Via Spluga, long-distance hiking trail in Grisons, Switzerland and Province of Sondrio, Italy

The Via Spluga is a 65 km Swiss cultural hiking trail that follows the historic Alpine transit route from Thusis (720 m) over the Splügen Pass (2114 m) to Chiavenna (325 m) in Italy. It passes through the Schams, Rheinwald and Val San Giacomo valleys, following the Hinterrhein and Liro rivers through the Viamala, Roffla and Cardinello gorges. Marked by SchweizMobil as regional route no. 50, it is usually walked in four daily stages.

A Bronze Age pack trail crossed the Splügen Pass, as rock carvings at Carschenna show. In 1473 Thusis, Masein and Cazis agreed in the Viamalabrief to upgrade their transit route for vehicles. The commercial road over the pass was built from 1818 to 1823; on 6 December 1800 Marshal Macdonald led 15,000 soldiers of the Armée des Grisons over the pass toward Chiavenna. The Gotthard railway of 1882 cut goods traffic from 14,000 tonnes in 1856 to 1,000 tonnes in 1883.

The route follows old mule tracks and trade paths where pack animals once carried goods. In Splügen and Isola, visitors pass stone houses and churches such as St. Jakob in Splügen, and the Walser settlement of Val Curciusa is nearby. The Via Spluga was opened on 7 July 2001 with a historical procession.

The route is marked by SchweizMobil as regional route no. 50 and is usually walked in four stages: Thusis–Andeer (15 km), Andeer–Splügen (15 km), Splügen–Isola (17 km) and Isola–Chiavenna (18 km). The first stage offers a choice between the Verlorenes Loch route and the eastern flank via Traversina. Overnight accommodation exists in the stage towns.

The route follows the old mule track whose most famous obstacle, the Viamala gorge, was bypassed by a rock-cut path through the Verlorenes Loch, moved into the eastern slope of the Crapteig between 1821 and 1823. Above Rongellen, the Via Traversina variant crosses the Traversinersteg, a suspension bridge over the gorge. Bronze Age rock drawings at Carschenna, on a detour around the impassable Viamala, mark the oldest traces of the crossing.