In its ‘Traveller Review Awards 2025’ ranking, the travel platform Booking.com placed Graubünden in the 5th place in terms of how welcoming and friendly its residents are to visitors.
The scores are based on 240 million reviews in 220 countries from users of the portal who were tasked with choosing the regions across the world which offer “exceptional hospitality and services.”
But first, a bit about Graubünden
This mountainous area in eastern part of the country has the distinction of being Switzerland’s only canton with its own language, Romansh.
Romansh is actually the umbrella name for five written regional variants of the language: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader.
READ ALSO: What you need to know about the Swiss language Romansh
However, only 60,000 residents out of the total population of approximately 205,000 still speak the language. The other official language of the canton is German, though a number of people who live in the part of the canton bordering Italy also speak Italian.
‘Graubünden’ is the canton’s name in German, but it is also known by its French name, Grisons (same as in English), Grigioni in Italian, and Grischun in its own language, Romansh.
What is it famous for?
Mostly for its world-renown ski resorts, with Davos and St. Moritz foremost among them.
And if you are a fan of literature, you may know that the quintessential (even if fictional) Swiss girl Heidi lived with her grandfather, friend Peter, and a herd of goats, above the Graunbünden community of Maienfeld.
So is Graubünden really the most hospitable canton in the country, as the survey indicates?
There is no scientific data to prove (or disprove) this point, so we can only rely on anecdotal evidence — the same as the Booking.com’s study did.
Though not providing actual testimonials, other analysis also suggests that the canton’s residents are indeed very friendly and welcoming to others — though whether it is actually the most hospitable in Switzerland remains unclear.
For instance, a survey conducted on this very subject by Moneyland consumer platform aimed to determine how friendly the population of each canton is, through the eyes of the Swiss population as a whole.
In that particular study, respondents gave Graubünden residents high friendliness ratings, though it came second to Ticino.
It had received its highest ratings from the canton of Zug, followed by St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Zurich.
However, the youngest group of study participants, those between the ages of 18 and 25, rated Graubünden in the first place for hospitality.
So you can be fairly certain that when you visit Graubünden, you will be greeted with a friendly ‘Allegra’, which means ‘Welcome’ in Grischun.
Comments