Muottas Muragl Panoramic Trail: The Most Beautiful Hike Above Pontresina

When I was designing a custom itinerary for my clients about half a year ago, I included the Panoramaweg Muottas Muragl trail in it. At the time, it never even occurred to me that I’d be walking it myself—or rather, with my daughter—just a few months later. As it happened, I set out on this hike only about a week after my clients had completed it. And I have to admit, it crossed my mind what a coincidence it would be if we ran into each other here.

It’s in moments like these that I realize once again how important it is for me to get to know the places I recommend to my clients. I don’t want to choose them based solely on photos or information on the internet—I want to experience them firsthand. That made it all the more joyful for me to finally set out on the Panoramaweg Muottas Muragl myself.

Muottas Muragl Funicular

The valley station of the historic Muottas Muragl Bahn funicular is located in Punt Muragl, about 5 minutes by car from Pontresina and just under 10 minutes from St. Moritz. There is a large free parking lot right next to the station. If you’re traveling by public transportation, both Engadinerbus and Postauto buses stop here (at the Punt Muragl, Talstation stop). The Punt Muragl Staz train station is about 300 meters away.

Schedule, Prices, and Discounts

During the summer season, the historic funicular runs every 30 minutes, with the first departure at 7:45 a.m. and the last at 11:00 p.m. (the location is very popular for sunsets).

Round-trip ticket prices (summer 2026): adults – 42.50 CHF, teens (ages 13–17) – 28.30 CHF, children (ages 6–12) – 14.20 CHF. Since the hike involves taking a ground cable car up and then a chairlift down from the Languard Alps, the return ticket price (Sommertarif Höhenweg) applies.

Family discount: When purchasing tickets, both parents pay the standard fare. The oldest child (up to age 17) pays the child fare, the second child receives a 30% discount off the child fare, and all additional children up to age 17 travel for free. Simply present proof of family relationship or the children’s IDs.

Good to know: If you spend 2 or more nights in the summer at one of the partner hotels in Pontresina or St. Moritz (for example, at the Hotel Engadinerhof, where we stayed), you’ll receive the Engadin Inclusive Card, which includes a free ride to Muottas Muragl. This is one of the reasons a longer stay in the Engadin is really worth it: the Swiss Half Fare Card (Halbtax), GA, Junior Card, and Swiss Family Card are not valid on this cable car.

Muottas Muragl – one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the Engadin

This mountain terrace, at an altitude of 2,454 meters, offers one of the most beautiful panoramic views in the entire Upper Engadin. The valley with its iconic lake landscape stretches out right before you, while on the other side rise the majestic, glacier-capped peaks of the Bernina Massif.

At the summit, you’ll find a restaurant, a photo frame Grand Tour of Switzerland, and, best of all, a beautiful playground where kids can have fun on the climbing frames, slides, and wooden play structures. Just a few steps from the playground stands a wooden swing—as you swing, you’ll see the entire valley with its lakes spread out below you and snow-capped three-thousand-meter peaks stretching out before you.

Muottas Muragl – Alp Languard Panorama Trail

This is where one of the most beautiful panoramic hikes in the Engadin begins. The trail leads across Alp Muottas, Unterer Schafberg, and on to Alp Languard, offering fantastic views of the surrounding mountains, valleys, and the famous lake landscape of the Upper Engadin practically along its entire length. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Maloja Pass.

Map

The trail begins with a gentle descent toward the Alp Muottas. On the hill opposite, ahead of you, you can see the trail you’ll be walking along in a few dozen minutes.

After about a kilometer and a half, you’ll cross a footbridge over the stream. At the signpost, turn right. As you can see in the photo below, you might find it hard to resist stopping every now and then to take pictures of the stunning views.

Shortly after that, you’ll encounter what is probably the trickiest section of the trail. The trail consists of rocks that are laid out in a row but also at a slight angle toward the slope (presumably so you don’t slip down into the valley below). Even though it was dry, the rocks were quite slippery, and hiking poles would have come in handy here.

Once you’ve made it through this stretch—a few dozen meters long—a comfortable mountain trail awaits you once again. Along the way, in addition to the views, you’ll find several benches where you can rest (and, of course, enjoy the views).

Unterer Schafberg

About halfway along the trail, you can take a break at the Unterer Schafberg mountain hut. We wanted to have some ice cream here, but unfortunately, they don’t serve it.

From here, a gentle climb awaits you, but the trail is definitely not boring. You’ll have to cross the stream again—this time without a footbridge—and also walk through a strange tunnel on the hillside. Immediately after the tunnel, take the left fork at the slight fork in the trail.

At this stage, you can already see views of Pontresina itself below you, as well as the Alp Languard ahead of you.

Alp Languard

At the end of the trail, you’ll be rewarded with a nice playground (themed around ibexes, of course) and a cozy restaurant serving local specialties. I couldn’t resist the traditional Bündner Gerstensuppe, a barley soup (and the local beer, ahem ). As a marketer, I was delighted by the restaurant’s tagline—“Bock auf Alp Languard”?—pretty good!

We headed back to Pontresina on the chairlift, which even has a curve at the bottom! You have to be most careful when getting off, but the local staff is already there to help you get off smoothly and quickly.

After this experience, we walked back through the center of Pontresina to our base at the Engadinerhof Hotel to rest up before our next adventure.

Summary

The Panoramaweg is one of the most famous scenic trails in the entire Engadin. Its charm lies not in a challenging climb or in reaching the summit, but in the fact that you walk with views of the Bernina Massif and the Engadin lakes almost the entire way. The elevation gain is minimal, so you can truly enjoy the scenery.

The trail is about 6 kilometers long and takes about 2–2.5 hours to walk. Although it follows the contour line more or less, the terrain is unpaved, so it is definitely not suitable for a stroller.
There is very little shade along the hike. In the summer, be sure to bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and a hat.
Although the trail isn’t difficult, I don’t recommend hiking it when it’s wet because the rocky section in particular can be very slippery and dangerous.
You can find details about the trail and the elevation profile here.