The Swiss National Park

Founded in 1914, this is the oldest national park in the Alps and it operates on a principle that is unusual anywhere: total non-intervention. Nothing is planted, nothing is culled, dead trees are left where they fall, and the forest is allowed to do whatever it does without management. The rules for visitors are correspondingly strict. You must stay on the marked paths at all times, camping and fires are forbidden, dogs are not allowed at all, and picking anything, including flowers and berries, is prohibited. What you get in return is genuine wildness within a small country: ibex and chamois on the slopes, marmots whistling from the scree, red deer in the valleys, and bearded vultures overhead after a reintroduction programme that has become one of the park's quiet successes.

What's there

• The visitor centre in Zernez - the orientation point, with exhibitions on the park's non-intervention philosophy.
• Val Trupchun - the classic wildlife valley, best in autumn during the red deer rut.
• Lakes of Macun - a high plateau of small lakes reached by a long, demanding day walk.
• Ofenpass trails - shorter marked routes leaving directly from the road for a half-day visit.

When to go

The park is effectively a summer and autumn destination, with trails open from roughly June once the snow clears until October. Autumn is the best wildlife time, when the deer are rutting and the larches turn. In winter the paths are closed and the park is left to itself.

What to expect

The rules are enforced, and the point of the park is not recreation. There are no facilities inside, no shortcuts, and no picnicking off the path. Wildlife sightings need patience and binoculars rather than luck, and the walks are proper mountain routes with real ascent. Anyone expecting an alpine playground will be happier elsewhere in Graubünden.

Nearby

Zernez sits at the park gate; the Engadine valley runs towards Scuol and its thermal baths in one direction and St Moritz in the other.

Key facts