This trail to the bright blue Lake Cleuson was our favorite hike during our weekend in nearby alpine village Nendaz. From the top of a chair lift, it winds around on an ancient irrigation channel, aka “bisse” until you reach the reservoir. Then around the lake and back down the valley, full of wildflowers in late June. It’s long but mostly downhill and easy walking, a nice choice if you want to spend the whole day outside, allotting time to picnic by the lake.
| Location: | Valais, southern Switzerland |
| Address: | Siviez – Combatseline chair lift |
| Car: | Parking next to chair lift: 46°08’10.3″N 7°18’57.9″E 1hr30 from Lausanne or Zermatt, 3hr20 from Zurich |
| Train: | Bus stop: Siviez (Super-Nendaz) 2hr20 from Lausanne, 3hr30 from Zurich |
| Trail: | 4.1 km loop, about 2 hrs with playtime |
| Condition: | dirt mountain trail |
| Skill: | moderate |
| Open: | late-June to October |
| Cost 2021: | Chair lift one way CHF 12/adult. No discounts for Swiss travel cards. |
| More info: | nendaz.ch • webcam |
Location
Lac Cleuson is located in southern Switzerland, near the mountain resort village Nendaz.
Trail map
Although you may see a road on the map, you cannot drive directly to the lake. That road is only for service vehicles. You can hike up to the lake from the Siviez parking.
But it’s much nicer to do the hike we did, starting at the top of the Combatseline chair lift and hiking down to the lake on the Bisse du Cherve trail, about 6 km to the lake. Then we hiked along the west side of the lake, about 2 km to reach the dam. Then hikes down through the valley back to the parking, another 3.5 km. In total, we were on the trail for about 4.5 hours with some breaks here and there. But I would have liked to spend more time at the lake with a picnic.
See trail map on Komoot • SchweizMobil • AllTrails • OutdoorActive
Getting there
By car: You can drive directly to Siviez and park the lot next to the Siviez – Combatseline chair lift.
By public transport: You can take a bus from Nendaz village to Siviez. It only runs a few times a day, so check the schedule carefully for both directions. In 2021, the bus 362 from Haute-Nendaz, télécabine to Siviez runs in the morning at 8:44, 10:22 and 11:15. The return from Siviez to Haute-Nendaz, télécabine runs in the afternoon at 14:45, 15:55 and 17:50. That’s it. Don’t miss it.
Photo story of trail
At the top of the Combatseline chair lift.
Starting the trail, following an ancient “bisse” or irrigation channel. So no joke, the trail was super wet up here. We walked through lots of streams and puddles even on a blistering hot summer day.
One of the streams we walked through.
The dam comes into view, still along way to go to reach the lake.
Hiking along the side of the mountain filled with flowers in late June.
The trail wraps to the south end of the lake before descending to the water.
At the far end of the lake, the trail splits. Following signs to Siviez from here. I desperately wanted to walk up river from here for a bit, but we just didn’t have enough time (or energy to be fair).
To reach the water, you leave the trail and ramble a bit through the brush. Great place for a picnic.
We took the footpath on the west side of the lake leading to the dam.
Even at the end of June, we had to cross some snow patches and got really wet feet.
About 30 mins along the lake to reach the dam.
Take some much needed shelter from the sun here, the first shade of the hike.
Trail continues along the dam.
Now down some switchbacks.
Trail evens out and now some easy walking down the valley, through fields and forests.
Follow the footpaths, not the road.
Lots more wildflowers here and some shade in the forest.
The trail ends at the chair lift parking, where you can find your car or catch the bus.
See more hikes to Swiss alpine lakes
4 responses
We just did this hike over the weekend and the views were amazing!
For anyone planning to do the hike soon, just note, that first part of the hike is currently closed due to a landslide and the marked detour* descends quite a lot from Combatseline and then ascends back to the “bisse”. Instead of doing the detour, we opted for hiking up from Siviez – https://en.mapy.cz/s/cubesodadu and were quite happy with our choices as the path was nice, well maintained and reasonably steep. The path along the former “bisse” that was still open provided us with amazing views, but felt a bit dangerous above the southern part of the dam because parts of the narrow traverse were partially collapsed (but still passable).
P.S. Thanks Tanya for the great content, we have been using your website to plan our hikes in Switzerland for the past 2 years!
* https://map.geo.admin.ch/#/map?lang=en¢er=2591579.5,1109226.5&z=6.12&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&topic=ech&swisssearch=+&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen@year=1864,f;ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,f;ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,f;ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege,f;ch.vbs.schiessanzeigen,f;ch.astra.wanderland-sperrungen_umleitungen@features=1082412&featureInfo=bottomPanel
Thanks for the live update and info about the detour. Glad you enjoyed your day here!
Very useful and practical guides for reasonable walks for families (or oldies like us), but still capturing the wonder of high alpine scenery. Thanks for your efforts. Do you have postings for val d’Anniviers as well?
Thank you. I’m supposed to go to Val d’Annivers soon. So check back for tips on that area.