Val Roseg

Val Roseg runs south from Pontresina toward Piz Roseg and Piz Bernina, and the track up it is closed to private traffic, so the valley is walked, cycled or crossed by horse carriage - about seven kilometres of gentle gradient through larch and stone pine beside a milky glacial river. At the head stands the Roseg glacier, much reduced from its nineteenth-century extent, with a proglacial lake that has formed and grown as the ice retreated. The Hotel Roseggletscher part-way up has been serving walkers for over a century and is known for a dessert buffet that people plan the walk around. In winter the track is groomed for cross-country skiing and sleighs replace the carriages. Two Alpine Club huts, the Coaz and the Tschierva, stand near the glaciers, and most of the valley is an exclave of the commune of Samedan.

The landscape

• No private cars - carriages, walking and cycling only.
• The Roseg glacier at the head - with a lake that grew as the ice pulled back.
• A century-old hotel - the mid-valley stop with its dessert buffet.
• Larch and stone pine - the woods along the glacial river.

When to go

June to October, or winter for sleighs. Half a day.

Things to know

It is seven kilometres each way on foot - easy but long; carriages run to demand and cost accordingly. The glacier is far smaller than old images show. Weather at the head is colder than Pontresina. The hotel fills at lunchtime.

Nearby

Pontresina is at the mouth; Morteratsch and Diavolezza are east.

Key facts