Rheinschlucht – Ruinaulta – Switzerland

I did this trip in combination with Caumasee. I got so many photos of the Rheinschlucht so I split the trip into 2 posts. The Rheinschlucht area is huge, immense. A complete hiking roundtrip is about 28km !

The river Rhine has made its way through the limestone between the villages of Ilanz and Reichenau. Therefore, a canyon that is hundreds of meters deep has developed: the Rhine Canyon Ruinaulta also called the Swiss Grand Canyon. There are steep limestone cliffs and extraordinary, imposing rock formations on the sidewalls of the canyon. A hike through or along the Rhine Canyon is a must for every visitor to the Alpenarena; you can also take the Rhaetian Railways and enjoy the view from the train. (Text: Graubunden.ch)

The Rhine Gorge (Rheinschlucht – Ruinaulta) provides some of the most magnificent landscapes found in all the Alps. This hike will take you along the material forming the Flims landslide. Highlights include the viewing platform above theRheinschlucht in Conn and Lake Cauma.

The Rheinschlucht near Flims provides some of the most magnificent and diverse landscapes found in the Alps. A wild gorge with a turbulent river, steep white walls and extensive forests. The tranquil lakes are filled as if by magic and rare birds breed in the riverside woodlands. This miniature paradise is even home to orchids.

The Rhine Gorge’s history started with the mighty Flims landslide over 10,000 years ago. With more than 10,000 million cubic metres of rock, this is the biggest landslide in the Alps and one of the world’s largest. The valley was completely filled with debris several hundred metres thick and totaling 50 km2.

This beautiful hike takes you from Laax Staderas into the Uaul Grond, the extensive forest on the material produced by the Flims landslide. Highlights include the «Il Spir» viewing platform over the Rhine Gorge in Conn and Lake Cauma. (Text: Wanderland.ch)

How to get there

This depends a bit on where you start and where you want to end. First, I give you the way how I got there.

I did this hike together with a visit to Caumasee. (click here to read my post about Caumasee).

Take a train to Chur. From Chur Train Station,
walk upstair to the ‘Postauto’ station. You can’t miss it on ever platform there is a HUGE sign pointing the way 🙂
Take bus 81 to Flims and get out at Flims Waldhaus Caumasee.
Walk trail 659 (check wanderland.ch for details) and follow the signs ‘Conn’. This will bring you to the viewing platform.
From Conn take the forest trail to Ransom to descent into the Canyon.
In the Rheinschlucht Canyon you can follow the railroad to Versam Safien Train Station.
From Versam you can take a train back to Chur.

There are various starting and end points. My trail/hike was about 8km and took 6 hours including break and tons of photo shooting (that takes time).

On the map below you can see how many trails there are. The area is huge. Walking the complete canyon is about 28km ! Click on the map to view larger size. It is a high resolution photo so you ca download it and print.