Best place to stay for a week in Lower Engadin
 

I am visiting Switzerland with my spouse during the last week of April. We are planning to stay for week in Unter Engadin before visiting Wallis for a week.

We would like to stay in a holiday apartment. Please suggest a good base in Unter Engadin for a week in later April.

We are interested in easy hiking, mountains, seeing the natural scenery and we dislike crowds. We may visit Ober Engadin for a day or two as day excursions. We would like to visit Sils, Silvaplana, Pontresina and Diavolezza in Ober Engadin.

Scuol is the transport hub of Lower Engadin:
trains to
Pontresina (with connecting train and buses to St. Moritz - Sils/Segl - Soglio - Chiavenna, Bernina - Tirano, etc.)
Zernez (with connecting buses to Pass dal Fuorn - Mustair, Livigno);
Klosters (with connecting trains to Davos);
buses to
S-charl (seasonal)
Ftan
Vna and Tschlin (via Martina bus)
Martina (with connecting buses to Samnaun, Nauders - Resia - Malles - Merano/Meran.

Scuol has a idyllic village center, a famous thermal spa and a castle.
http://www.engadin.com/ferienorte/en...OL-143745.html

Thank you very much for your reply!

Scuol looks very fabulous and looks like a great base for a week. Are most of the shops and hotels in Scuol closed after Easter?

Is knowledge of German / Rumantsch necessary in Scuol?

Agree that Scuol is the best base. However, weeks after Easter are between winter and summer seasons - many hotels and restaurants will be closed, cable cars/gondolas are closed, activities in general are reduced.

Hiking will only be possible at lower elevation, not in the higher mountains. It will be very quiet - but if you don't mind that, the scenery is still there! And the locals still live there, and they must eat and shop, too. The good thing is that Scuol attracts some (few) tourists in low season as well because of the spa (Bogn Engiadina).

Knowing German is of advantage, but you'll get around by English, too. Most Swiss people speak excellent English.

Thank you very much Ingo

We would love to see Lower Engadine when it is not busy and some grocery shopping facility is all we need.

Glad to know that we could get around by English but I will try my level best to learn German and also some Rumantsch.

"I will try my level best to learn German and also some Rumantsch"
Everybody who speaks a Rumantsch dialect (the Lower Engadin Version is called Vallader) speaks perfectly German too.
Scuol is the center of a district with 10 thousand inhabitants. These people live there all the year round. Therefore, almost all shops, restaurants etc are open all the year round. Trains and buses run all the year round too (incl. the 2 lines to Italy via Ofen Pass 2150m, resp Resia Pass 1500m); only the buses to S-charl and Val Sinestra and the cableways to Motta Naluns and Prui will start to run end May only.

Zernez is excellent for access to the Swiss National Park - which is the main reason for many people to stay in the Lower rather than the Upper Engadin.

www.nationalpark.ch/go/en/

Look into these websites, there are a few fabulous suggestion:

http://www.silvestribus.it/en/routes...no-zernez.html
www.engadinbus.ch/Linie_7.php
www.mobility.ch/en/pub/index.cfm

Thank you neckervd and michelhuebeli

Zernez also seems to be a good transportation hub. Is it advisable to book an apartment in Zernez or Zuoz?

Scuol is bigger, nicer and sunnier than Zernez. Zernez is not ugly, but there is not much to see or to do.

Zernez is a good base for day trips to Livigno and for hikes in the Swiss National Park (both from mid May until end October, as there is too much snow in the other months).
http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/sommer/en/zernez/
Zuoz is a fine place in the UPPER Engadin (Engiadina Ota), closer to St. Moritz than to Scuol.
http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/sommer/en/zuoz/

Thank you neckervd for your reply and links

I have been suggested to consider Sent as a base by another who visited there in winter. Would Sent be a good base in Spring?

Sent is a nice sunny village about 3 miles east of Scuol. Open http://www.sent-online.ch/cumuen/chasas/plan.html and click to all links in order to see a bit how the village and the area look.
The touristic infrastructure is not huge: 3 small hotels, 1 hostel, some holiday flats and private rooms, 1 restorant-pizzeria 2 cafes, 1 shop, 1 post office, 1 bank office, 1 ATM,
1 bus stop, endless hiking trails. For everything else, you have to go to Scuol:
1/4 hr by bus (about every hr from 6.20 until 23.36, journey time 1/4 hr) or 1 hr on foot along 1 of the 3 different hiking trails.