Lake Saoseo - Val Viola
I did this hike on the 21st of October, 2025. I was staying for 5 days in Poschiavo for some autumn hiking, and Val da Camp with Lake Saoseo and Lake Val Viola was an area I had long wanted to visit. Besides a visit to the lakes, I included a loop up to the Italian border and ended up doing the route below.
Full route: Swisstopo
It was a grey but beautiful crisp morning with fresh snow on the mountains, when I left my airbnb in Poschiavo. I took the bus from Poschiavo station to Sfazü, where I started the hike. The first hour of the hike was very foggy, but it made for some beautiful scenery while walking up through the forest with all the golden larch trees.
After a while, it cleared up, and I got the first brief views of some of the snow covered mountains surrounding the valley. The trail up to the lakes were generally easy, being either on gravel road or hiking paths and until the lakes, I did not meet a single person.
As I reached Lake Saoseo, it had again become very foggy, but it made the scenery by the lake really spectacular. There was no wind so the the trees reflected perfectly in the lake. I spend some time by the lake, relaxing after the first part of the hike and walking around taking pictures, before I continued up on the trail.
From the lake, I followed the trail, leading up and under Scima da Saoseo. As I was almost up, the clouds cleared and the views and colors surrounding me were spectacular. Autumn is my favourite season, and I was really happy I had managed to finally go to this area for hiking.
As the clouds cleared, I could also suddenly see Lake Val Viola below surrounded by larch trees to all sides. As much as I would have liked to also be able to see the mountains around the lake, the low hanging clouds made for some very spectacular views.
By the time I made it down to the lake, the weather had completely changed and it was almost full sun and very warm. I decided to have my lunch break before continuing on the last part to the Italian border, and it was nice sitting in the sun and getting warm after a cold morning.
After lunch, I continued on the trail up in direction Pass da Val Viola. As I made my way up, the clouds once again drew closer and before long it started snowing. I don’t think I was ever on a hike with so much changing weather, but it made it so much more special and the constantly changing views were great.
The trail did a loop up at the pass and I followed along, briefly entering Italy for ten minutes, before coming back into Switzerland. There was snow on the trail here, so this part took a bit longer, but it was generally not problematic to walk in. The snow covered surroundings and views into Italy were amazing, and I would love to come back for more hiking in this area.
The trail turned back in direction Lake Val Viola and I started the descent back down to the lake. The views from up here down at the lake were quite spectacular with the clouds covering up the surroundings. The trail down was fairly easy, and I really enjoyed the views and how amazing the whole day had been.
Passing by Lake Val Viola again, I took a short break to take everything in. I had good time before the next bus as they did only run a few times in the afternoon, so I walked very slowly on the last part of the hike. I took the bus from Alp Camp back to Sfazù, where I caught the bus back to Poschiavo.
