Engstlenalp – Easy lake walk and fishing

We had seen this lake from a distance when we visited the Melchsee Frutt area last summer. It looked so remote that we thought you would have to hike there. But turns out, you can drive on a one-lane private road all the way up to the lake. It’s a short, easy walk along the lake, but too lumpy and narrow in places for strollers.

We walked to the far end of the lake, where we fished, played in the icy stream and picnicked. We didn’t catch anything (and didn’t see anyone else catch anything either) but we had fun anyway. It’s a beautiful setting, an easy hike, and plenty of room for the kids to safely run around and explore. From Zurich, it takes a long time to get there, but it’s a beautiful drive, and the lake seems rather isolated and special. 

Gallery

Location

This alpine lake is located in the eastern side of the Bernese Oberland, near Meiringen. It is accessed by bus or car on a narrow mountain road (private road, fee to use).

Hiking map

The lake is only 300m from the parking or bus stop. Then you can optionally stroll along the water to the far side of the lake and find a spot for a picnic. You can’t walk all the way around the lake as there is no path on the other side.

Longer options:

Engelberg – This lake is in the middle of the “Vier-Seen-Wanderung” from Melchsee-Frutt to Engelberg as described here. From Engstlesee, you can do the second half of this hike, hiking up and over the Jochpass to the Titlis–Engelberg area. If you prefer, you can actually ride chair lifts on parts of this hike and catch more views the easy way. At the end of this post, I’ll give more detailed information about that option.

Horizontweg – You can hike from this lake to Hasliberg on the beautiful Horizontweg, 11 km. I prefer to hike from Hasliberg and end at this lake, less uphill. See details in this post.

Getting There

By car: Your destination is Engstlenalp, 3862 Innertkirchen or this GPS location: 46.775768, 8.344038

Drive to Innerkirchen, then direction Sustenpass. After about 5 mins, turn left on a small road called Matteloch. At the start of this road, there is a big sign explaining that this is a private road and you have to pay to use it (CHF 8 for cars). You don’t pay now, but several km further up the road, you’ll reach a restaurant with a gate across the road. You pay the fee, cash only. It’s a one lane road up the mountain, but it has lots of turn outs making it relatively easy to pass when necessary.

By public transport: You can reach Engstlenalp by public transportation by taking a train to Meiringen, then another train Innertkirchen Grimseltour. Then take the PostAuto bus to Engstlenalp. It only runs two times in the morning, so check the schedule carefully before heading out. See the current schedule here.

In addition to the normal fare, you must pay an extra fee for traveling on the private road, even if you have a GA card. This bus only runs a few times a day, so make sure you know the return times beforehand so you don’t miss it.

Photo story of trail

Arriving at the lake

The road ends at this hotel and the post bus stop. There is a restaurant at this hotel. There is also a cheese shop on the other side of the parking lot, selling a variety of dairy products. 

You can picnic in the area, but no fires allowed, I think because it’s some sort of nature preserve.

Walking up to the lake

The trail starts on a dirt road from the parking lot. It looks like you might be able to take a stroller, but it quickly turns into a smaller, lumpier path. I saw one family with a stroller, but they gave up and carried the stroller back to the road.

After only a couple minutes, you can already see the lake. You can follow the path or just ramble around the hillside.

There are many pretty places to stop along the lake and have a picnic, but no fires allowed. 

Just a few pics to give you an idea of what the trail is like.

In the middle of June, there was still some snow patches around the lake. The trail is not difficult, but does get rocky in parts.

After walking about 15 minutes, we reached this sign that says 15 more minutes to the Jochpass chair lift (more about later). At this point, the trail goes steadily uphill, leaving the lake side. 

We wanted to fish at the very far end of the lake, so we followed this trail until we got to the end of the lake, then followed a smaller footpath down to the water. This seemed like a popular option.

We settled in on this stream that feeds into the lake. Our boys had lots of fun wading in the stream, climbing on rocks, throwing rocks, all that regular kid stuff.

There’s lots of room along the water to spread out.

Fishing

I’m not an expert on fishing in Switzerland, so I had a local expert write a wonderful guest post about fishing here. In short, you need a fishing license to fish in most lakes and rivers in Switzerland. Each canton issues its own fishing licenses and determines the rules for fishing in the lakes and rivers in that canton. 

Engstlensee is in Kanton Bern, so we bought our license on Bern’s website, which we simply printed out and brought with. It cost CHF 28/adult, CHF 17/child for a one day license. There are certainly cheaper places to fish if you are not serious and just want some fun with the kids. There were a lot of people fishing in that lake, but we didn’t see anyone catch anything. 

We had one real fishing pole that my 8 year old used. He had more fun than I thought he would, even though he didn’t catch anything.

We had a small, almost toy fishing pole that my 4 year old played with. After only a few minutes, we took off the hook from this mini pole and just let him cast and reel with a float and weight on the end of it. I’m sorry to say that we broke both our poles by the end of the day so this might be our last fishing trip for awhile.

Our boys were so entertained by the small pleasures of playing in a mountain stream that we could actually take a little time out and relax. My husband had a little nap in the sun on this big flat rock.

Just a few pics on our walk back at 18:00. We don’t usually stay in the mountains so late, but everyone was having such a good time and the sun was so warm and the day so beautiful that it seemed a shame to leave any earlier. Plus we didn’t have to hurry back to catch the last gondola of the day.

Another hiking option

As I mentioned above, there is a chair lift at the far end of the lake which goes to Jochpass. I’ve been on this lift for skiing and it gives a fantastic view towards Engelberg and Trübsee on the other side of the pass.

I didn’t know about it until we had already hiked around the lake. Unfortunately, I had left both my Halbtax card and my cash in the car, so we couldn’t go up it. It’s only 8sfr round trip with Halbtax (cash only).

Beyond this simple joy ride, this chair lift makes a multiple mountain adventure possible with children. 

Here’s a general outline for a trip we hope to do soon. 
– take the train/post bus to Stöckalp, then the cable car up Melchsee
– take the tourist train from Melchsee along the trail to Tannen
– hike ~30 mins down to Engstlensee
– hike ~30 mins from Engstlenalp to Jochpass chairlift
– take chair lift up to Jochpass, the Alpstubli chair lift down Trübsee
– short hike along Trübsee to cable car that takes you down Engelberg
– take post bus/train home from Engelberg

I’m so excited about the prospect of doing this little trek with our kids. When we get around to doing it, I’ll certainly post all the details.

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