Switzerland's biggest nature park is Parc Ela. Spanning 600 sq km and encompassing 21 communities in the Albula-Bergün and Savognin-Bivio areas, the park is three and a half times the size of the Swiss National Park. If you have the time and inclination, the spectacular 15-day Veia Parc Ela hike takes you through the park's most enchanting Alpine landscapes. It's south of Lenzerheide towards Tiefencastel.
Driving through the Albulatal (Albula Valley), you'll pass flower-strewn pastures, thick pine and larch forests, lonely moors, bizarre rock formations and tiny hamlets with Italianate churches. Family-friendly Wiesen is a superb base for hikers. Mountains rise abruptly above the valley floor in Filisur to frame the magnificent 65m-high Landwasser viaduct, part of the early 20th-century, Unesco-listed Albulabahn (www.rhb-unesco.ch).
