Landwasser Viaduct

There is no single viewpoint here but a small network of signposted ones, and none requires a ticket. The Acatos platform, on the south side, is reached from Filisur station on a marked forest trail that runs parallel to the railway: the regional tourism office lists the "Filisur Station – Viaduct Square via Acatos Viewing Platform" route at 2.8 km (1.7 mi) and about 50 minutes, graded T1. It ends at the Viaduct Square at the foot of the structure, so a single walk gives both the high view and the view from below.

The Hennings platform sits on the north side, above the tunnel beyond the Schmittentobel viaduct. From the "Schmitten GR Landwasserviadukt" stop it is five minutes on a well-made path; the tourism office also gives 15 minutes from the viaduct itself, 40 minutes from Schmitten village and 50 minutes from Filisur station.

The rhythm is set by RhB's hourly service in each direction, with the Glacier Express and Bernina Express among the regular trains. Arrive, check which direction the next train is coming from, and keep to the platform: the line is live and electrified.

The viaduct is 65 m (213 ft) high, built of dark limestone on five pillars with six 20 m (66 ft) semicircular arches, and it curves on a 100 m (328 ft) radius — the tightest curve used anywhere on the Albula line, according to its Wikipedia entry. At one end the track runs straight into a sheer rock face and the 216 m (709 ft) Landwasser Tunnel, which is the image that made the bridge famous.

The Acatos trail climbs through forest between 974 m and 1,084 m (3,196–3,556 ft) above sea level and opens onto what the tourism office calls a dizzying view of the viaduct and deep into the Landwasser valley. RhB calls the viaduct "the most photographed subject on the Rhaetian Railway line".

The viaduct was designed by engineer Alexander Acatos (1873–1950) and built by Müller & Zeerleder between March 1901 and October 1902, at a cost of CHF 280,000. It was raised without conventional external scaffolding. The two platforms are named after its engineers: Acatos, and Friedrich Hennings, chief engineer of the Albula line. A third platform, Coray, is named after Richard Coray, who built the neighbouring Wiesen Viaduct.

The Bever–Filisur section was electrified at 11 kV 16.7 Hz on 20 April 1919. In 2009 the viaduct received its first major restoration since construction, reported at CHF 4.6 million. Since 2008 the Albula and Bernina lines have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes".

A 65 m masonry viaduct on a 100 m radius curve that ends directly in a cliff-face tunnel: no other subject on the Rhaetian Railway is photographed more, by RhB's own account. It has named, free public platforms on both sides, a dedicated shuttle halt, and a signposted trail from Filisur station.