The Morteratsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Bernina group and one of the most visited in Switzerland — not primarily because it is beautiful (though it is), but because the retreat of its terminus is so visibly, starkly documented. Wooden signs placed along the moraine path mark where the glacier's snout stood in 1870, 1900, 1930, 1960, 1990, 2000, 2010, and thereafter at every few years. The gap between the last sign and the present ice grows noticeably from year to year.
The walk from Morteratsch train station to the glacier snout takes about an hour each way and is on a well-maintained gravel path. The glacier terminates in an ice cave and meltwater stream; the close-up view of blue-grey ice, moraine, and the crevassed upper glacier is impressive even for those who have seen other Alpine glaciers. The Bernina group peaks — Piz Bernina, Piz Morteratsch, Piz Palü — form the backdrop. Go in summer.