We arrived in Chur late at night and went directly from the train station to the hotel, less than five minutes away. The following day, I got up earlier than usual and started my exploration. The charm of this small 30,000-person city blew me away.

Chur is the oldest town in Switzerland, and its settlement dates back over 5,000 years. The downtown core has ample historic buildings and a fair number of modern structures. The city is surrounded by mountains, making for a dramatic backdrop.

I found these modern buildings next to the hotel and the train station. And though the architecture is obviously contemporary, the scale of the structures blends with the older buildings. There is a quality to the buildings that are not typical in the United States, especially in such a small city.

Admittedly, this is not the charming part of town. However, the newer buildings maintained and extended the fabric of the central core.

I saw this older curved building nearby. I wonder if the modern curved buildings were designed to echo this structure. Notice that both old and new buildings are five stories tall.

Continuing southeast, I passed by a small shopping district. The white Manor building is a small department store. I later peek inside. It was not fancy but seemed to have most of the necessities of life.

Further southeast, the buildings became older and more character-filled. The mix of architecture works together; even the drab beige post-war building looks somewhat palatable, surrounded by the ornate structures. Again, the scale of the buildings is in harmony, so the different styles better work together.

The historic commercial core has a passing resemblance to old town Zurich just on a smaller scale. Although, Zurich’s buildings had more detailing and color. However, Chur is surrounded by mountains, which elevates the backdrop that Zurich lacks.

This section of town looks cosmopolitan for such a small city. However, this district is small and continuing further quickly takes you to the suburban countryside.

The slender steeple of the old church beckoned as it poked above the commercial buildings. I continued toward it, which led to a more residential part of the city. I walked further past the church and into more greenery as the elevation increased. I’ll cover those images in further posts.

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