Lake Sils

Silsersee lies at about eighteen hundred metres, the largest of the chain of lakes that fills the floor of the Upper Engadin, 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 the rock by the lake at Chaste where he is said to have had the eternal-recurrence thought is marked. The Chaste peninsula juts into the water on a moraine. In winter the frozen lake is cleared for skating and walking. The Engadin light - high, dry and clear - is the other reason painters and writers kept coming.

What you actually see

• Nietzsche's summers - the Sils Maria house, now a museum.
• The Chaste peninsula - a moraine spur into the lake with the marked rock.
• 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.

Honest expectations

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.