Via Engadina and Via imperiale from Casaccia nach Vinadi

18 November 2025

The Via Engiadina is a hiking tour from Casaccia (Bergell) in Upper Engadin (Oberengadin), on the Italian border, to Vinadi in Lower Engadin (Unterengadin), on the Austrian border.

The Bergell (Val Bregaglia) borders the Veltlin (Valtellina), which was a subject area for more than 250 years (1512-1798), a so-called Untertanengebiet of the Free State of the Three Leagues (Freistaat der Drei Bünde), the forerunner of the canton of Graubünden.

The 140-kilometre route is easy to walk (or cycle) in stages because of the excellent accommodation facilities. The altitude range is 2,500 to 1,086 metres in Vinadi. The hiker is accompanied by art, tourism, history, nature, world-famous places, beautiful villages with Engadine architecture, and famous mountain passes.

Schellen-Ursli (Uorsli) Museum Guarda

Replica of the Schellen-Ursli Haus in Rust (Europapark, (Baden-Württemberg) 

Maloja, Sils Maria (and lake) and St. Moritz (and lake) are the first larger villages in the beautiful mountain landscape. Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899) and the museum dedicated to him in St. Moritz give this landscape an artistic dimension.

Susch

The Inn (En in Romansh) guides Vinadi, passing through Sils and its Waldhaus and museum (Nietsche-Haus).

The tour also passes through Celerina, Beaver, Zuoz (and its beautiful houses (Chesa Planta) and square (Plazzet), Brail (the border between Upper Engadin, Putèr Romansh, and Lower Engadin, Vallader Romansh, Zernez (and the highest peak of Engadin the Piz Linard of 3 410 metres, Wildenberg Castle and the centre of the National Park of Switzerland), Susch, Lavin, Guarda, Ardez, Ftan, Scuol (Bogn Engiadina and Museum of Lower Engadin), Vulpera Tarasp (Castle of Tarasp and Trinkhalle, Foundation Nair in Vulpera), overlooking the Engadine Dolomites, Sent, Vnà, Val Sinestra, Ramosch, Tschlin, Martina and finally Vinadi.

Vinadi is the old border town of the Free State of the Three Leagues; the castle Altfinstermünz on the Austrian side reminds us of this border.

The Via Imperiale

The Via Imperiale in Guarda

  

The ruines of Chanoua, the Via Imperiale near Ardez

Image: Stiftung Chanoua, Grafik Atelier George Jenny Grusch/ Gravure SA Erlach

The Via Imperiale is the old Roman road connecting Como and Tyrol through the Lower Engadine, partly following the Via Engiadina. Near Ardez, in the former, now abandoned hamlet of Chanoua, there is an inn that was in use until 1867. The Lavin-Scuol road in the valley was opened in that year, and the inn was abandoned. For centuries, it served as a place to replace horses and carriages, a stable for livestock, a resting place for travellers and traders, and a storage facility for goods. The impressive ruins are a silent witness to the large complex, mentioned in a 9th-century document.

(Quelle: A. Planta, T. Planta, Alte Talwege im Unterengadin (Chur, 2022)

Impressions of Guarda