Day two of our trip in Switzerland didn't really go as planned. We had originally planned on going to Lichtenstein for the day with maybe a brief stop over in the town of Chur later in the afternoon if we had time. But we had to scrap that idea because of a minor issue we had at the Swiss border the day before when we first arrived in the country. We got a bit of a hard time by the border agent because we didn't bring our dogs pet passport, which is apparently required while traveling throughout Europe. It was our bad and we should have known. The border agent ended up letting us enter the country after I explained that he had all of his vaccines. Actually, the agent was pretty nice about the whole thing despite being unimpressed by the fact that we have lived in France for two years now and are still struggling with the language.
"You've lived in France for two years and you still can't speak French?" They were friendly when they said it but I still felt shamed, perhaps rightfully so.
Nonetheless we didn't want to risk exiting the country and being denied entrance a second time. To be honest I wasn't expecting the border to even be manned at all since the previous year we passed through without seeing at single person at the gate. This time around I figured it was all because of covid-19 and that the agent would be asking about our vaccines. The agent didn't ask a single question regarding covid though or anything related to vaccines for that matter.
Anyway, all that to say that we skipped Lichtenstein for the day and only went to Chur.
To be honest again, I wasn't all that impressed by the town of Chur, not in the slightest. The town was nice and all but there really wasn't anything to do or see and nothing really to make it worth a special trip.
It probably didn't help that it was a Sunday so not a lot was open or that the weather was dreary and rainy. Nobody likes bad weather.
I had read online that Chur was one of the oldest towns in the country so I was expecting to see a few interesting historic buildings and some old worldly charm. But when we got there I didn't actually see any of that, the exact opposite in fact. The entire city looked brand spanking new. Overall it was nice and all but then again, it was just like any other average city you might across any other country. The city probably does have some interesting history to it and maybe there's a reason that everything is so new and updated? We did notice several plaques throughout the old town that described the different historical buildings and some of the history of the area, but unfortunately for us they were all written in German, so we couldn't actually read them.
The best thing that we did while in town was walk up the Arosastrasse road and take a photo of the city across the local vineyard.
From there we got a really nice view of the city. It's not something I'd make a special trip for by any means but the spot does make for a really nice photograph.
That area is right next to a park as well, which has a few different trails in it that travel up a medium sized foothill. We made the most out of the day by hiking one of those trails part way up the little mountain.
The walk was nice and easy but path was mostly in the woods and there weren't a whole lot of lookout spots along the way. I took a few photographs but none of them were really worth hanging onto or sharing.
My Takeaway
By this point you probably already gathered that I wasn't all that thrilled by the town of Chur. There really wasn't that much to do or see in the area and we didn't stay long. The town itself is new and clean and fine overall, but it's just not that interesting and it doesn't really have anything to offer that you can't get elsewhere. It's also located at the far end of the eastern part of the country, away from any other destination you may want to visit. I feel a bit bad saying it but, unless you are in the area for another reason, my personal opinion is to skip seeing the town of Chur.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Maybe someone else has had a different experience with the city?