Above Sils, where the path leaves the larch forest, a valley opens up that time seems to have forgotten. At its entrance, since 1585, stands an Engadine farmhouse, its walls having outlasted more than four centuries of winters, its parlours fragrant with Swiss stone pine. Those who arrive here soon put their watch aside. The days begin with the first light on the peaks and end when the stars stand over the valley.
Baptista von Salis had the house built as a farm, lived in all year round. Later it took the name of the Pool family, and since 1973 it has been a guesthouse. The thick walls, the vaults and the pine panelling still tell of it.
The full chronicle
Val Fex is car-free. You ride in with the house shuttle or by horse carriage, along the Fexbach and through the larch forest. With every bend it grows quieter.
The ride into the valleyThe valley appears in a document for the first time, as “Fedes”, a sheep pasture.
A farmhouse for Baptista von Salis is built at the entrance to the valley.
Val Fex becomes car-free.
The then Prince Charles spends Christmas and New Year at the house.
„Morgens lief ich um den See von Silvaplana herum, Nachmittag war ich hinten im Fexthal.“
In the morning I walked around Lake Silvaplana, in the afternoon I was far back in the Fex valley.
Friedrich Nietzsche · Letter from Sils · 11 August 1888In mid-October the larches change colour, and on Lake Sils the waves roll balls of needles onto the shore. The paths are quiet, the light is long.
Cross-country skiing straight from the house, snowshoeing through the winter forest, by full moon even at night. Corvatsch and Furtschellas are one shuttle ride away.
Footpaths lead from the house up to the Fex glacier, to alpine pastures and mountain lakes. From two nights, the Engadine mountain railways are included in summer.
For two or three weeks the valley glows yellow and orange.
In autumn the lake rolls balls of larch needles onto the shore.
Quiet paths up to the last alpine huts below the glacier.
The trail runs from the house through the whole valley and down to Sils, where it joins the wide Engadine network. In the morning the tracks still lie untouched in the snow.
Through the snowy larch forest and across white pastures, on bright full-moon nights late into the evening. All you hear is your own breath and the crunch of the snow.
The great ski areas of the Upper Engadine are a shuttle ride away; the shuttle also stops at the Furtschellas valley station. In the afternoon you return to the quiet valley.
The path follows the Fexbach up the valley, across flower meadows and past stone huts, until the ice of the glacier comes into view. A long, quiet day, at whose end the lamps are already lit in the house.
Above the larches run paths with wide views over the valley and across to the lakes of the Upper Engadine. With the mountain railways, included in summer from two nights, you are quickly up on Corvatsch or Furtschellas.
On summer Sundays there is live music in the garden, and vegetarian dishes come off the grill, from noon until three. You sit in the grass, the mountains all around, and usually stay longer than planned.
Twenty-one rooms, each one different. In the morning the Fex breakfast, in the evening the kitchen of the first vegetarian hotel in the Engadine.
Engadine vaults, stone pine, a junior suite on two levels, balconies facing the valley. Breakfast is always included.
Rooms
The first vegetarian hotel in the Engadine. Herbs come from the garden in front of the house. Open to outside guests too, with a shuttle from Sils.
Reserve a table
Bread and plaited Zopf from our own bakery, cheese from the region and from nearby Italy, herbs from the garden in the scrambled eggs.
Discover
In the garden stands a small, round sauna, for two guests at most and reserved for you alone. It is loveliest in winter, when deep snow lies all around and the steam rises into the clear air. Afterwards a few steps down to the Fexbach, the water ice-cold, the sky wide, and then a long, quiet evening in the parlour.
Discover
As the nights grow cooler, the larches change colour. Around mid-October they glow brightest, for a few precious days. The light softens, and until the end of the season the valley belongs to the guests who know it.
In the afternoon, when the light grows soft, tea stands ready in the parlour. You pour for yourself as often as you like, herbs from the garden and from the Engadine, with a slice of walnut tart from the house bakery. Outside, the shadows move slowly across the meadows.
The House
Novels, crime stories and history, a seat by the window and an old chessboard. On rainy days and long winter evenings the small library becomes the quietest place in the house, and many a guest finishes here a book they have carried with them for years.
« Oublierons-nous jamais les promenades au bord du lac de Sils-Maria, quand l’après-midi finissait, à six heures ? »
Shall we ever forget our walks along the shore of Lake Sils, when the afternoon ended at six o’clock?
Marcel Proust · Les Plaisirs et les Jours · 1896In the evening, when the last hikers are back, the fire bowl burns in the garden. You pull the deckchairs closer to the fire, speak more softly, and above the dark ridges the stars come out, more of them than you have seen in a long time.
In winter everyone gathers in the Chamineda, a small parlour kept for fondue alone. The fire crackles, the cheese is fragrant, and outside the snow lies deep over the sleeping valley.
From 18 December the house is open again. The cross-country trail starts at the door, snowshoe paths lead through the winter forest, and in the evening fondue is served by the fire in the Chamineda.
From 5 June the house is open again. Hiking trails lead from the house up to the Fex glacier, the fire bowl burns late in the garden, and from two nights the Engadine mountain railways are included.
A track leads into Val Fex, used by the house shuttle and the horse carriages. On foot you take the upper gorge path, the Oberer Schluchtweg.
We reopen on 18 December. You can already book for the coming season.