Davos

Descend the Parsennbahn and walk fifteen minutes north along the wooden lakeshore path from Davos Dorf station — the larch forest opens and the Landwasser valley suddenly mirrors itself in glass-still water. Davosersee is the second-largest natural lake in the Alps; circle the eastern shore, where the forest path stays shaded and locals fly-fish from the rocks in silence. After two hours above the tree line, this is the lung-resting hour the body needs before the next climb.

Tip: Walk the eastern (forest) side, not the western (road) side — the views are identical but the road side has constant traffic noise. Skip every lakeside kiosk; they charge triple what you'll pay 400 m back in the village. The wooden bench halfway down the east shore frames the Jakobshorn perfectly across the water — that's the shot.

From the south end of the lake, walk twenty-five minutes south along the Promenade through Davos Dorf — you'll pass century-old sanatorium hotels still flying their Belle Époque flags. Schneider has fed Davos since 1929 and locals queue at the counter for the Bündner Nusstorte (CHF 6 a slice, the canton's walnut-and-caramel edible flag) and warm Bündnerfleisch sandwiches on rye (CHF 14, air-dried Alpine beef with sweet mustard). Take a window stool, eat quickly, keep moving — this is the deliberate refuel, not the lingering meal.

Tip: Order a full small Bündner Nusstorte (CHF 18 for a Hausgrösse) instead of a single slice — it keeps three weeks unrefrigerated and is the one Davos souvenir worth a place in your bag. Skip their hot lunch menu; everything good here comes from the bakery counter, not the kitchen.

Walk five minutes south from Schneider along the Promenade — Davos's spine, a single street that stitches Dorf to Platz through a century of architectural memory. The Kirchner Museum (Promenade 82) holds the world's largest Ernst Ludwig Kirchner collection — he fled here in 1917 and painted these very peaks until 1938; we're skipping the interior today but the angular concrete-and-glass building by Gigon/Guyer is itself a Davos icon, the kind of austere modernism only this mountain town allows. Past it the Promenade tightens — wooden chalets jammed between modernist sanatorium blocks, each façade a layer of the town's century.

Tip: Stand on the small open terrace beside the museum around 14:30 and look northeast — the Schatzalp ridge with its Belle Époque sanatorium aligns perfectly above the rooftops, the shot every Magic Mountain reader takes home. Don't browse the souvenir shops on this stretch of Promenade; identical Swiss-army-knife-and-cowbell sets sell for 40% less one block off the main street.

Walk five minutes west from the Kirchner Museum to the Schatzalpbahn valley station, where a 1899 funicular climbs to 1861 m in four minutes — the same one Thomas Mann's characters rode in The Magic Mountain. The Berghotel Schatzalp at the top is the actual sanatorium Mann immortalised; the south-facing balconies where tubercular patients took their afternoon 'cure' still look out across exactly the valley Hans Castorp watched for seven years. Wander the alpine botanic garden (the highest in Europe, 800+ species), then walk DOWN by foot through the marked forest path — 45 minutes of dappled larch shade with the valley sliding open below. Late afternoon is when the south-facing façade catches its final warm light and the historic terraces empty out.

Tip: Buy a one-way UP ticket only (CHF 20) — walking down via the 'Schatzalp–Davos Platz' forest path is the soul of the visit and you'd otherwise pay double. Arrive at the top before 15:15 to catch the west balconies in full afternoon light; by 16:30 the sun drops behind the Jakobshorn and the historic façade flattens to grey. Pitfall warning — Davos's biggest tourist trap isn't a restaurant, it's the summit cable-car cafés: a bowl of Älplermagronen runs CHF 32 at Weissfluhjoch or Jakobshorn versus CHF 22 in the valley. Eat in town, never at altitude. And during the third week of January (World Economic Forum) every Promenade restaurant doubles its prices and block-books for delegates — avoid those dates if you're not on someone's expense account.

Step out of the forest path back into Davos Platz and walk eight minutes east along the Promenade — Gentiana has been the canton's edible embassy in Davos since 1958, wood-panelled, antler-decorated, family-run, and serving the three sacred dishes of Graubünden. Order the Capuns (chard-wrapped spätzle parcels with Bündnerfleisch and Alpine cheese, CHF 32) — what every grandmother here makes and what no Zürich kitchen gets right. The moitié-moitié fondue (CHF 38 per person) uses Gruyère and a local mountain Vacherin instead of the Fribourgeois standard, and the snail starter (CHF 22) has been on the menu for forty years.

Tip: Reserve by 16:00 — the front Stube has only nine tables and fills nightly with regulars; ask for one of the two corner tables by the green-tiled stove. Pair the Capuns with a glass of Completer (CHF 12), a near-extinct Graubünden white grown above Chur by fewer than ten producers in the world — you won't find it on a menu outside this canton.

Ride the cable car back down and walk 8 minutes north along the Promenade — the glass-and-concrete cube on your right is unmistakable among the wooden chalets. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, founder of Die Brücke, fled Berlin in 1917 and painted these mountains for the last twenty years of his life; this museum holds the world's largest collection of his work, the alpine canvases that finally let him breathe. Opens Tuesday to Sunday 11:00, closed Monday — arrive on the dot and you have the upstairs gallery to yourself for thirty minutes.

Tip: Go straight upstairs first — that's where the Davos winter scenes hang, and the morning light through the skylights makes the white pigments look like fresh snow. The two postcards of his 'Sertigtal' painting in the gift shop cost 4 CHF each and are signed-edition reproductions — better than anything in the Promenade souvenir shops.

Two minutes north along the Promenade, the dark-wood arched dining room of the 1873 Morosani Posthotel is where locals come for proper Grisons food, not the snowboarder pizzerias across the street. Order the Capuns (Swiss chard rolls in herb cream with Alpkäse, CHF 28) and a glass of Jenins Pinot Noir, or the Bündner Pizokel with smoked ham and apple compote (CHF 26). Lunch budget runs CHF 35–48 per person; three-course set menu CHF 48.

Tip: Reserve a window table the day before — the Promenade-side seats catch the southern light at 13:00 and are gone by Friday. Skip the cold Bündnerteller (cured meats platter, CHF 32) at lunch — it's meant as a dinner starter and leaves you hungry within an hour at this altitude; ask instead for a half-portion of Capuns plus the Gerstensuppe (CHF 12).

Walk 6 minutes west from Pöstli to the Schatzalpbahn base station behind the Hotel Belvédère — the 1899 funicular climbs 300 metres in four minutes to a different century. The Berghotel Schatzalp is the sanatorium Thomas Mann turned into the Berghof of 'The Magic Mountain'; even today the south-facing terrace looks down on Davos exactly the way Hans Castorp first saw it. The Alpinum garden behind the hotel holds 800 species of alpine flora, and afternoon is precisely when the blue gentians fully open.

Tip: Take the funicular up but walk down the marked footpath through the larch forest — 35 minutes, gently downhill, you exit directly behind Hotel Belvédère onto Promenade. The Schatzalp restaurant's coffee terrace is worth a 4 CHF espresso for the view; their full menu is overpriced for what arrives on the plate — save the appetite for evening.

Emerging from the Schatzalp forest path, you are already on the Promenade — turn left and stroll slowly east through Davos's main artery. The 1481 Kirche St. Theodul on your right is the oldest building in the centre, its slender spire the silhouette in every pre-war Davos photograph. The setting sun around 17:30 in summer paints the Jakobshorn rose-gold behind it — this is the photograph you came to Davos for.

Tip: The best photo of the church with the mountain behind it is from in front of Hotel Europe across the Promenade — not from the church courtyard, where parked cars cut the foreground. Real Bündner Nusstorte (CHF 6 a slice) is at Bäckerei Schneider at Promenade 60, three doors east — twice as nutty as the airport-bound tourist tin version.

Three minutes east along the Promenade — the Schweizerhof's Bündnerstube is the carved-pine room downstairs, not the bright lobby restaurant signposted from the street. The signature is the Bündner Gerstensuppe (barley soup with shaved Bündnerfleisch, CHF 18) followed by Maluns (caramelised potato shavings with apple compote and Sennenkäse, CHF 32). The 1908 dining room glows under brass lanterns; dinner runs CHF 55–75 per person without wine, the local Malanser Riesling-Silvaner pairs cleanly with both dishes.

Tip: Reserve at least two days ahead between June and September — the Bündnerstube has only 28 seats. Ask for table 7 or 8 against the back wall, where the original 1908 Arvenholz carvings sit. Avoid the 'Schweizerhof Lounge Bar' upstairs after dinner — its CHF 24 Aperol Spritz is the standard Davos après-ski mark-up; cross the Promenade to Ex Bar for the same drink at CHF 14, and skip entirely the three 'Heidi Souvenir' shops near the tourist office where cuckoo clocks are imported and triple the Coop Pronto price.