Breil/Brigels is a mountain village in the Surselva district of Graubünden, perched on a sunny terrace at 1,300 metres above the young Rhine River. The village, together with nearby Waltensburg and Andiast, forms a small cluster of traditional Romansh-speaking communities with a distinctly local character. The bilingual name reflects this: Breil is Romansh, Brigels is German.
In winter it functions as a modest ski resort — smaller and quieter than the big-name Graubünden resorts, which suits people who prefer uncrowded pistes. In summer it's good walking country, with trails down into the Rhine gorge and up toward the high alpine pastures. The Lag da Breil is an easy walk from the village. In the valley below, the Tavanasa Bridge — a Robert Maillart reinforced concrete arch from 1930 — is a quiet masterpiece of engineering rarely visited by tourists. The ruined Kropfenstein Castle, built into a cliff overhang above the Rhine gorge, is a striking medieval survival a short walk away. The landscape is genuinely beautiful, and the relative obscurity keeps prices reasonable.