Hotel Privata, Sils

Without any doubt Sils offers the winter snow walker and mountain lover an experience never to be forgotten and despite its close proximity to St Moritz it is a quiet and beautiful area to enjoy with many places to just sit down on a bench on the frozen lakes and soak up the stunning mountain scenery. Two visits to Muottas Muragl to explore the open plateau walking on prepared snow trails and enjoy the stunning views into the Engadine valley and to the closely surrounding mountains. Also an exceptionally beautiful and peaceful walk to the far end of the Fex valley again following prepared snow trails.

Highlights: Hotel Privata dinners. Walks in and around Valley Fex.

The Engadine is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places we have been. Sils is a lovely quiet, characterful village in contrast to the busyness of St Moritz. The hotel was full of guests who return year after year, several after being there as children now bringing their own children. The food was good and the staff were friendly and efficient. The area is quiet and you are soon on your own in the quietness of the beauty that surrounds the village. The Fex valley was wonderful to walk in and the trip up to the Muottas Muragl and then walking the Philosopher’s way was breath taking.

Sils is a beautiful area for winter walking with numerous cleared paths. We were lucky that they opened the paths across the lake at both Sils and Silvaplana when we were there. Although the connection from Zurich to the resort is a long one it was a straightforward journey with good connections. In fact the journey back via St Moritz to Chur was one of the highlights of the trip, a truly spectacular rail line. Be sure to do it in daylight! We allowed ourselves time to stop off in Chur a lovely old historic town.  

A delightful, friendly family-run hotel in a well-positioned village. We went to Sils Maria for winter walking and were very happy with the range of options available. Free travel on the efficient network of buses around the valley opened up many possibilities; the "philosophers' walk" above Muottas Muragl and the wonderful Roseg valley from Pontresina were our two stand-out experiences.

This was a great holiday, bookended by stunning train trips to and from Zurich airport. The hotel was excellent: a warm and genuine welcome, kind and unobtrusive service, amazing food and and (the icing on the cake for me) a light, spacious and comfortable single room. The hotel is well situated in a small peaceful village with good amenities. Whilst the cross-country skiing was extensive and varied, there was also a good deal else to do, and the included travel pass gave a huge amount of freedom and options. The ability to bring to a halt the mighty Bernina Express train, by sticking my hand out on a lonesome platform, is an experience that makes me grin every thime I think about it!

Do make the trip up Muottas Muragl and do take the opportunity to visit the wall paintings in St Gian church if you are there on a Wednesday or Friday afternoon in winter.

An excellent base for cross-country skiing in the entire Upper Engadine with good variety of blue, red and black runs available and easily accessible straight from hotel or via tremendous regular local bus services (free with pass from hotel).

The walks in the snow-laden Fex valley were enchanting and the apricot tart in the Fex Hotel rewarded our efforts.

Very good hotel, excellent service and food. Travel worked, as expected, due to typical Swiss efficiency. Cross country trails are excellent, especially for beginners, and are very well maintained. All in all an excellent holiday.

Sils and the Engardine are very special places: they feel quite remote and the journey is worth the effort. Sils is close to the exclusive St Moritz which is well worth visiting: we got the chance to see the British Olympic Bob team in action! A good mix of downhill, cross-country and walking too, all easy to use. High resort and so snow sure: walking and skiing on frozen lakes is a rare experience. If you love Swiss alpine trains, you must visit here. We can well appreciate why people return year after year. We will, in summer too. Tim and Judith Ratcliffe

We were delighted with this holiday. Hotel Privata is small enough to feel intimate and the service couldn't have been better. The food was good and we didn't feel the need to go anywhere else to eat in the evening. Sils Maria is a stunningly beautiful location and we loved the fact that it was a small village but with every amenity close at hand. The efficiency of the Swiss transport system is remarkable, and we enjoyed many of the recommendations in your brochure. For the Bernina Pass excursions you might want to make it clear that all Tirano trains can be used, but that a few of them are special panoramic trains that must be booked. The panoramic train stops for 1/4 hour at Alp Grum (well worthwhile) and commentary. We did this one way for a cost of 10 francs each (needed to change trains at Poschiavo) and then got an ordinary train back, which happened to have a panoramic carriage (not all do) for which we paid an extra 5 francs each on the spot. We booked this through the Sils Maria tourist office, but they did get very confused about the difference between the panromaic train timetable and the ordinary trains. The sleigh ride up the Fex valley was a highlight and the meal at Hotel Fex was a treat (and felt more authentically rural swiss than the hotel meals - we did this on the last day, so I finally indulged in my fantasy Swiss food of rosti and cheese fondue!). For health reasons we weren't able to do anything too strenuous, but this turned out to be a perfect winter holiday location, even without being able to take much advantage of the excellent cross-country skiing trails. There was plenty of flat walking, St Moritz was just a short hop away (we loved watching the Cresta run practices/competitions).

Luckily we had almost perfect weather and snow conditions for cross-country skiing and the tracks are well-maintained. Lovely walks from the door, also. The hotel staff could not have been more helpful or accommodating. There is a ski-wax room and a waxing iron can be borrowed. Excellent food and plentiful enough for large appetites. Enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels feeding just outside the window at breakfast time. There is a very good bakery/cafe nearby for lunchtime sandwiches and cakes. We found shoe-grippers very useful when walking round the village as there are stretches of icy pavement at times.

We really enjoyed this holiday - the location of the hotel was great - perfect for winter walking. We had access to routes along the frozen lake and up magical snow-covered valleys from our door. If we did it again we would avoid Christmas simply because the hotel was so busy. The hotel has no lift which would be important for some though it didn't bother us. We did the horse-drawn sleigh-ride which you recommended, which although expensive was worth every penny. We did the night-time one where we went out to a restaurant in the Fex Valley.