An easy, almost level hike that rewards us with incredible glimpses of the lakes of the St Moritz plateau. It can be done in either direction, but here we recommend parking at Maloja (at Capolago, in the forecourt of the Maloja Palace hotel), and taking a regular bus to Silvaplana, the starting point of the hike (from there we will then walk back to the car retracing the "same" route as the bus, only a little higher up the slope).
The bus stop (Maloja Capolago stop) is a few dozen metres away in the direction of St Moritz. From here we take bus line 4, which runs every hour; you can check the timetable on Google Maps. Tickets are bought on board (about 7 Swiss francs each). We get off at the Silvaplana, camping stop (6 stops, a 17-minute ride).
Off the bus, we walk up through the village to join a path that climbs the rocky step facing Silvaplana. Within a few minutes the landscape already opens out over the lake below.
There is not much to tell: on paper the whole route is monotonous. A long up-and-down from Silvaplana to the Maloja Pass. The scenery, however, changes with every kilometre, passing first through dense conifer forests, then out into vast sunny meadows, and now and then crossing boulder fields decorated with larches and firs.
The hike can be done all year round, but it is especially evocative in the last two weeks of October, when the larches put on an explosion of yellows and oranges, and the peaks of the Bernina and the Bregaglia are whitened by the first autumn snow.
The most evocative stretch is the second half of the route, from Foglias to Grevasalvas, so if you are looking for a shorter walk you can limit yourself to going from Plaun da Lej to Foglias.
Along the way we also come across the small village of Grevasalvas (m1950 approx.). There is no shortage of tourists here, drawn by the characteristic architecture and by the landscape surrounding what is known as "Heidi's village". It was here in Grevasalvas, in fact, that between 1974 and 1978 the film crews came to shoot two television series about the life of the lucky fairy-tale figure created by the Swiss writer Johanna Spyri.
From Grevasalvas we continue on a dirt road to Blaunca, then once more on a fine path to Maloja and Capolago, where we left the car.
