Sils is really two villages, Sils Baselgia and Sils Maria, on a flat shelf between two lakes in the Upper Engadin, and it has the particular glow of a place that artists and thinkers have chosen to retire to. Friedrich Nietzsche spent his summers here from 1881 to 1888, renting a small room in a house that is now a museum, and it was on a walk by the lake that he conceived the idea of eternal return. Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse came too. The light, high and clear, has something to do with it.
Lake Sils, the largest of the Engadin lakes, is a long, bright sheet of water backed by a mixture of larch forest and peaks. The wind from the Maloja Pass blows up the valley most afternoons, which makes this a famous place for windsurfing and sailing, and the surface turns a deep blue flecked with white. The Fextal, a side valley behind Sils Maria, is closed to ordinary traffic and offers a quiet walk or cycle into the glacier-fed valley beneath the Fex peaks.
For riding, the road along the lakes between Silvaplana and Maloja is open, broad and easy, with long curves and views across the water. It is not a technical road, but it is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Engadin, and the combination of larch and water is hard to beat. At the end, the Maloja Pass, at 1,815 metres, drops into the Val Bregaglia in a famous series of hairpins toward Italy, a sharp contrast with the gentle valley floor. Take care in those bends, especially in wet weather.
Sils has a handful of hotels, including some grand old ones, as well as cafés and bakeries, but it is not a place for cheap petrol or large supermarkets. St. Moritz, about ten kilometres away, has the larger choice, and Silvaplana is nearer if you need something quick. Engadin specialities include Nusstorte, a dense walnut and caramel tart, and Capuns, a Romansh dish of chard parcels.
The valley is cold, and snow can arrive even in early autumn, so ride with layers. The best months are June for flowers and September for gold larches and still water.