The Engadine — Engadin in German, Engiadina in Romansh — is a high Alpine valley in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland, carved by the Inn River from the glaciated landscape around the Maloja Pass at 1,800 metres and dropping gradually north and east toward the Austrian border. It divides into the Upper Engadine (Oberengadin) around St. Moritz and the Lower Engadine (Unterengadin) centred on Scuol, and the two halves have quite different characters. The valley is also one of the last places on earth where Romansh — the fourth official language of Switzerland — is spoken as a native tongue.
The Upper Engadine is the famous part: a chain of blue lakes at 1,800 metres, flanked by the peaks of the Bernina group, with St. Moritz at its heart. St. Moritz needs no introduction — it is synonymous with Alpine luxury, has hosted the Winter Olympics twice, and has been attracting wealthy visitors since the 1860s. But the Engadine is considerably more than St. Moritz: Sils Maria is where Nietzsche spent seven summers writing his most important works; Silvaplana is a world-class windsurfing destination; Pontresina is the base for serious alpinism in the Bernina group.
The Bernina Pass at the southern end of the valley is crossed by the Rhaetian Railway — the Bernina Express route that descends through the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo to Tirano in Lombardy. It is a UNESCO World Heritage route and one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world. The Cresta Run at St. Moritz is the world's oldest purpose-built bob run, still in use and still only accessible to men.
In summer, the valley is excellent walking country: the Inn River path, the Fex Valley, and the Bernina approaches all give days of high Alpine scenery. In winter, the Corviglia ski area above St. Moritz has 350 km of runs; the frozen lake at Silvaplana hosts kite-skiing; and the light on the snow in the clear Engadine air (the valley claims 320 sunny days per year) is like no other Alpine light.