🥾 Show Trail Info 🔽
- Arrival: Possible by car, but there are very few parking spaces available on the roadside. The journey by public transport is comfortable to Preda station with the train of the Rhaetian Railway, where you can discover many beautiful places in the Grisons.
- Equipment: Good footwear and food items are recommended. There are many barbecue spots available.
- Difficulty: Very easy. The beginning might still be a bit challenging for some, but otherwise, it’s mostly straightforward.
- Start and End: The starting and ending point is the train station in Preda.
- Time: Hiking time is 1:30 hours. With many photo breaks, you should plan for about 2 hours..
- Ascent and Descent: Ascent is 200 meters, and descent is 200 meters.
- Underground: The trail is 4 km long, with a natural path, much of it over footbridges directly by the lake.
- Animals: A few cows can be seen. If you are patient and lucky, you may spot marmots from a distance.
- Tip: The mountain lake is worth a visit in autumn when the larches create a colorful display. Another tip is to hike to the Albula Pass, where you can view the lake from above. Afterward, you can hike back to the lake or continue further up to the Lai Alv (extremely steep).
- Restaurants: There are no restaurants, but there are many barbecue spots available.
- Highlights: The highlight for me was the blue mountain lake. I also loved the footbridges around the lake, where you can walk over rivers. You can also fish here, but please ensure you have the necessary permit, as one is required in Switzerland.
The start of the hike is for many the train station Preda in the beautiful Grisons. If you arrive by train, you will see the Landwasser Viaduct and the Albula line with its confusing curves on the way. When you get off the train, you go in the direction of the valley, not in the direction of the tunnel. Because there you will already find the hiking trails where points to the Palpuognasee (Lai da Palpuogna). Alternatively, you can walk all along the road up to the lake.
But I recommend to go through the beautiful forest to the lake. There one wanders on beautiful footpaths between blooming green. The other running along the road I can not recommend, because the Albula Pass is a very busy pass.
The ascent to the lake is about 200 meters, once you reach the bench with imposing view, you’ve almost made it. You will see the bench with certainty 🙂 Because from here the path runs only straight ahead and a slight slope.
If one reaches denn lake, one sees a beautiful clear lake, where in the morning anglers pursue their hobby. It is decorated with many benches where you can just switch off, and enjoy the peace.
The trail runs mostly directly along the lake, you can not hike wrong. Until one dives at a point more into the green but more and more hears how a stream approaches.
The special footbridge over which you walk runs over half the lake, rushing streams that fill the lake again. The nature park “Parc Ela” is one of the largest protected areas in Switzerland. Lake Palpuogna is located in the middle of this beautiful area.
Once you have crossed half the lake, you have the choice to hike up to Crap Alv, which is about 100 meters higher. The path runs on a hiking trail or you can also take the road and hike up. In both cases one has an impressive view.
Or you can hike the other side back to the starting point. By walking back to the station Preda and from there, for example, to the Landwasser Viaduct or other planned hike. For the whole hike goes about three hours with pleasant pace and difficulty.
