Pontresina's Piz Languard is so good for running that it deserves a second option. This time, the Crasta Languard takes you further east before wrapping back around and dropping to Pontresina in the Val Bernina.

The run begins in Pontresina with a 450-meter climb to the Restaurant Unterer Shafberg. There, the trail traverses and is basically all runnable until you reach steeper switchbacks at 2500 meters, cutting uphill before reaching Lej Languard. Once above these few switchbacks, and directly beneath the Piz Languard, you'll cut back east for what is truly a memorable piece of trail through a uniquely stark landscape beneath the Crasta Languard. All this with views of the Piz Bernina massif and the Morteratsch Glacier.

At the Fuorcla Pischa you're briefly in rocky terrain before a steep drop into the deep Val da Fain. This leads out to the Val Bernina and the main road to Bernina Pass.

From there, you can catch a bus or train at the Diavolezza Station back to Pontresina or continue running down valley along the south side of the road. The trail is excellent. At Morteratsch you'll have another chance to catch a bus, or if you have the energy, continue down valley all the way to Pontresina.

What makes this run so good is the abundance of real running. There's not a lot of reason to hike too much of this run. Plus it's got great views of glaciers and the Alps' easternmost 4000 meter peak, the Piz Bernina. Bonus beauty if you go in the fall when the landscape is golden.