A walking holiday in the Engadine

We loved both holidays. The Engadine Valley was stunning, the hotels were charming and the walks were lovely, apart from day 2 walk to Zuoz. We would suggest spending 3 nights at Hotel Meissen in Guarda if time allows and cut out walk to Zuoz going instead to Swiss National Park. The hospitality and food at both Hotel Meisser and Hotel Privata were outstanding. The Salzgammergut Lakes cycling week was also lovely. The villages were charming and the lakes beautiful. We swam in every lake and had an apple strudel every day! We have now done 5 trips with Inntravel and are already planning the next.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined a walk in Switzerland, Villages of the Engadine, with a cycle in Austria, Salzburg Lake District, along with city stays in Zurich and Salzburg

We were very glad we booked an extra night at Hotel Meisser in Guarda which was an absolute delight in every way.

We particularly enjoyed the Tuoi valley walk, where we spotted a golden eagle and were treated to carpets of flowers to rival those seen the following day on the Chamanna Cler route.  The appearance of marmots at close range was not uncommon here.

The Hotel Privata was a lovely end to the week, the food and service were first class.  We would highly recommend the Fex Valley walk from Sils, be sure to visit the tiny church at Crasta en route.

The Engadine was very quiet even in July and we would love to go back and explore other parts of it - Inntravel take note! [We do offer a Discovery Walk holiday here 'Walking and Wildflowers in the Engadine' for set departure dates in June!]

Allow plenty of time for the ascent/descent from Piz Nair to Sils, it's a long day and dinner is served early!  The funicular leaves every 20 minutes (00, 20, 40 mins past the hour) it's a 3 stage journey and takes about 30 minutes to reach the top.

A completely satisfying experience in all respects. The walks, even the transfer days, were adaptable to personal inclination and weather conditions and held just enough 'bite' to engender a feeling of personal achievement without being too demanding. Dropping back to comfortable, friendly hotels serving excellent food after a day revelling in superb scenery put the icing on the cake as it were.

A couple of add on nights in Zurich provided a memorable contrast and staggered our journey home. A most enjoyable holiday. Well done and thank you Inntravel.

We chose to tailor elements of your Engadine area holiday, and staying 5 nights at Sils Maria and then at Guarda was perfect. The two places complement each other and provide variety in terms of walking options but give choices of shorter / longer routes as weather / heat / fitness etc allow.

We enjoyed each of the locations in the Engadine and the lovely hotels chosen for this holiday, with friendly staff.  We were lucky with the weather and the views were magnificent.  We appreciated the maps provided and the variety of the walks - we wished we had taken our binoculars for our visit to the National Park.

Another outstanding holiday with Inntravel, in fact our best with regard to walks, hotels, food, etc. The weather was superb, the add on nights at each hotel perfect as this valley has endless walks. The food at Hotel Privata was incredible, so much so that we said Aparthotel Castle couldn't be better. Well, it was. Absolutely incredible. Four courses of outstanding food, served by warm and friendly waiters. We couldn't have wished for a better ending to our holiday. The views from our room, or rather apartment, were stunning, and this was a perfect add on to an amazing holiday. We highly recommend this walk, and cannot fault the package in any way. Thank you Inntravel for a beautiful holiday. We can't wait to plan our next.

We wanted an introduction to Switzerland, and we got it.  The two trips back to back - Kandersteg [Lake Oeschinensee & Beyond] and Engadine [Villages of the Engadine] were fabulous.  In many ways above expectations.  My wife and I shout in unison "Well done, Inntravel!"  We'll be back.  We've already booked two trips in Portugal for next Spring. 

This really was a bucket list kind of trip. The lovely inns, the spectacular hikes, the incredible food, the beautiful and ancient towns - all combined to make a perfect vacation and way to celebrate our 30th anniversary. We upgraded rooms where possible and added the optional add-on trip to Hotel Castle. It was all worth it. We particularly loved the room at Hotel Meisser, and the food and room at Hotel Privata. But it was ALL wonderful. A few highlights included the little rustic huts with food and espresso (and beer for those so inclined) that were located in the middle of nowhere on a number of hikes. Such a lovely surprise and treat to stop by and have a bite to eat while doing some spectacular hiking. The towns are all beautiful and fun to explore. The food was fantastic. Each hotel had 3 or 4 course dinners. The food was prepared expertly, often from local farms, and delicious. The breakfasts and coffee at each place were fantastic. We looked forward to them every morning. It was fun to explore and easy to get around using countless kinds of transportation to the hikes - trains, buses, cable cars, funiculars, ski lifts, the Glacier Express, etc. We were particularly aware that any time we bought anything it was quite expensive, so even though this trip was a bit more pricey upfront (it included all breakfasts and dinners), it was really a reasonably priced trip. And I have to say I loved not having to choose where to have dinner at the end of a long day of hiking. We would recommend this trip to a wonderful and less discovered part of the world highly!

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers extended their Villages of the Engadine walking holiday with a 3-night stay at the Hotel Castle in Blitzingen, and a night in Zurich at the Hotel Adler.

This is a superb collection of alpine walks. There are grand vistas across the alps in every direction. In early July at least above 1800m there are fields full of wild flowers - take a guide. There are plenty of marmots but on this occasion we didn't see much else, except perhaps a fleeting glimpse of a golden eagle though it's difficult to be sure. The accommodation was all of high standard with one hotel, the Privata, being exceptional. Since optional walks are suggested at each of the locations, it is worth adding some extra days to be able to explore as many as possible of the optional routes. We took a day off and used our card providing free travel on the buses, Rhaetian railways and cable cars to explore further. This is a real bonus and we would recommend exploring the Bernina Pass by rail which forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage line (you travel on the other part if your journey home from Sils takes you via Chur). A very enjoyable holiday.

The walk in the Swiss National Park is an absolute must!  Thank you for emphasising that in your notes. The area around Sils is breathtakingly beautiful; it has everything: from numerous walks at low and high levels as well as a vibrant village with excellent transport links. We cannot praise the Hotel Privata enough: a superb family-run hotel in the heart of Sils Maria, run with professional and friendly efficiency by Corina. The garden is a haven where you can take tea after a walk and the food is delicious.

The accommodation (and food) at all 3 villages was of a very high standard. Hotel Privata was the stand out with a lot of homely touches including afternoon tea served from 3-6 pm in their private garden. The menu, quality and presentation of food is first class. We had chosen to add an extra night in Guarda and Zuoz to allow some flexibiltiy in case of bad weather. As it turned out we had reasonable weather but it meant we could do more walks and pick the best days for high walks. I suggest you emphasise the ability to add nights for that reason. Also, when in Zuoz we took the opportunity to go back to Zernez to the Swiss National Park centre. We spent about 2 hours there and it was most worthwhile. The interactive displays and information presented gave us so much more understanding about the geological and social history of the region as well as the local fauna and flora. It really should be a must-see.

The Engadine region is incredibly beautiful, rivaling any place we've ever visited.

This was our second year with Inntravel.  Both trips were well planned with plenty of options to modify thanks to the excellent maps.  I would not have wanted to miss a single day.  The hotels, especially in the Engadin, exceeded all of my expectations.  The travel arrangements and time tables were clear.  We hope to take more trips with Inntravel next year. 

Finding extremely rare Slipper Orchids in full bloom was a highlight and certainly this was the right time to do these walks as the Alpine flowers were a constant delight. We were told many of the meadows would be cut down within a week or 2 of our departure. Cable car right up to Corvatsch before embarking on that day's walk from the lower cable car station was not to be missed. Stunning scenery including glaciers reasonably close up. Seeing marmot + deer in the national park - the toy train picks up passengers right in Zuoz centre, a few yards from the hotel, by the way. So no need to use the train as directed. Packed, dirty snow from last winter forming walls and bridges in the national park valley despite the hot sunshine. (We had hot, sunny weather for virtually the whole week, which is not usual, apparently.) Do you mention the cattle in your notes? We had a few instances where cows with young were quite aggressive and happened to be on the path. There are notices around about this occasionally, but we think it's worth flagging up in the notes. We needed to do quite wide detours at times!

The alpine flora were varied and stunning, including ladies slipper orchids.  We were very fortunate with the warm weather and only experienced 1 hour walking in the rain.  Swiss transport is second to none; the majority of footpaths are very well marked and a joy to follow.  The village of Guarda and the hotel there were an excellent introduction to the delights to come.  The end point in Sils was a suitable climax to the holiday, with magnificent mountains, delightful hotel with garden for afternoon tea, and a peaceful village.