Switzerland’s largest canton occupies the entire south-east of the country and takes in a huge but sparsely populated area that’s the most culturally diverse in Switzerland, bordering on Liechtenstein and Austria to the north, and Italy to the east and south. Its folded landscape of deep, isolated valleys (well over a hundred of them), sheer rocky summits and thick pine forests makes it the wildest and loneliest part of Switzerland.

It is difficult than most to get around in, but also more rewarding, with some of the finest scenery in the Alps. Glaciers oozing from between the high mountains launch two of Europe’s great rivers – the Rhine and the Inn, while two smaller rivers water pomegranates, figs and chestnuts in secluded southern valleys en route to the Po and the Gulf of Venice.