Silvaplana
The wind comes at three. Always.
Five kilometres from St Moritz, there is no posing here. The lake draws you in, the cable car winds its way up the mountain, and the weather has already decided your day.
Summer
When the wind sets the pace
06:00 At sunrise
The lake is yours
At six the water is smooth as a mirror and nobody is there to dispute it with you. Two hours later it is the busiest lake in the Engadin. Whoever gets up early has it all to themselves.
09:30 in the morning
Before the wind comes
The time window for everything that needs peace and quiet: up to the Fuorcla Surlej, with views of the Bernina, or by bike over the Corvatsch. In the afternoon, the mountain belongs to the wind.
15:00 Three o'clock sharp
Sail or book
The Maloja wind arrives every day, right on time, and decides for you: athlete on the water or someone watching the athletes from a window. Both are entirely fine.
19:00 in the evening
The brave leap
The Alpine water stays cold, even in August. There are two kinds of guests: those who jump, and those who are wise. We are not revealing which ones we are.
Winter
Snow, ice and a warm room
08:30 in the morning
The bus that spoils you
Ski bus on the doorstep, up to the Corvatsch, 120 kilometres of pistes at 3,300 metres above sea level. Leave the digging out to the others – your car is parked safely and warmly in the garage.
13:00 Daytime
Cross-country skiing on the lake
A sentence that sounds wrong and is still true: They are walking right across the lake. It is frozen, the cross-country ski tracks have been set, and nobody finds that strange except you – on the first day.
18:30 Friday evening
The longest night descent in Switzerland
No advertising slogan, but a fact: the longest in Switzerland, illuminated every Friday. Afterwards, mulled wine tastes different when you've earned it.
21:00 Finally
Warm wood
Outside minus ten, inside the wood from 1974. There are more expensive rituals in the Engadin. Hardly any better ones.
Autumn
The month you come back for
10:00 All day
The gold that nobody believes
In October the larches turn so yellow that your photos look edited. They aren't. The low light does half the work, you just need to be outside.
14:00 An outing
Where the stags bellow
Thirty minutes to the national park. Hundreds of red deer graze in the Val Trupchun, and in autumn you can hear the stags roaring – a sound you never forget.
17:00 When it gets dark early
Doing nothing, with a view
October is the season when doing nothing becomes an activity. Shorter days, longer evenings, and a home you are glad to return to.
