Chur (Curia Raetorum)

Switzerland's oldest city, founded as the Roman settlement Curia Raetorum. The capital of Raetia province. Wine was brought here from across the Alps. Today, Grisons produces some of Switzerland's most exciting Pinot Noir in the Bündner Herrschaft region.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Unlock the Roman City Hiding Behind a Wooden Door History · Free

   Peter Zumthor built this shelter in 1986 as his first major project — suspended walkways over walls and floors that predate Rome itself. The key you borrow from the tourism office is not a formality. It's the point.

   Where: Start at Chur Tourism, Bahnhofplatz 3 (inside the main train station). Then walk 8 minutes south to Seilerbahnweg 23, Welschdörfli district.

   What: You are about to stand inside a building that protects ruins older than the Roman Empire. The Neolithic traces beneath this floor date to before writing was invented — roughly 4,000 years before Julius Caesar was born. Chur has been continuously inhabited for 11,000 years. The Roman layer you're entering is just the most recent chapter. In 15 BC, Emperor Augustus's legions conquered this valley and made it the capital of Provincia Raetica — the northern gateway to the Alps. The stone walls preserved under these delicate wooden lamella walls are what's left of that provincial city.

   How: At the tourism office, ask for the key to the 'Schutzbau Areal Ackermann' — the Zumthor shelters at Seilerbahnweg. Pay CHF 5 plus a CHF 50 refundable deposit. The key must be returned the same day. Call ahead to reserve it: +41 81 252 18 18. When you unlock the steel portal and step inside, let your eyes adjust. Zumthor designed the skylights specifically to cast soft daylight — no spotlights, no museum lighting, just the same quality of light the Romans might have experienced. Walk the suspended steel walkways. The three connected halls are all slightly different. In the last hall, the mural fragments still have traces of pigment. In 1986, Zumthor was an almost unknown local architect from Chur. These shelters launched his international career. He later won the Pritzker Prize in 2009 — architecture's Nobel. His debut work was protecting the ruins of the city he grew up in.

   Backup: If the key is unavailable (fully reserved), the exterior of the Zumthor shelters is visible from the street and worth seeing. The building itself is a national cultural monument. Combine with the Rätisches Museum at Hofstrasse 1 (CHF 6 entry), which holds 100,000 artifacts from this same excavation context — Roman statuettes, weapons, Bronze Age jewellery — organized chronologically from prehistory through the medieval period.

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2. 2 Stand on the Oldest Christian Site North of the Alps History · Free

   The Cathedral of St. Mary's Ascension has occupied this hilltop since the 5th century AD. The crypt beneath your feet was carved during the reign of Bishop Tello around 760 AD — and the Romanesque nave above it was under construction when the Fourth Crusade launched.

   Where: Chur Cathedral (Kathedrale St. Maria Himmelfahrt), Hof 19, 7000 Chur. Walk up through the old town from the Peter Zumthor shelters — 10 minutes on foot, uphill. The Bischöflicher Hof (Bishop's Court) complex surrounds it.

   What: The Diocese of Chur is the oldest still-functioning bishopric north of the Alps. A bishop is first recorded here at the Synod of Milan in 451 AD — but historians believe the see existed at least a century before that, making this site continuously Christian since approximately 350 AD. That's 1,670 years and counting on the same hilltop. The current Romanesque building was built between 1154 and 1270. It contains paintings by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein — not reproductions. Before Christianity, this hilltop was already a sacred site for the Celtic Raeti people who lived here before the Romans arrived. The same ground: 2,500+ years of religious use.

   How: Enter through the main portal. Take the stairs down to the crypt — this is the oldest surviving section, dating to Bishop Tello's era around 760 AD, a full 400 years before the nave you just walked through was built. The Romanesque crypt columns are different from anything else in the building. In the crypt museum, the small apse that was excavated in 1921 predates even Bishop Tello — it is from the first church, built in the early 5th century when Curia Raetorum was still a functioning Roman provincial capital. You are looking at the moment Christianity arrived in Roman Switzerland. No entry fee for the main cathedral. Crypt museum may have small donation requested.

   Backup: If the cathedral is closed for a service, the Hofplatz (the courtyard of the Bishop's Court surrounding the cathedral) is always accessible and contains Roman inscription stones incorporated into the medieval walls — look for the repurposed Roman stonework visible at the base of the Bishop's Palace walls to your right as you face the cathedral.

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3. 3 Taste the Wine Heidi's Mountain Was Grown On Wine · Price: moderate

   Johanna Spyri wrote Heidi (1881) after staying with her childhood friend in Jenins — one of the four wine villages of Bündner Herrschaft. The mountain paradise she gave the world is the same landscape producing what Decanter calls 'Burgundy with altitude.' The World Champion of Pinot Noir has a restaurant in his cellar. You should be in it.

   Where: Domaine Donatsch, Winzerstube zum Ochsen, Sternengasse 6, 7208 Malans. 20 minutes north of Chur by train (Maienfeld station, then taxi/bike to Malans) or 18 minutes by car via the A13 motorway.

   What: In 2010 and again in 2011, Martin Donatsch — fifth generation of the Donatsch family in Malans — was named World Champion of Pinot Noir producers at the Mondial du Pinot Noir. Back to back. The Bündner Herrschaft is why: chalky limestone-slate soils, 500-650m altitude, and the Föhn wind that locals call 'Traubenkocher' — grape cooker. The Föhn funnels warm dry air down from the Alps in autumn, clears the sky, dries the bunches to concentrate flavour, and extends the harvest window by weeks. You cannot fake this wind. You cannot buy this soil somewhere else. Donatsch classifies their Pinot Noir exactly like Burgundy: 'Tradition' (village level), 'Passion' (Premier Cru), 'Unique' (Grand Cru). Order the 'Passion' — it's a proper premier cru experience at a fraction of Burgundy prices.

   How: The Winzerstube zum Ochsen restaurant is on the ground floor of the winery. No reservation required for the restaurant (though recommended in summer). Ask for Maluns — grated potato cake with applesauce and mountain cheese — as a starter. It has been made in this valley since before the Romans arrived. Then ask your server to pour through the Donatsch Pinot Noir range, Tradition through Unique. The terroir conversation will find you. If you want to try Gantenbein — the allocation-only wine made 5km away in Fläsch (CHF 230+ per bottle, 1,200 cases per year worldwide) — ask whether any local restaurant stocks it, or arrange a private tasting through the Heidiland Tourism office: +41 81 300 40 20. Gantenbein does not operate a visitor programme.

   Backup: If Donatsch restaurant is closed (closed Sundays and Mondays), drive or walk to the Weinstube Alter Torkel in Jenins — the 1722 tree press is still there, and they pour the full Bündner Herrschaft range by the glass. Alternatively, the 'Backpack Wine Tasting' organised by Heidiland Tourism (from CHF 75, April–November, Wed–Sun, books via graubuenden.ch) includes 3 local Pinot Noirs plus vineyard benches with views of the Alps — the exact landscape Spyri described.

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4. 4 Descend the Gorge the Romans Called the Bad Road Adventure · Price: low · Optional

   Via Mala means 'bad road' in Latin — and the Romans named it themselves. Whole wagon loads of supplies for the northern frontier regularly plunged into this gorge. The legions stationed at Curia Raetorum used this route to connect with Italy. You can walk the rock galleries they carved.

   Where: Via Mala gorge visitor centre, near Thusis village, approximately 30km south of Chur. GPS: 46.663°N, 9.448°E. By public transport: train from Chur to Thusis (~25 min), then a 20-minute walk to the gorge entrance. By car: A13 motorway south, exit Thusis.

   What: In 15-7 BC, as Emperor Augustus's legions were building Curia Raetorum into the capital of Raetia, they needed to supply it from Italy. The Splügen Pass route south ran straight through this gorge — a slot canyon where the Hinterrhein river has cut 300 metres down through limestone. The Romans solved it the only way they could: they carved galleries directly into the cliff face. You are walking where legionaries walked, on routes where packhorses and entire wagons sometimes simply fell. The gorge was so feared that medieval travellers named it again: Via Mala. Same name, different language, same truth.

   How: Pay CHF 6 at the visitor centre (open April–October, 8:00–19:00 in peak season; 9:00–18:00 April and October). The guided walkway is approximately 300 metres through the rock galleries — about 1 hour with the viewpoints. The deepest viewpoint is over a 200-metre drop to the river below. The colour of the water — turquoise-green from glacial melt — is specifically surreal against the grey limestone. For the full effect, do this AFTER the Zumthor shelters and the Donatsch tasting, not before. The Roman history lands harder when you've already stood in their provincial capital.

   Backup: If arriving October or after (gorge closed November–March), the drive through Via Mala canyon on the main road is still dramatic and free. The gorge walls tower above the road. Alternatively, combine with the Romanesque church of St. Martin in Zillis, 10km south of Thusis — its 12th-century ceiling contains 153 painted panels, the oldest intact Romanesque ceiling painting cycle in the world. It survived because nobody could afford to renovate it.

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