely steep sections. Instead we decided to use Martina (1035m) as the end point of the walk in Lower Engadine. It's also a border point between Switzerland and Austria so seems a logical ending.

For the second week we decided to walk the Upper Engadine (Engiadin’Ota) section from Zernez to Maloja heading up the Inn valley.

Click here to go to the Lower Engadine section of the Via Engiadina walk

Click here to go to the Upper Engadine section of the Via Engiadina walk