Balcony from Silvaplana to the Maloja Pass

Easy hike on a gentle slope that offers incredible views of the lakes of the Saint Moritz plateau. It can be done in both directions, but we recommend parking at Maloja (in Capolago, at the Maloja Palace hotel's parking lot) and taking a bus to Silvaplana, the starting point of the hike (from there, we'll return to the car by retracing the "same" bus route, just a bit higher up on the hillside).

The bus stop (Maloja Capolago) is just a few tens of meters towards Saint Moritz. From here, we take bus line 4, which runs every hour—you can check the schedule on Google Maps. Tickets are purchased on board (around 7 Swiss francs per person!). We get off at the Silvaplana, camping stop (6 stops, 17 minutes travel time).

After getting off the bus, we walk up the village to find a trail that climbs the rocky bluff in front of Silvaplana. In just a few minutes, the landscape already opens up to the lake below.

There isn't much to tell: the entire route is, on paper, monotonous. A long up-and-down from Silvaplana to the Maloja Pass. However, the landscapes change with every kilometer, passing through dense coniferous forests, emerging into vast sunny meadows, and occasionally encountering rocky areas adorned with larches and firs.

The hike can be done all year round, but it's particularly beautiful in the last two weeks of October when the larches explode in yellows and oranges, and the peaks of the Bernina and Bregaglia are dusted with the first snows of autumn.

The most scenic stretch is the second half of the route, from Foglias to Grevasalvas, so if you're looking for a shorter route, you can limit yourself to going from Plaun da Lej to Foglias.

Along the route, you'll also come across the small village of Grevasalvas (about 1950m). Tourists abound here, drawn by the distinctive architecture and the landscape surrounding what is known as the "Heidi village." Indeed, between 1974 and 1978, the crews that filmed two television series about the life of the beloved fictional character created by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri moved here.

From Grevalsalvas, we continue on a dirt road to Blaunca, then back on a beautiful trail to Maloja and Capolago where we left the car.