Introduction
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Welcome to Davos, a town whose name echoes through the halls of world literature. For many visitors today, Davos is synonymous with the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of political and business leaders that has made this Alpine resort a byword for global power. For skiers, it is one of the great winter sports destinations of Europe. But for readers, for those who have turned the pages of one of the twentieth century's greatest novels, Davos means one thing above all: Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain."
Published in 1924, "Der Zauberberg" is set almost entirely in a tuberculosis sanatorium perched on the mountainside above Davos. The novel follows Hans Castorp, a young Hamburg engineer who comes to visit his cousin in the sanatorium for three weeks and stays for seven years, drawn into a hermetic world of illness, intellectual debate, and the seductive rhythms of institutional life high above the ordinary world. It is at once a devastating portrait of European civilisation on the eve of the First World War, a philosophical novel of extraordinary ambition, and a deeply human story of love, sickness, and the passage of time.
But Davos's literary and cultural story extends far beyond Mann. The town attracted writers, artists, and intellectuals for decades, drawn by the same Alpine air that was prescribed as a cure for tuberculosis. Among them was Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, one of the founders of German Expressionism, who spent his final years in Davos and whose extraordinary body of Alpine paintings is now housed in a museum dedicated to his work.
Today's walk traces the literary and cultural history of Davos through approximately four kilometres of the town and its surroundings. We will visit the sites that inspired Mann, explore the Kirchner Museum, and discover the remarkable cultural ecosystem that flourished in this remote Alpine valley.
Chapter 1: The Sanatorium Era -- Davos as a Place of Healing
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GPS Waypoint: Davos Platz Centre -- 46.8027, 9.8360
To understand Davos's cultural history, you must first understand why anyone came here at all. Until the mid-nineteenth century, Davos was a remote, impoverished Alpine farming community, its long, harsh winters a burden rather than an attraction. The transformation began in 1853, when a German doctor named Alexander Spengler settled in Davos and began prescribing the dry, cold Alpine air as a treatment for tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis was the great scourge of nineteenth-century Europe. The disease killed millions, and there was no effective medical treatment until the development of antibiotics in the mid-twentieth century. The best that medicine could offer was a regime of rest, fresh air, good nutrition, and exposure to sunlight, all administered in purpose-built sanatoriums located at high altitude where the air was dry and clean.
Spengler's advocacy, combined with endorsements from other physicians, launched Davos as a health resort. By the 1880s and 1890s, the town had been transformed almost beyond recognition. Grand sanatoriums and hotels sprang up along the valley floor and on the surrounding hillsides, their balconied facades oriented to catch the maximum sunlight. A railway connection, completed in 1890, made the town accessible from Zurich and the outside world.
As you walk through Davos Platz, you can still see the architectural legacy of this sanatorium era. The grand hotels and former medical institutions, many now converted to other uses, have a distinctive appearance: wide balconies, south-facing orientation, generous windows, and a style that blends the therapeutic with the luxurious. These were not merely hospitals; they were enclosed communities where patients, many of whom stayed for months or years, created a social world of remarkable intensity.
Chapter 2: Thomas Mann's Visit -- The Seed of a Masterpiece
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GPS Waypoint: Waldhotel Davos area -- 46.7990, 9.8310
In May and June of 1912, Thomas Mann's wife Katia was a patient at the Waldsanatorium in Davos, being treated for a lung condition that was initially suspected to be tuberculosis. Mann visited her for three weeks, and the experience made an overwhelming impression on him.
Mann was already a celebrated writer. His first novel, "Buddenbrooks," published in 1901, had established him as one of the leading literary voices of his generation. He would later receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. But the Davos visit planted the seed for what many consider his greatest work.
What struck Mann about the sanatorium world was its extraordinary self-containment. The patients, suspended between sickness and health, between life and death, inhabited a realm apart from ordinary experience. Time moved differently in the sanatorium. The routines of treatment, the daily rituals of temperature-taking and rest cures, the gossip and intellectual conversations among educated Europeans thrown together by illness, all of this created what Mann perceived as an intensified, almost enchanted version of life. A magic mountain, indeed.
The novel Mann began in 1913 was initially conceived as a short, humorous counterpart to "Death in Venice," published that same year. But the First World War intervened, and the project grew and deepened over twelve years of writing. By the time "The Magic Mountain" was published in 1924, it had become a vast, encyclopaedic novel of ideas, encompassing debates about progress and tradition, rationalism and romanticism, democracy and authoritarianism, disease and health as metaphors for the condition of European civilisation.
Walk uphill from Davos Platz toward the Schatzalp. The physical landscape around you is the landscape Mann transformed into literature.
Chapter 3: The Schatzalp -- The Real Magic Mountain
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GPS Waypoint: Schatzalp Funicular Station -- 46.7975, 9.8295
The Schatzalp funicular carries you up from Davos Platz to the Schatzalp, the site that served as Mann's primary inspiration for the fictional Berghof sanatorium in "The Magic Mountain." The Schatzalp Sanatorium was one of the most prestigious tuberculosis institutions in Davos, and it is widely accepted that Mann drew upon his observations of this facility and of the Waldsanatorium where his wife stayed.
The Schatzalp building itself, now operating as a hotel, retains much of its original character. Built in 1900, it commands a spectacular position on the mountainside above Davos, looking out across the valley to the peaks beyond. The building's design, with its extensive south-facing balconies and airy, light-filled common rooms, embodies the therapeutic architecture of the sanatorium era.
Stand on the terrace and imagine the scene Mann described: patients lying in their deck chairs on the balconies, wrapped in blankets, taking the prescribed rest cure in the cold, clear mountain air. The view before you is essentially unchanged since 1912. The peaks, the forests, the vast Alpine sky, these are the same elements that Hans Castorp contemplated during his seven years of voluntary exile from the flatlands below.
Readers of the novel will recognise many elements in the landscape. The bobsled run, the forest paths where Castorp took his solitary walks, the panoramic views that inspired his philosophical meditations, all are drawn from the real topography of the Schatzalp and its surroundings.
The Schatzalp is also home to a remarkable Alpine botanical garden, the Alpinum Schatzalp, which contains over three thousand species of mountain plants from around the world. This garden, established in 1907, was contemporary with Mann's visit and adds another layer of cultural interest to the site.
Chapter 4: Inside the Novel -- Key Themes and the Alpine Setting
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As we descend from the Schatzalp, let us consider the novel itself more closely, for the landscape around us is not merely a backdrop but an active participant in the story.
"The Magic Mountain" is structured around a series of intellectual debates between its characters, each of whom represents a different strand of European thought. Lodovico Settembrini, the Italian humanist and liberal rationalist, argues for progress, democracy, and the power of reason. Leo Naphta, the Jesuit intellectual, counters with a defence of tradition, hierarchy, and the spiritual claims of religion. Between them stands Hans Castorp, the well-meaning but impressionable protagonist, whose education consists of absorbing and weighing these competing visions.
Mann situates these debates in a sanatorium because illness, he suggests, strips away the comfortable routines and assumptions that sustain ordinary life. Sickness forces confrontation with fundamental questions: What is time? What is death? What do we owe to the community, and what do we owe to ourselves? The hermetically sealed world of the mountain sanatorium, isolated from the political upheavals of the plains below, becomes a laboratory for exploring these questions.
The Alpine setting is central to the novel's symbolic architecture. The mountain is simultaneously a place of elevation and insight, a place of dangerous enchantment, and a place of death. Snow, which features in one of the novel's most famous chapters, is both beautiful and deadly. The clarity of the Alpine air mirrors the clarity of intellectual analysis, while the fog and storms that periodically engulf the mountain represent the forces of irrationality and destruction.
Chapter 5: The Kirchner Museum -- Expressionism in the Alps
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GPS Waypoint: Kirchner Museum -- 46.7972, 9.8240
Descend to the Kirchner Museum, one of Davos's great cultural treasures and a destination that reveals another facet of the town's artistic heritage. The museum, designed by the architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer and opened in 1992, houses the world's largest collection of works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Kirchner was a central figure in the Die Bruecke movement, the group of Dresden-based artists who, beginning in 1905, pioneered German Expressionism. His early works, depicting the frenetic energy of urban Berlin with angular forms, vivid colours, and a raw emotional intensity, are among the defining images of early twentieth-century art.
In 1917, suffering from physical and psychological breakdown exacerbated by his experiences in the First World War, Kirchner came to Davos for treatment. He would spend the rest of his life here, finding in the Alpine landscape and the farming communities of the Davos valley a new source of artistic inspiration.
Kirchner's Davos paintings represent a remarkable transformation. The angular, nervous energy of his Berlin works gives way to a more expansive, rhythmic style. The Alpine landscapes, with their bold forms and intense colours, possess a monumental quality that rivals the work of any landscape painter of the twentieth century. Farmsteads, haystacks, forests, and mountain peaks are rendered in broad, sweeping strokes that capture both the physical grandeur and the spiritual intensity of the Alpine world.
The museum building itself is worth attention. Gigon and Guyer's design uses four glass-roofed pavilions that admit controlled natural light, creating ideal conditions for viewing Kirchner's colour-saturated paintings. The architecture achieves a rare harmony between building and collection.
Kirchner's story has a tragic dimension. The rise of the Nazis, who branded his work degenerate and removed it from German museums, devastated him. In 1938, isolated in Davos and despairing over the political catastrophe engulfing Europe, Kirchner took his own life. His grave is in the Davos cemetery.
Chapter 6: The Promenade and Literary Markers
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GPS Waypoint: Davos Promenade -- 46.7960, 9.8255
Walk along the Davos Promenade, the broad, tree-lined walkway that runs through the centre of town. This promenade, which follows the course of the Landwasser river, was the main social thoroughfare of sanatorium-era Davos, where patients and visitors strolled, conversed, and took their prescribed exercise.
Along the promenade and in the surrounding streets, you will find markers and plaques identifying sites of literary and cultural significance. These markers form an informal literary trail that connects the various strands of Davos's cultural history.
Beyond Mann and Kirchner, Davos attracted a remarkable constellation of writers and intellectuals. Robert Louis Stevenson spent the winter of 1881-1882 in Davos, seeking relief from his chronic lung condition. During his stay, he wrote portions of "Treasure Island" and several essays about the experience of living in a mountain health resort. Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, visited Davos in the 1890s and is credited with helping to popularise skiing in the Alps.
The concentration of educated, often wealthy, and invariably idle patients created a unique cultural environment. Lectures, concerts, readings, and debates were regular features of sanatorium life, and Davos developed an intellectual vibrancy that belied its small size and remote location.
Chapter 7: The Sanatorium Architecture Walk
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GPS Waypoint: Historic Sanatorium Buildings -- 46.7950, 9.8230
Continue along the promenade and into the residential areas to examine the surviving sanatorium architecture more closely. Davos possesses an outstanding collection of early twentieth-century medical and hotel architecture that collectively represents one of the most complete surviving ensembles of the sanatorium era.
The buildings share certain common features that reflect their therapeutic purpose. The balconies are perhaps the most distinctive element. Each patient room was equipped with a private balcony oriented to the south, where the rest cure, lying for hours in the open air, was conducted. The rows of identical balconies stacked up the facades of the sanatorium buildings give them a distinctive, almost modernist appearance.
The relationship between the sanatorium buildings and the landscape is also notable. They are positioned to maximise exposure to sunlight while being sheltered from the prevailing winds. Their orientation on the valley slopes follows precise calculations of solar angle, creating a built environment that is as much a product of medical science as of architectural design.
Several of these buildings have been repurposed for hotels, conference centres, and residential use, but their original character remains legible. As you walk among them, you inhabit the physical world that Mann transmuted into literature.
Chapter 8: The World Economic Forum and Modern Davos
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GPS Waypoint: Congress Centre -- 46.8010, 9.8340
It is impossible to discuss modern Davos without acknowledging the World Economic Forum, the annual meeting that takes place each January and has made the town's name synonymous with globalisation and international diplomacy.
The WEF was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-born economist and professor. What began as a modest European management forum has grown into the world's most prominent gathering of political leaders, CEOs, and intellectuals. During the annual meeting, Davos is transformed: security is intense, helicopters fill the sky, and the small town accommodates presidents, prime ministers, and billionaires.
There is an intriguing continuity between the sanatorium-era Davos and the WEF-era Davos. In both cases, the town serves as a rarefied retreat from the ordinary world, a place where elites gather in Alpine isolation to discuss the great issues of the day. Mann would surely have appreciated the parallel: his fictional Berghof, where European intellectuals debated civilisation while ignoring the approaching catastrophe of war, finds an echo in a forum where global leaders discuss existential risks in luxurious surroundings.
Chapter 9: The Cemetery and Quiet Memorials
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GPS Waypoint: Davos Cemetery -- 46.7938, 9.8215
Walk to the Davos cemetery, a peaceful space that contains the graves of many who came to Davos seeking healing and found, instead, their final resting place. The cemetery is a poignant reminder of the reality behind the literary glamour of the sanatorium era. Tuberculosis was a deadly disease, and many patients who came to Davos did not survive.
Kirchner's grave is here. But the cemetery contains many other graves of interest, including those of patients from across Europe who died far from their homes, their tombstones inscribed in German, English, French, Russian, and other languages. These multilingual graves testify to the international character of sanatorium-era Davos and to the democratic cruelty of the disease that brought these diverse individuals together.
The cemetery is also a place of quiet beauty. Set against the mountain backdrop, shaded by conifers, and meticulously maintained, it offers a contemplative pause in our walk.
Chapter 10: Practical Tips for Visitors
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Some practical guidance for your literary and cultural exploration of Davos.
The Kirchner Museum is open year-round and should not be missed. Allow at least ninety minutes for the collection. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions and cultural events.
The Schatzalp is accessible by funicular from Davos Platz. The funicular runs regularly throughout the year, and the ride takes only a few minutes. The hotel at the Schatzalp welcomes non-resident visitors for dining and drinks, offering a chance to experience the building's atmosphere.
For those interested in the literary connections, a copy of "The Magic Mountain" is the ideal companion for your visit. Reading selected chapters before or during your trip will enormously enrich your appreciation of the places you encounter.
Davos is approximately two and a half hours from Zurich by train, with a change at Landquart. The train journey through the Praettigau valley is scenic. The town has excellent dining options, from traditional Buendner restaurants to international cuisine.
Conclusion
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GPS Waypoint: Walk End -- 46.7925, 9.8200
Davos is a town that has been reinvented several times: from farming village to sanatorium resort, from health spa to winter sports destination, from Alpine retreat to global power forum. Through each transformation, the mountains have remained constant, their presence a reminder that human ambitions and anxieties, however grand they may seem, are temporary phenomena played out against an ancient and indifferent landscape.
Thomas Mann understood this. His novel uses the mountain setting not merely as a picturesque backdrop but as a force that shapes and ultimately judges the human dramas enacted in its shadow. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner understood it too. His paintings capture the overwhelming power of the Alpine landscape with a visual intensity that matches Mann's literary intensity. Together, these two great artists created a portrait of Davos that transcends tourism and enters the realm of universal human meaning.
As you conclude this walk, carry with you the awareness that the mountains around you have inspired some of the finest works of twentieth-century culture. The magic of this mountain is real, and it continues to cast its spell on all who come within its reach.
Thank you for joining us on the Davos Literary Trail.