Corvatsch Panorama Trail

This wonderful panorama trail near St. Moritz has spectacular views, with spiky peaks behind us, lush meadows all around us, and below us, the whole Engadin valley with icy blue Silvaplana lake. 

The hike wasn’t super hard, but it was a proper hike with some up and down in elevation. Our boys (5 and 8 at the time) were a little lazy and complained quite a bit on the uphill parts. But we made it and it was definitely worth it. There are playgrounds and cafes at both cable car stations. There are a couple grill pits on the second half of the trail. 

Location

This trail is located in the Engadin in southeastern Switzerland near St. Moritz. See on Google Maps.

Corvatsch area overview

Here is the summer hiking map for the Corvatsch area. Our trail is the pink #8 Panorama trail. 

Hiking map

The trail starts at the middle station on the Surlej – Corvatsch lifts, which is called Murtèl. The trail meanders across the mountain to the Furtschellas-Sils lift, where you can ride down and catch a bus back to your starting point.

View interactive trail map, print map, and download GPS on Komoot • SchweizMobil • OutdoorActive • AllTrails

The trail is mostly a narrow dirt alpine trail, not suitable for strollers. It’s not difficult, but 6 km was a bit of a challenge for our 5 year old. 

How to get there

This is very far from Zurich, better if you are staying in the Engadin area. This hike is closest to St. Moritz but there are many villages in the area where you can stay.

By car: Drive to Surlej, about 10 mins south of St. Moritz (Via dal Corvatsch 76, 7513 Silvaplana). Park in the metered lot near the Corvatschbahn. At the end of your hike, you can take a bus back here.

By transit: Take a train to Bever, then a bus to Surlej, Corvatschbahn, which is adjacent to the cable car station.

Ticket prices

Buy the “Wanderticket” or Hiking Ticket, which means up from Surlej to the Murtel middle station on the Corvatschbahn, then a return ticket at the other end of the trail from the Furtschellas station to Sils. 

In 2022, this hiking ticket costs: Adult CHF 46, Child 6-15 CHF 23, under 6 and Junior Card free. Discount with GA, SBB Half-fare,  and Swiss Travel Pass. Free with the Engadin Mountains Railways Inclusive offer.

You’ll also need a bus ticket to take you back to your starting point. The bus from Furtschellas to St Moritz is about CHF 8.40 one way. If you parked at the Corvatsch cable car, the bus from Furtschellas to the Corvatsch cable car parking is about CHF 5.60 one way. 

Photo story of trail

Starting the trail at Murtèl

The view from the Murtèl middle station down to the valley is spectacular.

This is looking up from Murtèl to the Corvatsch peak. For a few more francs, you can go to the very top and have a look around before coming back to Murtèl to start your hike.

At Murtèl, there’s a cafe with outdoor seating facing the Corvatch peak, a little barrwn. There’s also a playground with swings, teeter-totter, person-sized chessboard. When you are ready to hike, follow signs to Furtschellas.

Here’s the view easy of Murtèl middle station, still rocky, but with some green mixed in.

A rocky start on the trail

The trail is advertised as 2hr30 and it took us about 3hrs, with a super slow 5 year old, lots of breaks, and picnic time. Here’s the start of the trail below the Murtèl station, very rocky and steep in parts.

The first 20 mins or so is down some rocky switchbacks as shown here. No strollers on this hike – too rocky. Not particularly difficult or dangerous but very little ones will need a hand to hold.

Crossing under the cable car line.

We had some encounters with cows.

Through the meadows

The trail goes back uphill for a bit, which was a little discouraging for our boys to go down only to have to go back up again. But such is life and important life lessons are taught on the trail, right?

Now the trail wanders through meadows filled with wildflowers.

Here’s what you’ll be looking at most of the time. The lake really is that color – super cool, especially because the other lakes are not this color.

The rest of the trail meanders through lush meadows like this one, full of wildflowers at the end of July.

After about 1hr30min, we came to this river which made a perfect picnic spot. Everyone in our family is happier near water.

Here is our picnic spot on the rocks by the river. We ate a cold lunch that day. But if you want to grill, you can hike a bit further to the little lakes shown below where there were a least two Feuerstellen with grills, wood, and tables.

Join the Wasserweg trail

The later part of our trail joined up with the Wasserweg trail, a children’s theme trail that passes by six little lakes, which starts and ends at the Furtschellas station. It has an accompanying activity book.

We considered doing the Wasserweg instead, but in retrospect, I’m glad we didn’t because it starts with a long steep elevation gain from the Furtschellas station. That would have discouraged our little hikers right from the start. So hitting the second half of the Wasserweg trail was a much better option for us.

Here’s lake #4 from the Wasserweg trail. There is a picnic area up on the right with a fire pit & grill.

This overview pic shows where the lake is located under the mountains. 

Here’s lake #5, more like a pond.

Ending at Furtschellas

The last 1.5 km to the cable car station is a lovely walk with lots of variety in the landscape.

You can see catch views of the lakes below.

More the trail before it dips down to the Furtschellas station.

Almost done.

Here is the cable car station at Furtschellas. The last bit of the trail has some steep switchbacks but I didn’t get any pics because we were running to catch the cable car. 

The Furtschellas playground has swings, slides, teeter-totter, and water play. There are some animals nearby in a mini “petting zoo.” There is a cafe and sun chairs so adults can lounge while the kids play. This has probably changed since our visit in 2012, hopefully even better.

The Furtschellas cable car runs every 30 mins, and the valley bus runs once an hour, so check the schedules before you go so you don’t miss the bus. There’s not much to do at the bottom of the Furtschellas cable car while you wait for the bus. Better to stay up top at the playground and take the cable car that matches up with the bus time.