Hiking route Murtèl – Coazhütte – Pontresina in Fall

Getting there

This rather remote region of Switzerland offers spectacular landscapes. It was my first time in this region, and it required quite some planning coming from Geneva. It’s already more than 3 h coming from Zürich, to which you need to add another up to 3 h if you’re coming from the Romandie. Whether it’s worth coming for a single weekend or not, it’s up to everyone to decide, but I’m so happy I did this stunning hike! After visiting this region, I’m even more convinced that I want to visit again and enjoy the region more.

Starting point: Murtèl

Finishing point: Pontresina

Distance: 25 km

Total time: 7-8 h of hiking time

Elevation gain: 558 m of elevation

Fitness difficulty: Moderate

Technical difficulty: Moderate

Facilities: The hike starts in a cable car station, which has food and toilets. There’s a restaurant in Fuorcla Surlej. If you stop at the Coaz hut, it is fully equipped. Before reaching Pontresina, there’s the Hotel Restaurant Roseg Gletscher, which can also be a stopping point if needed. There were some carriages there that can carry passengers towards Pontresina too.

Notes:

• When I went at the end of September, I had no issues with the hut reservation. However, in summer it’s a good idea to book in advance, especially for the weekends. The hut is closed in winter.
• It is possible to start the hike from Silvaplana if one doesn’t want to take the cable car. It adds about 900 m of elevation gain. In the hut, we talked to a guy who did that, and he said it was not particularly interesting, so unless you want to do it for fitness, it might not be worth it.
• While based on the distance and time this can be a one day hike, this is quite a remote area, so unless you live around or staying for several days in the region it makes sense to split the hike. The Chamanna Coaz makes a great stopping point, with gorgeous sunset & sunrise views. There’s more hotels in the cities around it as well.
• If you’re going in September, the trees are still not yellow, which probably starts happening in October-November.

The hike

In the morning, we drove from Zurich to Silvaplana, which took us about 3 h. Thus, we started the hike in the afternoon, right after lunch.

Ascending from Murtèl to Fuorcla Surlej

We took the cable car from Silvaplana until Murtèl, where the route was starting. There was a short ascent, during which we were passing by skiing areas and could see some artificial snow already on the slopes. We then reached Fuorcla Surlej, where there was a restaurant with spectacular views of the surrounding glaciers. While still quite close to the departure point, it was a nice place for a break.

Overnight at the Coaz hut

From Fuorcla Surlej we already headed towards the Coaz hut. We could see the hut from quite some distance already, so we could see the whole progression from seeing a tiny shiny building in the mountains, so reaching it and seeing it full size. The way to the hut from Murtèl is of around 9 km and has an elevation gain of 250 m. The views during the hike are great – glaciers on the background -, and we could hear the marmots, although we didn’t get to see them.

We reached the hut for dinner time, at 18:00. The hosts were really nice, and dinner was great – a pumpkin soup, a curry with rice, and a cake for dessert. While I don’t sleep the best in huts, it was overall quite comfortable and had great views. There’s no showers in this hut.

We watched the sunset from the hut, and then waited to see the stars and the moon coming up at night. It was gorgeous! I definetly need to do overnight hut stays more often.

Side quest to the glacier Vadret da Roseg

After breakfast, we headed towards the glacier Roseg. I find glaciers to be stunning, but it’s also so sad to see how they were (something you can always do in the huts) and how they are now. This glacier has also shrank substantially, and I’m sure once upon a time you could almost touch it from the hut, but now one needed to climb an additional 30 min to reach it. The trip was totally worth it, and we could approach this spectacular glacier and see the sunrise from it.

Heading towards Pontresina

The way to Pontresina was quite long, so we started right after the glacier, as we still had to return to Zurich in the afternoon. The way back was long, but relatively straightforward. There was a challenging area though – there had been a landslide, so in one part there was no path and we had to cross the unstable rocks. I think we must have taken the wrong path, as we did see that one of the ways to Pontresina was closed (the one passing close to the lake), and intended to take the alternative one. We certainly did not descend to the lake, but crossing the landslide area was not very comfortable. Fortunately it was only a short path, and we might have taked the wrong route accidentally.

For the rest of the hike, we had no incidents. We could pick up some wild blueberries on the way, we enjoyed walking next to the river, and look with curiosity to some sculptures already towards the end of the hike, as well as trying to figure out what the interactive game for kids was about on the route. The highlight was that under one rock there was a taxidermed fox – a little bit creepy, but it certainly served as a joke for the rest of the trip.

Highlights of the hike

• The stay at the hut offers the possibility of seeing the sunset over the lake. Stargazing in such remote areas is also amazing!
• The glacier visit was stunning – I love visiting glaciers!

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