Via Engiadina Winter. Stage 1, Zernez – Guarda

From the Zernez train station, the path leads through the village towards the church. Below the church, the path leads towards the village exit to the edge of the forest. Soon the winter hiking trail and the cross-country ski track share the route until Susch. Here the path goes through the village, where there are also places to stop for food and drink, across the bridge to Sur Punt and to the eastern edge of the village. From here, you cross wide fields, enter a fairy-tale forest at Foura da Baldirun, and soon reach the next Engadin village, Lavin, across the wide plain opposite Sagliains. Here the path crosses the Inn over the covered wooden bridge and walks through the village with its Italian flair and palazzo-like houses. Approaching the east end of Lavin, you can already see Guarda high above on the terraces to the left downhill. Once you pass east of the church of San Güerg under the bypass road and the railway tracks, the route ascends steadily over terraces and fields, past the ruins of Gonda to the entrance of the Val Tuoi. The stream is crossed here at the old sawmill before the last altitude meters to Guarda are mastered parallel to the main road. The home village of Schellen-Ursli invites you to stop, linger and marvel at the picturesque village squares and Engadin houses.