After weeks of relentless summer heat in Switzerland, there was really only one thing we wanted to do: escape the city, head higher into the mountains and find somewhere cold enough for a proper swim.

So we packed our tent, sleeping bags, food, coffee and, very important, a bottle of red wine, and headed to Guarda in the Lower Engadin for another little overnight adventure. Our destination was Lai Blau, a turquoise mountain lake at around 2613 metres above sea level.

Around 17 kilometres, more than 1,000 metres of climbing, two swims, one very heavy backpack and a night in the mountains later, we can safely say: this one was worth the effort.

From Guarda to Lai Blau

The hike starts in Guarda, one of those picture-perfect Engadin villages with traditional stone houses and decorated sgraffito façades.

From there, the trail climbs steadily through forest and alpine meadows towards Alp Sura and Marangun. With full camping backpacks, the ascent definitely took much longer than expected. Not exactly ultralight hiking.

The higher we climbed, the wider the views became. The Lower Engadin slowly disappeared behind us, while the landscape became rockier and more alpine. After around three hours, the blue finally appeared.

Swimming at 2,600 metres

Lai Blau sits hidden between the mountains above Guarda, surrounded by rocks and alpine meadows. We dropped our backpacks and went straight into the water.

At more than 2,600 metres, we expected it to be absolutely freezing, but after hiking in the summer heat it actually felt surprisingly good. Cold, yes. But perfect.

Afterwards, we found a quiet spot, set up our tent and settled in for the evening.

Or at least we tried. Not long after pitching the tent, a herd of cows wandered over and apparently decided that our campsite was actually theirs. They showed absolutely no intention of moving on, so Florian eventually had to chase them away before we could fully settle in.

Once we had reclaimed our spot, the evening turned into something pretty special.

Clouds started moving behind the surrounding mountains just as the sun was setting, creating constantly changing light and some incredible colours across the sky. Pink, orange and deep purple slowly spread over the peaks while the lake and mountains became darker around us.

A glass of red wine in hand and that view in front of us. Worth carrying the extra weight for.

The next morning was even better.

We woke up to a calm lake, hardly any wind and almost nobody around. Coffee by the water, no plans and no reason to hurry.  And because one swim clearly wasn’t enough, we went back into Lai Blau before packing everything up.

Instead of returning the same way, we continued towards Chamonna Tuoi, the SAC hut below Piz Buin, and then followed Val Tuoi back towards Guarda.

The descent felt endless, as descents somehow always do when your legs are already tired.

Eventually, the first houses appeared again and we arrived back in Guarda tired, sweaty and very happy to finally take the backpacks off.

Lai Blau Hike: Good to Know

Start: Guarda, Lower Engadin
Altitude: approx. 2,613 m
Distance: around 16–18 km
Elevation gain: around 1,000–1,100 m
Walking time: around 5.5–7 hours
Route: Guarda – Alp Sura – Lai Blau – Chamonna Tuoi – Guarda