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At the southern end of the Prättigau, or Meadow Valley, which meanders a path south from the junction point of Landquart north of Chur, lie the twin resorts of Davos and Klosters, two of the most famous names in the Alps enjoying some of the best skiing in the world. Walser migrants arrived in the valley in the thirteenth century, and the area – surrounded on three sides by Romansh – is still German speaking to this day. The focus is fair and square on outdoorsiness, whether that means skiing and snowboarding in the winter, or long-distance hiking in the summer. There’s not a lot else to grab your attention.

In the first expansion of the Rhätische Bahn train network in 85 years, work was completed in November 1999 on a tunnel beneath the Alps linking Klosters and Sagliains (just west of Scuol in the Lower Engadine). The new Vereina Tunnel (www.rhb.ch), as it’s been called, is over 19km long, the longest narrow-gauge rail tunnel in the world, and will considerably ease both road and rail traffic in the region. The Flüela Pass road will now remain closed all winter (roughly Nov–May), replaced by the car-carrying shuttle trains which run every half-hour during the day, year-round (Fr.27/35 per car plus nine passengers summer/winter, with a small surcharge during the winter peak). Ordinary trains will also run on a new routing using the tunnel from Chur and Landquart through to Scuol or St Moritz. The flipside of this – that the rustic and once-tranquil Lower Engadine and Val Müstair may have to deal with some overflow tourism from Davos and St Moritz – has yet to be assessed.