E-bike Kunkelspass (tour around the Calanda mountain range)

You have to do this tour once. For many cyclists it is one of the annual highlights. You experience the mighty Calanda massif from all sides. And who would have thought that it looks so rugged and jagged from the back. The route is extremely varied with the enjoyable start along the Rhine route. Via a side road with little traffic, you reach Pfäfers, where you cross the impressive Tamina bridge that spans the gorge. A long path through the Tamina valley follows via Valens, past the Mapragg reservoir and via Vättis finally to the Kunkelspass. The Überruf mountain inn stands at the top of the pass and offers the ideal opportunity for refreshments before the descent via the Forstrasse, at the beginning through tunnels hewn into the rock, leads down towards Tamins. The way back from there again follows the Rhine back to the Alpine City of Chur.

The Kunkelspass connects the Tamina valley (SG) with the municipality of Tamins (GR). It lies between the steep walls of the Calanda in the east and the mountain group around the Ringelspitz in the west. The narrow road and the tunnel on the Tamins side with the panoramic openings in the tunnel wall were built during the First World War. The Kunkelspass also forms the eastern entrance to the geological wonderland of the Tectonic Arena Sardona. At the pass near the Überruf mountain restaurant there is a seminar room with information about the UNESCO World Heritage Site. A telescope offers the opportunity to have a close look at the Ringelspitz and the Glarus thrust or the demolition niche of the Tamins mountain fall.

The Calanda massif consists of the four peaks Haldensteiner Calanda (at 2,805m the highest), Felsberger Calanda, Taminser Calanda and Berger Calanda (above Untervaz).

From Chur you follow the Rhine route 2 to Landquart. There you cross the Rhine and follow a little-used mountain road to Pfäfers, cross the Tamina gorge on the impressive Tamina bridge and then follow the mountain bike route 482 to the Mapragg dam. There you leave the route and ride on the road along the lake. After the lake, you follow route 482 again via Vättis to the Kunkelspass and down to Tamins, from where you finally return to the city of Chur on Rhine route 2.