This mountain trail at Flims has three special attractions: a gorgeous high alpine river valley, a huge waterfall, and a river gorge with seven interesting bridges crossing it.
It’s long hike at over 14 km with over 1000m of elevation descent, but it’s worth the effort. This hike is suitable for families with experience hiking and kids that have some endurance. The views are spectacular and very unique.
| Location: | Graubünden Switzerland |
| Address: | Flims Dorf Cable Car, Via Stenna 1 Flims |
| Car: | Parking GPS: 46°50’02.2″N 9°16’55.9″E 1hr30 drive from Zürich |
| Train: | Bus stop: Flims Dorf, Bergbahnen From Zurich 1hr50 |
| Trail: | 14.4 km one way |
| Condition: | narrow dirt alpine trail, 1000m elevation descent |
| Skill: | moderate, red/white mountain trail |
| Open: | July through October, chair lifts run 9:00-17:00 |
| Price 2024: | gondola CHF 30/adult no discounts with travel cards |
| Services: | mountain restaurant at halfway point, picnic area |
| More info: | www.flims.com |
Trail overview
This map shows the Flims Waterway trail and important elements of the trail.
You ride a gondola to Naguns. Hike out to the Segnesboden high river valley, visiting the big waterfall. Then follow the river down the mountain all the way back to the Flims town center, crossing seven fancy bridges with artistic designs.
Here is the detailed trail map that you can load onto your phone.
See trail on Komoot • SchweizMobil • OutdoorActive
The hike is long and descends over 1000m. It takes some endurance but worth the effort. We had 4 kids in our crew ranging from 8 to 13 years old. They all hiked much faster than the adults. It took us about 6 hours.
Shorter hike options
The Startgels gondola station is in the middle of the hike, allowing you to do a shorter version of the hike. Here are two options.
Option A: Hike from Nagens to the Segnesboden valley and waterfall. Then down to Startgels and ride the gondola down to Flims. This version is about 8.7 km / 3 hours. It does not visit the special bridges of the waterway trail, which are below Startgels.
Option B: From Flims, ride the FlemXpress gondola to Startgels and hike down to Flims on the waterway trail, visiting the seven special bridges. This version is about 5.7 km / 2 hours.
Where to eat
There is a official picnic area with a fire pit at the 12 km, with picnic tables, water fountain and WC.
How to get there
This trail is located in Flims, a mountain resort in southeastern Switzerland.
To reach the trail, you can ride the “Arena Express” gondola from Flims to Nagens – Via dil Crest, 7017 Flims (Note: In 2025, you will instead take the FlemXpress gondola, which is being renovated in 2024.)
By car:
Drive to Flims. Park in the Stenna Parking garage adjacent to the cable car station – Via Nova, 7017 Flims
By public transport:
Take a train to Chur. Then a bus to Flims Dorf, Bergbahnen. The cable car is a short walk from the bus stop.
Make sure to take the express bus, not the regional bus, which has the same bus number and leaves at the same time but takes about 20 mins longer.
Planning your day
Tickets
You’ll need a one-way ticket on the gondola from Flims to Nagens. In 2024, this ticket costs Adult CHF 30, Youth (age 6-17) CHF 15, under 6 free.
No discount with Swiss travel cards or passes. Junior cards are not accepted.
You can buy tickets online in advance to save time when you arrive. But tickets don’t sell out. See current prices.
Note: if you are doing one of the shorter trail options described above, you will need a different gondola ticket than described here. Show the ticket office agent which hike you plan to do and they will sell you the correct ticket.
Opening Times
This trail is usually open for hiking from mid July through mid October.
The gondola runs from mid July to mid October. It runs 9:15-16:15 daily.
Photo story of trail
The trail has changed a bit since my last visit, using a different gondola to reach the trail. So my photo story is missing some of the first part of the trail.
1. Riding up to Nagens
View of Flims as we ride up the mountain.
2. Hiking to Segnesboden valley
The trail leads down from the gondola station to the Segnesboden valley.
Here’s your first view of the beautiful Segnesboden high mountain valley. Once you reach the valley floor, it’s a short 10 min detour up this valley to see the waterfall.
Walking to the waterfall.
There is a very wide flat river plain flowing from the waterfall.
The waterfall is so much bigger and powerful than you might imagine. It’s amazing!!!
Do not try walking on the river plain. It’s so tempting but you will get so wet as our boys did. It looks very shallow but the water is spread wide, so it’s very difficult to cross without getting your shoes wet.
Two of our kids got soaked to their knees, another took off his shoes to cross a deep section barefoot in the icy water. I retraced my steps and took the bridge and trail back, nice and dry.
3. Hiking down to Startgels
When you are done admiring the waterfall, follow signs to Startgels. You will follow the river down the mountain.
We passed a honey farm, selling jars of delicious honey from these local bees. Bring cash.
Looking back to the Segnesboden.
4. Trail down river
Before your reach the hut, the trail forks to your left and heads down along the river. If you want to go to the hut for refreshments, hike up there, then hike back here to catch the trail.
Very steep and rocky in this section. Nice to have walking sticks here.
The first of many bridges crossing the river.
Some cows grazing.
The trail is usually along the river but higher up.
Through the tall grass.
We found lots of wild blueberries here and spent some time picking.
5. Trail split at Startgels
Your footpath will briefly join this dirt road and cross this bridge.
Immediately after the bridge, turn left on the narrow path that heads down to the river. It looks like a bike path, but the left side is for people and the right side for bikes. Do not continue walking on the road, which is also a trail but not the one you want.
Continue to follow signs for trail 764 Trutg dil Flem – Flimser Wasserweg, on the right side of the river.
Now the trail descends some steps into the gorge. The white sign Bei Hochwasser points to an alternate route that should be used if the water level is very high. That alternate route does not cross the river with the bridges.
6. Crossing bridges along river
The normal trail crosses over several interesting stylish bridges.
7. Nice picnic spot on river
The first picnic spot next to the river, at about the 10-11 km mark. We built a small fire but there wasn’t much wood. Plus it took us so long to get here, we were eating at about 16:00. There is an official picnic area with wood in another 1 km or so but not next to the river.
View away from the river.
Heading back into the forest.
Views down to Flims.
The trail joins the paved road briefly.
Here the official “Feuerstelle” with a fire pit, water, tables, wood, and a WC.
After the picnic area, the trail splits a couple times and we weren’t sure which to follow. But now I know that all trails lead to Flims, so don’t stress. The official trail continues along the river, meandering back to the cable car.
We were in a hurry because it was late and one of our crew was sick. So instead we followed signs to Flims and walked through the village to the bus stop. But I don’t think it was much faster.
OK, that’s it. It was a hard hike for the kids but so beautiful and definitely worth the effort. I hope you like it.
12 Responses
We did this trail yesterday. Some remarks related to summer 2023. You start in Nagens indeed, but besides cable cars you have an option to get to Nagens with the shuttle bus number 125 from Laax. It’s much cheaper (especially if you stay in the area and have a guest card) and you can get to Nagens before the opening of the cable car. The first bus leaves Laax at about 8 am.
The bridge at the far end of Segnesboden is under water right now, you have to find a way across the river by jumping from rock to rock. Waterproof shoes are an absolute must on this route. Lots of cows at Segnesboden (luckily not mother cows with calf and no guardian dogs). Some cows may block the narrow trail so you have to find a way around them somehow.
The restaurant Segneshütte is closed and there is a building site all around. Only a kiosk with small offer of basic food like hot dogs is open. Very tasty local apple juice. Near the Hütte there is a Pavilion with information about Sardona. On the weekend a geo guide is present – a very friendly old lady who is eager to give you additional information about the unique nature of the region.
On the weekends there are infrequent shuttles from Flims to Startgels and Foppa and back down to Flims. If you are very tired and feel like you cannot do the full trail, you can use them. Otherwise you have to walk all the way down.
I hope this information will be useful to someone.
Thanks for all the helpful details! I’m excited to try these trails after the construction is done and update the post accordingly.
“On Sunday, 26 March 2023, guests and locals will be able to travel towards Naraus for the last time. In spring, the cable car will be dismantled so that construction work for the new FlemXpress gondola lift can proceed according to plan.”
Delighted to find your wonderful trail guide, which has given us the confidence to tackle this family walk. I had planned to get the chair to Naraus from Flims and then follow the trail to Segneshütte as per your blog, but with the chair lift closing, do you know how we would be able to access the this trail?
I’m assuming there must be a viable alternative. We have a car, so perhaps driving to Stella on Alp Naggers is a possibility, or maybe there is a bus up the mountain from Laax?
We are staying a few days in the area, near Cazis (Thusis), and would appreciate any other recommendations for good day circular hikes in the area.
Kind Regards
James
Hi. According to the 2023 summer map, which shows the construction, it looks like you could ride the Arena Express and other lifts up to Nagens. Then follow trail 764 through the Segnesboden and connect to the Flims waterway below the Segneshütte. I suggest clarifying this at the ticket office. But I think it should work as I described, but a bit longer than described in my post.
As per the other reply, I can confirm using the Arena Express is recommended. Here is the response I received from Flims Laax Falera Management AG:
“You can take the Arena Express from Flims to Nagens this summer, from there you can walk towards segnesboden and from there you can walk down the Trutg dil Flem . All information about the route you will find on the following link https://www.flimslaax.com/en/hiking/trutg-dil-flem”
Thanks for the helpful info! Hopefully we can all do this trail soon.
Last week we walked most of this trail with our extremely hike-averse kids – it’s worth noting that there is a different option for an easier walk: after the second chairlift you can just walk gently down to the river and continue from there, enjoying all the bridges etc without the climb to the river plain and waterfall. Still a fair effort (around 9km with steep downhills), but the exertion to pleasure ratio is very favourable. Our big kid said it was their favourite thing of the whole holiday – despite having (of course) strongly resisted doing it in the first place.
Thanks for the easier suggestion. That’s a great idea! Glad you liked it.
Hi,
I would like to kindly ask you, if the waterfall from this article is this one: https://goo.gl/maps/rhLHNCS5u7GwMZnn7.
Thank you, your web is simply the best!
Vasek Vavra
Yes, that’s the one!
Hi, my name is Cara and I am so pleased to have found your blog! All the hikes seem amazing! I am planning a hiking trip for the beginning of August in Switzerland and would like to go on a 2-day hike. The hikes I’ve seen on your blog are one-day hikes, is there any 2-day-hike you could recommend? Thank you so much in advance!!
Kind Regards,
Cara
Hi, thanks for the kind comments. There are lots of mountain huts in Switzerland that would make a 2 day hike convenient. You can see a list of them here. http://www.sac-cas.ch/en/huts.html You might consider the Vier Quellen Weg (which means “four river source path) http://www.vier-quellen-weg.ch/home/. We’ve done part of two the stages as day hikes and they were very nice. We did the first part of stage 1 from Oberalpsee to Tomasee https://swissfamilyfun.com/2016/06/rhein-source.html/, and also the first part of stage 3 from the Gotthard pass to the source of the Reuss https://swissfamilyfun.com/2016/06/reuss-quelle.html/. I’ve been wanting to hike to the Länta hut, which has about a 10k hike each way, a bit of a loop. That would be a nice one. http://laentahuette.ch/en/startseite.html Sorry, it’s not very detailed but I hope this helps a bit. Have a fun trip!