Val Bregaglia / Bergell

The Val Bregaglia (in German Bergell) is a wild and romantic gorge, enclosed between towering granite mountains, which descends in a series of terrace-like steps from the Majola pass (1,815 m/5,955ft) to the Italian town of Chiavenna (333 m/1,093ft), 32km/20mi southwest. The high valley of the River Mera, which eventually flows into Lake Como, begins by falling steeply down from the pass (the watershed between the Val Bregaglia and the Engadine) and then descends to Chiavenna in six stages, the first four of which are within the canton of Grisons. The oddly shaped crags, buttresses and pinnacles of this mountain world are a climber's paradise, and the picturesque villages with their old patrician houses are a reminder of the long history