Left: Fellaria Glacier Est - Lanzada (Alpe Fellaria, Sondrio), Italy.
Center: View from Giardino Botanico Alpino Rezia in Bormio - view over upper Valtellina.
Right: View over Lago Cancano and its dam.
Background
We feel like an old German couple. Like the ones we’ve met throughout the years, couples that have a yearly hiking vacation in the Alps locked in around Jan 1. Months before the start of the vacation, there is much studying of trails, buying of new hiking socks, and tweaking of gear to maximize the experience. What are the specialties of the valley? What mountain huts (rifugi) will we eat at? What shouldn’t be missed? Despite the often-onerous preparations, it’s an important mental break for us that leaves us with great memories.
So, we keep on doing it as long as our legs can carry us. Which brings us to Alice, a woman we met on our our last hike. She is Swiss, 80 years old and was hiking from Moloja, Switzerland to Poschiavo, Switzerland passing through Italy for several days. She was alone with a big backpack and no cell phone. Our paths crossed near the Campagneda Pass, just steps from the Italian/Swiss border. We only talked with her for about 20 minutes but she left a lasting impression with her candor, strength, and humor. After meeting her and every time we came to difficult part of the trail, we would say "But Alice did this!".
Here are some past hiking weeks:
In 2018: Six Days in Val Badia - Dolomites: Hiking, Walking, and Dining
In 2020: A Hiking Week in the Dolomites, Val Badia and Val Gardena
In 2021: A Hiking Week in Cortina d'Ampezzo – Six Hikes over 100 Kilometers – 10 Tips
In 2023: A Week in Merano, Italy – Hiking
In 2024: One Week of Hiking in Val di Funes (Villnöss) - Suggested Hikes
Usually, we target about a week to get in 5 to 6 hikes and usually in June if we can, though September is our second choice. The month of June is before the busy hiking season starts (more in July) and the summer heat hits. Going earlier in the season, you run the risk of not finding mountain huts (rifugi) open, but you can always bring food with you.
Day 1: Drive to Tirano, Italy. Stay the night. (You can take a train from Bergamo/Milan to Tirano.)
Day 2: Board the Bernina Express from Tirano to Chur, Switzerland. Stay the night.
Day 3: Return to Tirano and continue up the value to Valfurva and stay in B&B 4 nights.
Day 4: Hike 1 – Forni Glacier and Rifugio Branca (lunch).
Day 5: Hike 2 – Val Zebrù and Rifugio Campo (lunch).
Day 6: Hike 3 – Valley of Gran Zebrù and Rifugio Pizzini (lunch).
Day 7: Explore botanical garden of Bormio and lunch at Lago di Cancano – Rifugio Solena. Drive to Rifugio Zoia above Sondrio and stay 3 nights.
Day 8: Hike 4 – Fellaria Glazier and Rifugio Bignami (lunch).
Day 9: Hike 5 – Alpe Val Poschiavina and Rifugio Cristina.
Day 10: Return to Bergamo.
We had always heard about the Bernina Express and decided to add this adventure to beginning of our hiking week. The train connecting Tirano (Italy) to Chur (Switzerland) was built between 1908 and 1910 and is an engineering marvel. It takes about 4 to 4.5 hours each way. The train is “express” not because it is fast but because it makes fewer stops and is designed for a scenic, uninterrupted experience.
Here are some past hiking weeks:
In 2018: Six Days in Val Badia - Dolomites: Hiking, Walking, and Dining
In 2020: A Hiking Week in the Dolomites, Val Badia and Val Gardena
In 2021: A Hiking Week in Cortina d'Ampezzo – Six Hikes over 100 Kilometers – 10 Tips
In 2023: A Week in Merano, Italy – Hiking
In 2024: One Week of Hiking in Val di Funes (Villnöss) - Suggested Hikes
Usually, we target about a week to get in 5 to 6 hikes and usually in June if we can, though September is our second choice. The month of June is before the busy hiking season starts (more in July) and the summer heat hits. Going earlier in the season, you run the risk of not finding mountain huts (rifugi) open, but you can always bring food with you.
Itinerary
Day 1: Drive to Tirano, Italy. Stay the night. (You can take a train from Bergamo/Milan to Tirano.)
Day 2: Board the Bernina Express from Tirano to Chur, Switzerland. Stay the night.
Day 3: Return to Tirano and continue up the value to Valfurva and stay in B&B 4 nights.
Day 4: Hike 1 – Forni Glacier and Rifugio Branca (lunch).
Day 5: Hike 2 – Val Zebrù and Rifugio Campo (lunch).
Day 6: Hike 3 – Valley of Gran Zebrù and Rifugio Pizzini (lunch).
Day 7: Explore botanical garden of Bormio and lunch at Lago di Cancano – Rifugio Solena. Drive to Rifugio Zoia above Sondrio and stay 3 nights.
Day 8: Hike 4 – Fellaria Glazier and Rifugio Bignami (lunch).
Day 9: Hike 5 – Alpe Val Poschiavina and Rifugio Cristina.
Day 10: Return to Bergamo.
Bernina Express
We had always heard about the Bernina Express and decided to add this adventure to beginning of our hiking week. The train connecting Tirano (Italy) to Chur (Switzerland) was built between 1908 and 1910 and is an engineering marvel. It takes about 4 to 4.5 hours each way. The train is “express” not because it is fast but because it makes fewer stops and is designed for a scenic, uninterrupted experience.
Local trains run on the same tracks operated by Rhaetian Railways (RhB) as well. These trains make more frequent stops and are often used by commuters or hikers hopping on and off. They don’t require seat reservations and are typically more flexible (and less expensive), though they lack the panoramic cars and tourist-focused commentary. Next time, we might consider the local trains to move around and do some hiking.
Rhaetian means “of Raetia” and refers to the ancient Alpine region that is today the Swiss Canton of Graubünden (Grisons) and adjoining areas. Before the Romans came along, the Raeti were a loose confederation of Alpine tribes in what’s now eastern Switzerland, Tyrol (Austria) and parts of northern Italy. They spoke a language closely related to Etruscan. After Rome conquered the Raeti in 15 BC, their lands became the province of Raetia—hence the adjective “Rhaetian.” When the Rhaetian Railway was founded in the late 19th century, it adopted this regional name—Rhätische Bahn in German—to signal that it serves the territory of the old Raetia.
Most riders on the Bernina Express take the train just one way, not both like we did, as they typically combing the route with a larger trip throughout Italy and Switzerland. We had left our car in Tirano and needed to get back to it, so we took the trip twice, going and returning. At first, we thought it might be boring, but it turned out that in our case the weather was night and day from our two trips - just 1 day apart. Going to Chur we had sunny skies and warm weather. Coming back, we had gray skies and storms with hail. The drastic change in weather made it seem like an entirely different trip, and we were happy with that.
At one point on our trip back to Tirano, at Ospizio Bernina, we had hail pelting our panoramic windows. Would they hold? Yes, they would. The Ospizio Bernina station is at 2,253 m (7,392 ft), the high point of the line. For reference, Tirano is at 429 m (1,407 ft) and Chur is at 585 m (1,919 ft). That train has to climb and descend a lot, mostly done with spiraling tracks.
Left: Pizzoccheri at Rifugio Campo, Val Zebrù.
Sentiero Glaciologico L. Marson Fellaria
One thing that quickly becomes apparent after spending just a few days in the Valtellina area is how important hydroelectric power is. Valtellina delivers about 12% of Italy’s hydroelectiric production and half of Lombardy’s.
Both the Forni and Fellaria glacier meltwater feed into this system. In particular, the Forni Glacier feeds in to the Add River basin which runs through the Valtellina valley into the top of Lago Como and out the bottom by Lecco and eventually reaching the Po River.
As glaciers like Forni and Fellaria shrink, the “compensation effect” that once smoothed out summer low-flows weakens further. That makes early-season windfalls ever sharper—and late-season shortfalls likely—pushing grid planners to lean even more on storage hydropower, inter-basin transfers and complementary renewables.
What’s also impressive but not clear at first glance are the system of artificial canals that move water around the area. For example, meltwater from Forni could end up in the Cancano Lake (25 km away as the crow flies) through a system of artificial canals and pumping stations. It’s mind boggling. On our rest day between Hike 3 and Hike 4, we were eating lunch above Cancano Lake thinking about this.
We visited this little gem in Bormio on our transfer day from Valfurva to Chiesa in Valmalenco. In the title, “Rezia” is simply the Italian form of Rhaetia, as mentioned above, the old Roman‐era name for this high Alpine area. Located at about 1,350–1,400 m on the slopes above Bormio in Stelvio National Park, this Alpine botanical garden was conceived by botanist Giovanni Fornaciari and officially opened in 1982.
The garden is open daily from June through September—admission is free—the garden is both a peaceful “balcony” on the Magnificent Alps and a living laboratory.
The other thing we like to do on these hiking trips is find a base where we can use our car as little as possible and still get to as many hiking trailheads as possible. If we can, we pick one lodging for the week and if available half board where breakfast and dinner are included.
This year, 2025, we mixed it up a little and tried something different by having two bases of operation and one of them didn’t have half board. And we tacked on a “little” train trip at the beginning of the week, still Alps-related.
Left: Bormio Botanical Garden - a section of garden.
Right: Botanical Garden Bormio - activities for getting to know plants like "Taneda". Taneda is a digestive liqueur of Valtellina origins prepared with the flowers of Achillea erba-rotta moschata , also known as erba iva, called "taneda" in the Bormino dialect
Rhaetian means “of Raetia” and refers to the ancient Alpine region that is today the Swiss Canton of Graubünden (Grisons) and adjoining areas. Before the Romans came along, the Raeti were a loose confederation of Alpine tribes in what’s now eastern Switzerland, Tyrol (Austria) and parts of northern Italy. They spoke a language closely related to Etruscan. After Rome conquered the Raeti in 15 BC, their lands became the province of Raetia—hence the adjective “Rhaetian.” When the Rhaetian Railway was founded in the late 19th century, it adopted this regional name—Rhätische Bahn in German—to signal that it serves the territory of the old Raetia.
Most riders on the Bernina Express take the train just one way, not both like we did, as they typically combing the route with a larger trip throughout Italy and Switzerland. We had left our car in Tirano and needed to get back to it, so we took the trip twice, going and returning. At first, we thought it might be boring, but it turned out that in our case the weather was night and day from our two trips - just 1 day apart. Going to Chur we had sunny skies and warm weather. Coming back, we had gray skies and storms with hail. The drastic change in weather made it seem like an entirely different trip, and we were happy with that.
At one point on our trip back to Tirano, at Ospizio Bernina, we had hail pelting our panoramic windows. Would they hold? Yes, they would. The Ospizio Bernina station is at 2,253 m (7,392 ft), the high point of the line. For reference, Tirano is at 429 m (1,407 ft) and Chur is at 585 m (1,919 ft). That train has to climb and descend a lot, mostly done with spiraling tracks.
Left: Bernina Express - near Poschiavo.
Center: Bernina Express - Lago Bianco.
Right: Bernina Express - Alvaneu Valley, Switzerland.
Right: Bernina Express - Alvaneu Valley, Switzerland.
Left: Bernina Express - View from Poschiavo Valley from Alpe Grüm.
Center: The Bernina Express train stopped at Alpe Grüm.
Right: Bernina Express - countryside near Surava, Switzerland.
Center: The Bernina Express train stopped at Alpe Grüm.
Right: Bernina Express - countryside near Surava, Switzerland.
Left: Bernina Express - Landwasser Viaduct.
Right: Bernina Express - Brusio Viaduct.
Our typical hike day was to carry just the basics — water, clothes, snacks, poles—and then eat our lunch at a mountain hut or rifugio. That generally worked out well but always check ahead to see if a rifugio you are heading to is open. Rifugi offer hearty meals, and you can find something to satisfy omnivores, gluten-free, and vegetarians. One typical dish you’ll see a lot in the Valtellina, in particular at rifugi, is pizzoccheri, a local pasta dish. See the post The Many Faces of Pizzoccheri for info on this pasta dish.
For dinner during the Valfurva segment of the trip, we either walked to something close to our B&B (Chrys B&B) or we drove the 7 minutes into Bormio. Enoteca Guanella e Ristorante dell'Enoteca and Osteria La Bajona were our go-to spots in Bormio.
For dinner during the Chiesa in Valmalenco segment of the trip, we had half-board dinners at Rifugio Zoia. It’s so nice to come back from a day of hiking and not have to worry about where to eat. We highly recommend Rifugio Zoia. Such nice people and options for private bathrooms in rooms was very appreciated.
Other things to be on the lookout foodwise in the Valtellina are sciatt – a kind of fritter with cheese and bresaola – an air-dried, lean salted beef made from the eye-round (the “top inside” cut).
Right: Bernina Express - Brusio Viaduct.
Eating
Our typical hike day was to carry just the basics — water, clothes, snacks, poles—and then eat our lunch at a mountain hut or rifugio. That generally worked out well but always check ahead to see if a rifugio you are heading to is open. Rifugi offer hearty meals, and you can find something to satisfy omnivores, gluten-free, and vegetarians. One typical dish you’ll see a lot in the Valtellina, in particular at rifugi, is pizzoccheri, a local pasta dish. See the post The Many Faces of Pizzoccheri for info on this pasta dish.
For dinner during the Valfurva segment of the trip, we either walked to something close to our B&B (Chrys B&B) or we drove the 7 minutes into Bormio. Enoteca Guanella e Ristorante dell'Enoteca and Osteria La Bajona were our go-to spots in Bormio.
For dinner during the Chiesa in Valmalenco segment of the trip, we had half-board dinners at Rifugio Zoia. It’s so nice to come back from a day of hiking and not have to worry about where to eat. We highly recommend Rifugio Zoia. Such nice people and options for private bathrooms in rooms was very appreciated.
Other things to be on the lookout foodwise in the Valtellina are sciatt – a kind of fritter with cheese and bresaola – an air-dried, lean salted beef made from the eye-round (the “top inside” cut).
Left: Pizzoccheri at Rifugio Campo, Val Zebrù.
Right: Sciatt and bresaola at Rifugio Bignami, Alpe Fellaria.
One of the motivations for this trip was to see two glaciers: Forni Glacier and Fellaria Glacier.
The Forni Glacier sits above Santa Caterina Valfurva (in Stelvio National Park) and remains one of the Italian Alps’ true giants, covering about 13 km². By contrast the Fellaria Glacier is part of the Fellaria–Palü system in Valmalenco, which in the late 1800s spanned roughly 24 km² but has since lost almost half its ice; today its two tongues together extend only around 12 km² or so. We visited Forni Glacier on Hike 1 and 3. We visited Fellaria Glacier on Hike 4.
Both glaciers shave undergone marked retreat over the past century. As we followed the Sentiero Glaciologico Alto dei Forni to get close to the tongue of the glacier, we saw blue spray paint on rocks indicating a date that implied where the glacier used to be. On our way to Fellaria East glacier following the Sentiero Glaciologico Luigin Marson (C), there were very informative signs along the trail that explained what we were seeing and how much the glacier has retreated. In both cases, just walking the distance the glaciers are retreated in just the last 10 years is sobering.
Fellaria–Palü began its major drawdown right after the Little Ice Age, splitting into eastern and western lobes by the 1930s and steadily shrinking thereafter. Forni, after remaining relatively stable during the cooler 1960s–70s, resumed a sharp retreat from the 1980s onward: its tongue has pulled back several hundred meters, its medial moraines have become debris-laden and each summer yields roaring meltwater streams from the ice front.
Glaciers
One of the motivations for this trip was to see two glaciers: Forni Glacier and Fellaria Glacier.
The Forni Glacier sits above Santa Caterina Valfurva (in Stelvio National Park) and remains one of the Italian Alps’ true giants, covering about 13 km². By contrast the Fellaria Glacier is part of the Fellaria–Palü system in Valmalenco, which in the late 1800s spanned roughly 24 km² but has since lost almost half its ice; today its two tongues together extend only around 12 km² or so. We visited Forni Glacier on Hike 1 and 3. We visited Fellaria Glacier on Hike 4.
Both glaciers shave undergone marked retreat over the past century. As we followed the Sentiero Glaciologico Alto dei Forni to get close to the tongue of the glacier, we saw blue spray paint on rocks indicating a date that implied where the glacier used to be. On our way to Fellaria East glacier following the Sentiero Glaciologico Luigin Marson (C), there were very informative signs along the trail that explained what we were seeing and how much the glacier has retreated. In both cases, just walking the distance the glaciers are retreated in just the last 10 years is sobering.
Fellaria–Palü began its major drawdown right after the Little Ice Age, splitting into eastern and western lobes by the 1930s and steadily shrinking thereafter. Forni, after remaining relatively stable during the cooler 1960s–70s, resumed a sharp retreat from the 1980s onward: its tongue has pulled back several hundred meters, its medial moraines have become debris-laden and each summer yields roaring meltwater streams from the ice front.
Left: Fellaria Glacier Est Italy (Bernina Group).
Center: Forni Glacier (Santa Caterina di Valfurva, Italy)
Right: Forni Glacier tongue.
Center: Forni Glacier (Santa Caterina di Valfurva, Italy)
Right: Forni Glacier tongue.
Sentiero Glaciologico L. Marson Fellaria
For another glacier-related post, see Presena Glacier – A summer visit to the covered glacier.
Hydroelectric
One thing that quickly becomes apparent after spending just a few days in the Valtellina area is how important hydroelectric power is. Valtellina delivers about 12% of Italy’s hydroelectiric production and half of Lombardy’s.
Both the Forni and Fellaria glacier meltwater feed into this system. In particular, the Forni Glacier feeds in to the Add River basin which runs through the Valtellina valley into the top of Lago Como and out the bottom by Lecco and eventually reaching the Po River.
As glaciers like Forni and Fellaria shrink, the “compensation effect” that once smoothed out summer low-flows weakens further. That makes early-season windfalls ever sharper—and late-season shortfalls likely—pushing grid planners to lean even more on storage hydropower, inter-basin transfers and complementary renewables.
What’s also impressive but not clear at first glance are the system of artificial canals that move water around the area. For example, meltwater from Forni could end up in the Cancano Lake (25 km away as the crow flies) through a system of artificial canals and pumping stations. It’s mind boggling. On our rest day between Hike 3 and Hike 4, we were eating lunch above Cancano Lake thinking about this.
Left: Lago di Cancano - view over dam toward Braulio.
Center: Schematic of Gavia Forni Braulio artificial canal.
Right: Book on water and hydroelectric in the Valtellina: "Le acque del Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio"
Center: Schematic of Gavia Forni Braulio artificial canal.
Right: Book on water and hydroelectric in the Valtellina: "Le acque del Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio"
Giardino Botanico Alpino Rezia
We visited this little gem in Bormio on our transfer day from Valfurva to Chiesa in Valmalenco. In the title, “Rezia” is simply the Italian form of Rhaetia, as mentioned above, the old Roman‐era name for this high Alpine area. Located at about 1,350–1,400 m on the slopes above Bormio in Stelvio National Park, this Alpine botanical garden was conceived by botanist Giovanni Fornaciari and officially opened in 1982.
The garden is open daily from June through September—admission is free—the garden is both a peaceful “balcony” on the Magnificent Alps and a living laboratory.
The other thing we like to do on these hiking trips is find a base where we can use our car as little as possible and still get to as many hiking trailheads as possible. If we can, we pick one lodging for the week and if available half board where breakfast and dinner are included.
This year, 2025, we mixed it up a little and tried something different by having two bases of operation and one of them didn’t have half board. And we tacked on a “little” train trip at the beginning of the week, still Alps-related.
Left: Bormio Botanical Garden - a section of garden.
Right: Botanical Garden Bormio - activities for getting to know plants like "Taneda". Taneda is a digestive liqueur of Valtellina origins prepared with the flowers of Achillea erba-rotta moschata , also known as erba iva, called "taneda" in the Bormino dialect
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