Lake Sils

Silsersee lies at about eighteen hundred metres, the largest of the chain of lakes that fills the floor of the Upper Engadin - about 4.1 square kilometres, and the largest natural lake in the Alps above a thousand metres - with the Maloja pass at its far end and the Fex valley opening behind the village. Nietzsche took a room in Sils Maria for seven summers from 1881 and wrote much of Thus Spoke Zarathustra walking these shores; the house is now a small museum, and a plaque on the Chaste peninsula, which juts into the water, carries a passage from Zarathustra. The boulder where, by his own account, the idea of eternal recurrence came to him lies on Lake Silvaplana next door. In winter the frozen lake is cleared for skating and walking, and the Engadin ski marathon starts on its shore at Maloja. The Engadin light - high, dry and clear - is the other reason painters and writers kept coming.

Highlights

• Nietzsche's summers - the Sils Maria house, now a museum.
• The Chaste peninsula - a wooded spur into the lake with a Zarathustra plaque.
• The Engadin light - the high dry clarity that drew painters here.
• A frozen lake in winter - cleared for skating and walking.

When to go

June to October, or midwinter for the ice. A day.

Things to know

The Maloja wind gets up most summer afternoons and roughens the lake. Sils Maria is expensive, being next to St Moritz. The museum is small and keeps short hours. Winter ice is only safe when officially marked.

Nearby

Val Fex is behind the village; Silvaplana and St Moritz are down the valley.

Key facts