At 593 metres, in a wide bend of the Rhine valley, Chur makes a strong claim to be the oldest town in Switzerland, with traces of settlement going back thousands of years and a Roman presence from the first century BC. It has been the seat of a bishop since late antiquity, and the bishop's court, with its cathedral, sits on a terrace above the old town. Down below, the narrow streets and squares of the Altstadt, with painted houses, fountains and arcades, are a pleasant place to wander after a morning in the saddle.
For riders, Chur is the hub of Graubünden, the largest and most mountainous canton in Switzerland, and the starting point for some of the best roads in the Alps. South of the town, the road climbs over the Lenzerheide to the Albula and Julier passes and the Engadine; west, it runs past Flims and the Rhine gorge to the Oberalp pass; east, the dead-end road to Arosa climbs a famous sequence of hundreds of bends up a narrow valley. North, the Rhine valley runs down past the vineyards of the Bündner Herrschaft toward Liechtenstein and Lake Constance. Chur is on the Grand Tour of Switzerland, and you will see plenty of other riders.
The town has all the services you could want: fuel stations on the main roads, motorcycle dealers and workshops, shops and restaurants. Fill up here before heading into the mountains, where stations are fewer and prices higher. The motorway, the A13, requires a Swiss vignette, but the main roads through the valleys do not. Speed limits are strictly enforced in Switzerland, with radar cameras and heavy fines, so ride within the limits.
The Rhaetian Railway, Graubünden's narrow-gauge mountain railway, has its headquarters in Chur, and its trains climb into the mountains from here, including the line to Arosa and the routes over the Albula and Bernina to St. Moritz and Tirano. Watching a red train winding up a valley is part of the scenery of Graubünden.
Graubünden's cuisine is hearty and distinctive. Try capuns, chard leaves wrapped around a dough of flour, egg and dried meat, cooked in milk and cheese, or pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with potatoes, cabbage and cheese. For dessert, the Bündner Nusstorte, a pastry filled with caramelised walnuts, keeps well and makes a good snack on the road. The Bündner Herrschaft produces excellent Pinot Noir, best enjoyed in the evening, once the bike is parked for the night.