We just spent a week in the village of Guarda, Switzerland - population 157 (plus a village cat! And sheep and cows, of course). We decided we wanted to take a sporty winter trip and we also wanted to escape from reality a little bit so we bought ourselves cross country skiing equipment, found a hotel in a small village off the main tourist path, and booked a week there. We spent 3 days xc skiing, 1 day snowboarding/downhill skiing, and one day winter hiking followed by relaxing at the Bogn Engiadina in Scuol enjoying their Roman-Irish bath treatment (it was amazing, if you're ever near Scuol, Switzerland, book it!).
First, a bit about Guarda. We stayed at the Boutique Hotel Romantica Val Tuoi. Really, I doubt you could find a hotel with friendlier owner or staff. I highly recommend a stay there if you're ever looking to get away from it all in Switzerland. Guarda itself is perched at 1,650 meters elevation on the side of a mountain. You have to drive up a narrow, curvy road to get to it. Thankfully they treat it well in the winter so you can still access the village in the snow! The town is very picturesque and there were always some tourists there just wandering around and enjoying its quaintness every day.
And, BONUS, to get to Guarda from elsewhere in Switzerland, you get to take a car train! That's a train that you drive onto in your car. Then you sit in your car for 20 minutes in the dark in a tunnel. Then you drive on. It's pretty fantastic.
Here are some pictures of Guarda "before snow". They had a record low snowfall this year but starting halfway through our trip it started snowing and they ended up with more snow in the week of our visit than they had gotten leading up to it.
Guarda even comes with its very own village cat! They called him Garfield and he was hefty but adorable. He liked to greet people by the doors of the hotel and try to sneak in to warm his toes.
A few fun facts about our hotel. #1, they make a delicious cheese fondue. They don't use flour in it so it's extra cheesy. I'd never had it without flour before and Martin needs to try making it that way once. The food in general at the hotel was all very good. But the portions were enormous. We stayed with half-board which included a 4-course dinner every night. And we could never finish it all because the main dish was always some serious meat and potatoes. And asparagus! So much asparagus lol. After the first two nights we switched to only eating 3 of the courses and that generally went better. #2 fun fact, the doorways were all super short. Just head injuries waiting to happen. Our room was in a remodeled building and they still decided to leave in the short doorways.
We cross-country skied on the prepared tracks between Guarda and St Moritz, completing the stretches between Samedan and Pontresina on day 1, St. Moritz and the Silvaplanersee on day 2 (in heavy wet snow and high winds), and Zuoz and Bever on day 3. We didn't take many pictures but below are a few.
For the most part, the trails were flat or with gentle rolling hills. There was one steep hill though where Martin felt the need to test his edges:
We went to the Scuol ski area on Friday, thinking it wouldn't be too busy on a weekday, only to hit kid's downhill slalom race day during the school vacation week. Lucky us! It was a gorgeous sunny day though and we got in plenty of runs for our tired legs. The best parts of the day besides the sunshine and good snowboarding were a) chicken fingers for lunch, and b) a bake sale at the bottom of the gondola! What genius, to park yourself where everybody offloads at the end of a long day and sell them baked goods. We bought a cream puff sort of thing and a cookie with apricot jam in it and they were both amazing.
And then it snowed! Here's some snow in Guarda. The third picture below is the building our hotel room was in (it was across the street from the main building of the hotel). The sheep's barn that held the sheep pictured below was right next door, but oddly we never smelled it.
I can't tell which of these pictures I like best, so I'm posting both. You're welcome.
After the first snow, totaling 6-8", we went for a nice snow walk. They groom the hiking trails up by Guarda! I think they groom a specific trail that goes to the top of one of the mountain peaks behind Guarda, along with several trails down around Guarda itself. Which is really nice. It was gorgeous.
Not after but during the second snow, which was up to 6-8" by the time we left, we got to slip and slide around on the village roads (on foot to start). The village has two roads and they both are very narrow with very sharp turns - and all downhill on the way out of town which was the direction we were heading in. It was an interesting morning because the whole town was out and about - seemed like the kids had off from school and they were all out in snowsuits. Adults were shoveling walkways and driveways. We helped several people get their cars out of ditches or up the slippery road. Everybody was helping out. We also spread gravel on the roads by hand with the locals to help cars gain traction (we were mostly concerned about our own car, of course). Then, in first gear, we finally made it out of the village and onto the salted, cleared roads. My guess is that, in the village, they can't treat or fully plow the roads because they're cobblestone and need to be preserved. But I'm willing to bet every corner of a house that faces the street has at least a few dents in it from a car or truck trying to gain traction and failing in the snow. The building across from our hotel room has had its entire corner wiped away because the garbage truck doesn't fit between the buildings!
