Ardez in the Lower Engadine – with an outstandingly preserved villagescape and typical Engadine houses. Located on a sunny terrace on the southern slope of the Silvretta chain, amidst an impressive landscape of lush meadows and mixed forests.

Ardez is one of the few Engadine villages not to have fallen victim to fire or other forms of devastation since it was destroyed by the Austrians in 1622. The typical, around-400-year-old Engadine village has houses decorated with sgraffiti and paintings and is particularly well preserved. The church dating from 1577 is worth seeing, as are the ruins of Steinsberg Castle, built in 1206 on a rocky spur. The municipality of Ardez also includes Bos-cha and idyllic Sur-En.

While the Inn flows gently through the wide Upper Engadine, in the Lower Engadine its course becomes wilder. In some parts it flows through rock masses as if through a gorge and at Ardez rushes and foams under the old stone bridge, ideal prerequisites for an exciting river-rafting adventure. Incidentally, the Inn is the only Swiss river to flow to the east, via the Danube into the Black Sea.


SUMMER


Ardez has a wide range of flora thanks to the climate and particular geological conditions (crystalline rock of the Silveretta Group meeting the limestone of the Lower Engadine Dolomites). The mountain spring in May/June brings lush flower-filled meadows and sprinkles the higher slopes with gentians and all kinds of anemones. Ardez also has a climbing garden very near the village.
Ardez is close to the Swiss National Park with its untouched natural landscape and animal world – a unique hiking and wildlife-watching region.


WINTER


in addition to the small skilift at the edge of Ardez village, the main attraction for skiers is the Motta Naluns ski area at Scuol: 16 facilities, a variety of pistes at altitudes between 1250 and 2800 metres, a downhill snow-bike run and a fun park offer plenty of winter sport.
The Ardezer Hausloipe (cross-country ski run) is a flat, 6-km-long training circuit (illuminated at night). The main cross-country ski runs in the valley start at nearby Scuol and Giarsun: namely Scuol - Martina (45 km) and Giarsun - Maloja (90 km; Engadine Ski Marathon stretch).

Highlights

• Ardez – its villagescape almost unchanged since 1622, with many beautiful 16th & 17th-century Engadine houses adorned with sgraffito.
• Guarda – the village of «Schellenursli» with an unspoilt villagescape and ornate houses ­– is only a few kilometres away from Ardez.
• Schellen-Ursliweg – an 8 km long experience path at Guarda, based on the illustrated storybook by Selina Chönz (text) and Alois Carigiet (illustrations) on the custom of «Chalandamarz» (banishing winter).