Julier · Albula · Flüela Graubünden Triangle

3 passes in 332 km, topping out at 2383 m

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Why this ride

High roads with engineering, rail bridges and clean mountain rhythm. A 332 km loop that starts and ends near Chur, about 6 h 23 of riding. The climbs: Julierpass high road, Albula Pass railway country and Flüelapass high section. It tops out at 2,383 m. Lenzerheide Pass, Albula Pass and Fluela Pass are subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. It is a high-mountain day.

Roadbook

1. Chur fuel gate start · 593 m

   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.

2. Lenzerheide balcony road scenic · 1475 m

   Lenzerheide is a high, wide valley south of Chur, a broad saddle of meadow, forest and small lakes at about 1,475 metres. The twin villages of Lenzerheide and Valbella have fuel, cafes and shops, and Chur, a little more than fourteen kilometres north, has everything else.

   The road from Chur climbs through Churwalden in a series of generous hairpins, with long views down the Rhine valley, then crosses the low watershed above the Heidsee, the lake at the heart of the resort. This pass is not high, just over fifteen hundred metres, but it feels like a proper mountain crossing. The bends are broad and well banked, the surface is smooth and the gradient is comfortable. On the southern side the road drops through Parpan and Lantsch towards Tiefencastel, the junction of the Julier and Albula routes.

   The valley was once a quiet farming district, and its Romansh and German names sit side by side. Tourism arrived with the railways and the first hotels in the nineteenth century, and now Lenzerheide is a big ski resort, with lifts rising on both sides of the valley. In summer the slopes are full of mountain bikers, and the roads can be busy with cyclists as well as cars. The Heidsee is good for a swim on a warm day, though the water stays cold, and a path runs round its shore.

   Weather in the high valley can be fickle, with morning mist, afternoon showers and sudden sunshine, and even in summer you should have a jacket within reach. The best time for a ride is early in the day, when the bends are clear and the light is soft. Autumn is lovely, with larches turning gold along the slopes, and the air smells of woodsmoke and cut grass.

3. Julierpass high road pass · 2284 m

   The Julier is one of the oldest crossings in the Alps, and the summit at 2,284 metres still carries two stumps of stone columns beside the road, thought to be the remains of a Roman shrine. The Romans pushed a road over the pass in the first century, and ever since the route has linked the Oberhalbstein valley with the Engadin, carrying merchants and pilgrims between Chur and the Bergell and the passes south. A small lake sits near the top and a handful of buildings, but there is not much else, and it can be bleak and windy.

   On the south side, the road drops to Silvaplana, a village of under a thousand people on the shore of the lake of the same name, which is known for its wind. The Maloja wind, a steady afternoon breeze from the south-west, draws windsurfers and kitesurfers from across Europe, and gives the lake its choppy blue surface. St Moritz, a few kilometres further and still a place of grand hotels and dear coffee, is the larger town for fuel and food, though a fill-up and a sandwich in the valley are cheaper than at the resort. The north side, going down to Bivio and Savognin, is quieter and more rural, with old farmhouses and walnut-brown barns.

   For riders the Julier is a flowing road more than a technical one: wide and well surfaced, with long sweeping gradients and just a few tight turns, and it is popular with sports bikes in the early morning. The upper part above the tree line is open and exposed, and weather can shift quickly, with cold rain or snow possible in any month. The pass is generally kept open for much of the year, though winter conditions can close it briefly.

   The usual loop on this Graubünden triangle links the Julier with the Albula and the Flüela, a tidy day of high passes and valleys. Light in the early morning is lovely on the lake, with larches turning in autumn. Watch for cyclists on the climb and for the occasional marmot on the verge, and respect the speed limits in the villages.

4. Albula Pass railway country pass · 2315 m

   The Albula Pass is the road, but the railway is the star. At 2,315 metres the pass links the Engadine with the Albula valley and Chur, and it is shadowed by the Rhaetian Railway's Albula line, which climbs through spiral tunnels, over viaducts and under the mountain in the Albula tunnel. UNESCO put this line and the Bernina line on the World Heritage list in 2008, and on a clear day you can watch the red trains from the road.

   The road is a pleasure, and not too frightening. From Bergün on the northern side it climbs through forest and open pasture, passing the old Albula hospice. The gradients are moderate, the bends are well drawn and the surface is generally smooth, though some stretches are narrow and have no barrier. At the summit the landscape turns bare and stony, with small lakes and patches of snow, and the road slips down towards La Punt and the Upper Engadine through a landscape of larch and spruce.

   The Landwasser Viaduct, a graceful curved stone bridge that emerges from a cliff tunnel, is a short distance down the valley and is one of the most photographed railway sights in Switzerland. Bergün itself has a railway museum and a fine old centre, and the lanes of the Engadine villages have the sgraffito-decorated houses typical of the region. The air is thin and clear, and the light in the Engadine is famously bright.

   The Albula is normally closed in winter, with snow lingering well into late spring, so check road conditions for opening dates. Fuel is available in Samedan and La Punt, and in Bergün and Filisur on the other side. Traffic is generally light compared with the nearby Julier, and the road is a good choice for a quiet, thoughtful ride.

5. Flüelapass high section pass · 2383 m

   The scenery is stark: bare rock, screes, snow patches and a handful of small, dark lakes, with the Flüela Wisshorn and the Schwarzhorn rising on either side. Davos, the highest town of its size in the Alps, is ten and a half kilometres away, and Zernez about twelve.

   For a rider, the pass is excellent. Coming from Davos, the road climbs through the Flüelatal in a series of well-engineered bends, with views opening out over the valley and then the dramatic, treeless upper section. The surface is generally good, the barriers are solid and the gradient is steady. The descent towards Susch is steeper and more exposed, with tighter hairpins, a few narrow places and an old hospice at the top, a plain stone building that has sheltered travellers for centuries.

   The pass is closed in winter, normally from about November to May, because of heavy snow and avalanche risk, and a late spring or early autumn storm can shut it for a day or two. Weather at this height can change fast, with cold wind, low cloud and sudden sleet, even in July. Keep a warm layer and gloves in the top case, because the pass is a good fifteen degrees colder than the valleys.

   Davos, in its high valley at over fifteen hundred metres, is known for the World Economic Forum, for the tuberculosis sanatoria that made it famous in the nineteenth century, and for winter sport. Thomas Mann set his novel The Magic Mountain in a Davos sanatorium, and the town still carries some of that air. Fuel and food are plentiful there and in Zernez or Susch on the far side. For the best ride, go early, when the light is raking and the tarmac is empty.

6. Davos food and weather check food · 1560 m

   Davos sits at about 1,560 metres in a long, high valley in eastern Graubünden, and it claims to be the highest city in Europe, which depends on how you count. It has about eleven thousand people and has been a health resort since the nineteenth century, when the dry mountain air was prescribed for tuberculosis, and a sanatorium culture grew up here. Thomas Mann, who visited his wife during her treatment in 1912, based his novel The Magic Mountain on the experience, and the expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner moved to the valley and spent his last years working in the hills.

   Today the town is better known for skiing, mountain biking and the annual World Economic Forum in January, when it fills with security staff and black cars. In summer it is a lively but not very beautiful place, with long Promenade shopping streets and a mixture of hotels and apartment blocks, but it is practical: there is fuel, plenty of food, bike shops and supermarkets. Klosters, down the valley to the north-east, is smaller and prettier.

   The reason riders stop is the weather check. From Davos you can go west on the Flüela pass towards the Engadin or south over the Albula and Julier routes, and conditions on the high roads can change fast, so it is worth reading the sky and looking up the road reports before you set off. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer, and snow can fall on the passes even in August, so it is wise to start in the morning.

   For lunch, Graubünden has its own dishes: Bündnerfleisch, the air-dried beef; pizokel, small dumplings with cheese; Capuns, chard parcels; and nusstorte, the walnut cake from the Engadin. The valley is dry and sunny for much of the year, and the air has a clean, resinous smell. The town fills with traffic on summer weekends and when the Forum meets, so you can save time by avoiding the main street.

7. Landquart return gate stop · 523 m

   Landquart is a railway junction that turned into a town, and a good place to understand how Graubünden ties together. The village lies on the floor of the Rhine valley, a few kilometres north of Chur, at the mouth of the Landquart river, which comes down from the Prättigau and the high passes of the east. It is the point where the Rhaetian Railway, the narrow-gauge line that climbs to Davos and St. Moritz, leaves the main line, and the red trains wait at the platform beside the big Swiss ones. At 523 metres, it is low, mild and often warm, a contrast to the high Alps that lie ahead.

   The countryside around is wine country, and surprisingly good wine country. The Bündner Herrschaft, the stretch of vineyards between Fläsch, Maienfeld, Jenins and Malans, is one of the best places in Switzerland for Pinot Noir, which the locals call Blauburgunder. The Föhn wind warms the slopes in autumn and gives long, mild ripening. Maienfeld is also the setting of Johanna Spyri's Heidi, written in 1880, and the village keeps a Heidi house and a Heidi trail, and busloads of visitors from Japan make the pilgrimage.

   For the rider, Landquart is the end of the Graubünden triangle and the start of the road home. After the Julier, Albula and Flüela passes, the road along the Prättigau drops through forest to the Rhine valley, and the gradient eases, with the last curves under pine and beech, then the A13 motorway with its steady stream of traffic. The vineyard lanes around Malans and Zizers are an agreeable alternative, narrow and quiet, with walls and stone houses, and mornings in October are especially fine.

   Fuel is easy here, with stations in Landquart, Igis and Zizers, and Landquart has a large outlet shopping centre that attracts a lot of traffic. For a meal, try a Bündner Gerstensuppe, the thick barley soup of the region, and a glass of the local Pinot Noir if you are not riding. The vignette is required on the motorway, and speed cameras are frequent in villages. The Flüela and Albula passes close in winter, usually from around November, so check the status before you set out.

8. Back to Chur finish · 593 m

   Back at Chur. That is the ride.

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