UBC October 2026 - Ilanz, first city on the Rhine

As I mentioned, we had been invited to a hockey game in Davos on a Tuesday last month.

Naturally, we decided that travelling to Davos on Tuesday and coming straight home afterwards would be far too sensible. So we left on Monday and turned it into a little trip.

Our first stop was Ilanz.

I have to admit, I don't have a great deal of profound information to offer about Ilanz. I have some pictures of the old town, a bridge over the Rhine, and a rather nice evening that took an unexpected turn.

You see, Monday is not necessarily the easiest evening to find somewhere to eat in Switzerland.

For many Swiss businesses, and particularly restaurants in smaller towns, Monday is Ruhetag. Their day off.

So after discovering that several places were closed, we set off walking in search of somewhere that was actually open.

Eventually, our search took us across the Rhine.

And let's just say the other side wasn't exactly screaming welcome to our beautiful village. One building that looked as though it had once been a traditional restaurant appeared to have been out of business for quite some time.

We later mentioned this to the two gentlemen at the neighbouring table at the restaurant (back at the other side of the Rhine bridge) where we eventually ended up.

Their response was immediate:

“NOBODY goes over there.”

Obviously, I needed to know more.

Was there an ancient feud between the two sides of the Rhine? A centuries-old rivalry? Some deep cultural divide?

Or had we simply wandered into the wrong neighbourhood?

The two gentlemen, Gion and Andy, had plenty of stories to tell, although I'm still not entirely sure how much of the Rhine rivalry was serious and how much was local entertainment.

What I do know is that we ended up at Restaurant Raetia, and what could have been a rather unsuccessful Monday-night dinner hunt turned into a lovely evening.

The staff were local, speaking both Romansh and Swiss German, and the atmosphere was wonderfully relaxed.

And then I noticed something else.

Pretty much everyone around us was drinking wine.

And everyone seemed to be paying cash.

Meanwhile, my husband and I were the total aliens at the table: no Romansh, no wine, and, horror of horrors, we paid by card.

But apparently, none of that mattered.

Gion and Andy talked to us for at least an hour.

Now, perhaps this is a regional thing, but that struck me as rather remarkable. In the German-speaking part of Switzerland — particularly in more urban areas — you don't generally strike up conversations with the people sitting at the next table.

If you do, you might exchange an “En Guete” (enjoy your meal) when they start eating, or a polite “Schönen Abend” (have a good night) when you leave.

And that's usually the end of it.

Not in this restaurant.

Here, two complete strangers simply started talking to us and kept talking.

They had stories, opinions, local knowledge and, apparently, a few thoughts about which side of the Rhine one should avoid.

And somehow, despite being the obvious outsiders, we felt completely embraced by the locals.

That, more than anything, is what I'll remember about Ilanz.

PS: Of all the times we've talked to strangers in restaurants, this day was a combo. More about it in tomorrow's post.