Sils Maria, before you book
Sils Maria lies at 1802 metres in the Upper Engadin, caught between Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana, home to around 810 people. The train from Zurich takes about three and a half hours, with two changes onto the Rhaetian Railway and then the Engadin Bus; from St. Moritz, the nearest hub, the same bus takes about 24 minutes. Most of the village is practically traffic-free by the tourist office’s own description, though Sils is not a car-free resort by rule.
Geography splits the choice into three. Sils Maria, the larger of the two villages, grew up around the old Meierei, a manor farm, and holds the Nietzsche-Haus in its centre. Sils Baselgia, smaller and closer to the lake, formed around the church of San Lurench, first recorded in 1356. Above both, the Fex valley bars private cars past its entrance car park, so its one hotel reaches its guests by its own bus instead.
The choice of hotels spans a similar range: the five-star Waldhaus has been run by the same family for five generations, with a history the hotel calls over a century old, while the Edelweiss keeps the country’s unique, listed Art Nouveau dining hall on Via da Marias. Smaller, family-run addresses complete the picture, from the Seraina’s six apartments to the fifteen rooms of the Hotel Fex, reachable only by the hotel’s own bus.
Hotels here work to two seasons rather than one long summer: most close for around two months between mid-October and mid-December, so the calendar is worth checking before you book. Walkers come for the Furtschellas-Corvatsch cableway, which reaches 3303 metres, the highest station in the canton, and for marked routes such as the Via Gastronomica down into Val Fex. From Zurich Airport, the same three-and-a-half-hour train ride applies, changing onto the Rhaetian Railway and then the Engadin Bus.
