We love this gentle panorama hike at Fürenalp that traverses the mountain, leading to a roaring waterfall. Then you follow the river down into the beautiful Engelberg valley, with many mountain peaks in view.
We particularly like the varied terrain on this trail: wide open alpine meadows, narrow rocky paths, lush forest, and rushing rivers. Although it’s a bit long, it’s still a good choice for casual hikers and kids since because its either flat or downhill the whole time (unless you hike up!).
The Fürenalp lift is one of the few cable cars that starts its summer season in late April, making it a good choice for spring hiking when other mountain transport is still closed.
| Location: | Engelberg, Lake Lucerne Region |
| Starting point: | top of Fürenalp cable car |
| Car: | Parking at Wasserfallstrasse, 6390 Engelberg (46°48’06.6″N 8°26’57.8″E) 40 mins from Luzern, 1hr15 from Zurich |
| Train: | Bus stop: Engelberg, Fürenalpbahn 1hr20 from Luzern, 2hr15 from Zürich HB |
| Trail: | 9 km one way • trail map |
| Time: | 3.5 hours |
| Difficulty: | moderate – 10 m up, 750 m down |
| Condition: | narrow dirt path and dirt road, no strollers |
| Open: | April to October |
| Prices 2024: | cable car one way Adult CHF 14, Child CHF 7, Included in Tell Pass. No discount for travel passes or cards. |
| Services: | restaurant, playground, no fire pits |
| More info: | www.fuerenalp.ch • webcam |
Gallery
Trail overview
Here is the summer map of the Fürenalp area.
- Fürenalp parking, bus stop and cable car station
- Fürenalp restaurant, playground, start of trails – Marmot theme trail (yellow) and Panorama trail to Stäuber falls (red)
- Alpine dairy
- Stäuber Falls
Hiking map
Here is the hiking map for this Fürenalp trail. The hike starts at the top of the Fürenalp cable car and heads east to the Stäuber waterfall. Then it follows the river down to the valley and all the way back to the cable car valley station.
See interactive map on Komoot • OutdoorActive.
Shorter option: At the top of the Fürenalp cable car, you’ll find other trails including the Grötziweg, a 3.4 km loop (90 mins) starting and ending at the restaurant & playground. You can shorten it more and do only the upper section, about 45 mins. See trail details here.
Longer option: If you want a full day hike, you can start your hike at Fürenalp and hike past the waterfall, over the Surenenpass. The trail ends in Altdorf near Lake Lucerne. I’ve done this once and it was absolutely spectacular. This is part of the long distance Via Alpina route. See trail details here.
How to get there
Fürenalp is located in the Engelberg valley south of Lucerne (see on Google Maps). This trail is reached by the Fürenalp cable car, which is easily reached by car or bus.
By transit:
Take the train to Engelberg, then bus to Engelberg, Fürenalpbahn (runs once an hour, 13 minute ride). The bus drops directly at the cable car station.
By car:
Drive to Engelberg and follow the main road past the main village, following signs to the Fürenalp lift (as shown below, GPS: 46°48’06.6″N 8°26’57.8″E , closest address Wasserfallstrasse 222, 6390 Engelberg). There is a small parking lot next to the valley station, which costs CHF 5 for the day. You pay when you leave by inserting coins into the machine (no cards).
Planning your day
Tickets for Fürenalp Cable Car
For this hike, you’ll need a one way ticket for the cable car. In 2023, it cost CHF 15/adult and CHF 7.50/child one way. This is much more affordable than the other options in the Engelberg valley.
Included in Tell Pass. Small discount for SBB GA/Half-fare. Junior Cards not accepted.
Operating Times
The Fürenalp cable car is usually open for summer season from late April thru October. It only fits about 8 people, so on a busy day there can be a long wait. We arrived at 10am and had to wait about 30 mins.
Photo story of trail
1. Riding up the cable car
This is the Fürenalp cable car station. You buy tickets inside. There is a free toilet here.
This is the tiny cable car, fits 8 people. They will stop running it if there are high winds. I was there on a day like that and it was a scary ride. They closed it shortly after we rode up.
Here we are arriving at the top of the Fürenalp cable car with restaurant.
2. Restaurant & Playground at top of Fürenalp cable car
At the top of the cable car, there is a restaurant with big patio with fantastic views.
We’ve eaten here a few times, pretty good versions of typical Swiss mountain food.
Below the restaurant, there is a playground with swings, slides, trampolines, sandbox, and a view. More pics of playground on their website.
3. Optional short walk to Engelberg view
Before the hike, you can do a short 5 min walk to a small pond and viewpoint over the Engelberg valley. Follow that “Spiegelseeli” (aka mirror lake) sign as shown below. Or skip it and get on the main trail leading to Stäuber.
The little loop leads down to the little pond you can see on the lower left. It’s not a must do, but it’s the last you’ll see of Engelberg for the rest of the day.
The small pond has some benches and nice reflections in the water.
View of Engelberg valley from the viewpoint.
This is the path looping back to the playground. From the pond, it takes about 10 mins to get back to the restaurant.
And now back at the restaurant and playground.
4. Starting the panorama trail
To start the hike, follow trail signs to Stäuber, the name of the falls.
You start by traversing the mountain, pretty easy going.
Looking back towards Fürenalp after only a few minutes on the trail.
Lots of cows up here in summer.
In May, the alpine grass was still recovering from winter.
In this section, the path got narrow and had a few downhill switchbacks. The photo on the right is looking back up the trail.
After the switchbacks, the trail joined up with a dirt road.
After about 45 mins on the trail, we stopped at the Alp Hobiel dairy to use their bathrooms. We bought their delicious cheese. You can also stay here overnight.
5. Arriving at Stäuber falls
Finally the waterfall was in sight, about 15 mins after Alp Hobiel, the cheese place.
There’s a nice view from the bridge above the falls.
The Stäuber promotional pictures imply that you can get very close to the falls and even get wet – false advertising! We brought our swimsuits in anticipation of this. However, we couldn’t figure out how to get any closer than the picture above.
The main trail doesn’t get close to the falls. We couldn’t see a trail on the other side of the falls. We scrambled around near the falls, but didn’t feel like we could safely get any closer. So we enjoyed it from afar and moved along.
6. Walking down river
At the falls, the trail splits. Take the trail down along the river, following signs to Stäfeli and Engelberg. Don’t go to the path on the opposite side of the river.
This section has some narrow, rocky switchbacks, but not particularly difficult or dangerous.
Eventually the footpath connects to a service road and walking is much easier here.
This pic with the flowers and snow packs was taken in late May.
Where the river valley widens, there is easier access to the river, as shown below, left of the trail. We saw a couple people picnicking in this spot.
Along the way, we saw lots of other waterfalls, small and big, near and far.
When we reached the main road, there was Berggasthaus Stäfeli, where you could stop for drinks and snacks. At this point, we still had another hour of walking ahead of us. So you might consider a little break before continuing.
We passed another cable car that was much closer to the falls. At the Fürenalp valley station, the road was blocked and it seemed that you couldn’t drive farther. But clearly, this parking lot had cars, so perhaps you can pay or get special permission to come up here.
As we descended farther into the valley, we could choose between walking on the road or a dirt path on the hillside, in and out of a forest.
We passed another restautant, Alpenrösli, popular choice for many hikers.
7. Forest path along river
Right after Alpenrösli, you cross the river here and continue on a footpath through field and forest along the river.
Eventually the trail flattened out, the riverbed widens, and the trail meandered through big fields and forest.
Occasionally the trail dipped into cool forests and hugged the edge of the river. The trail leads you directly back to the Fürenalp valley station and your car.
There’s one section where the path goes close to the river and you can easily access the water. Great pics from here and a nice picnic for a picnic – see on Google maps.
We spent the whole day at Fürenalp, arriving at the valley station around 10am and returning to our car around 4:30pm. Total walking time for the 9km was about 3.5 to 4 hours with some very slow walkers. It was a really fun day. I hope you like it too.
13 responses
Tanya, great post, as usual! Could you please help me with my plans? I will be staying in Engelberg (3 nights, 2.1/2 days), using public transportation.
Do you think I could do Furenalp and Bannalpsee on the same day? Considering your information that Bannalpsee’s hike is around 1 hour.
Thanks in advance
I don’t think you’ll be able to do both in the same day. The cable cars are only open until about 17:00 and with the journey between the two locations, I just don’t think you’d be able to do it.
Looking forward to doing this hike tomorrow with a hiking-reluctant teenager. Thank you!!!
Hope you enjoyed it! Teens can surprise you sometimes.
Hello, can you please tell me, in which month the hick was made? Thank you
We usually do this hike in mid-May, but this year (2021), it has been snowing late in the mountains, so this hike is not available yet. The whole area is covered in snow. Please check the Fürenalp website and webcam for trail status.
We did at at the end of April one year and middle of May another year. It just depends on how long the snow lasts. You have to check the webcams and website to see the status of the trail.
Hi Tanya,
Thank you great recommendations. We were at Fuernalp on 31st October we crossed our paths trekking down the trail.
How fun! Wish I could have said hello. Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Tanya,
Is it possible to do this hike from the base of the cable car, return?
My daughter has done some pretty decent hikes (Gold Award, DOE) and we are both fit and healthy.
We’d obvioulsy take food and water with us.
Any advice appreciated.
Kind regards,
Patrick
Yes, absolutely. You can hike this backwards, hiking from the parking up the valley and up the river to the waterfall. But don’t go all the way to the top of the cable car since I don’t think you can make it down by foot from there. Take a look at the trail map so you have a good idea of the distance and elevation gain before setting out. Good luck!
We did this trail yesterday (1st June). The view was breathtaking and we had fun BUT I would say it is not suitable for small children even in later spring. We had to make our way across easily 1 km of snow (combining the various snow patches) where some were on a gradient which means sliding/slippery paths and there were sections where I was worried that my 6 year olds will slip and slide down the mountain! We were really grateful for our walking sticks which helped the little ones. There were also wide snow covering terrains across waterfalls where if you observe carefully, are probably not strong to withhold the weight of an adult. These form part of the marked walking trail but unfortunately the snow had covered these sections. If those snow covered terrains had given way, hikers would have fallen through into the waterfall and swept downwards. I would say hikers need to exercise caution if going in spring and there lots of snow present, and bring walking sticks! After all that’s been said, we really like the trail and would probably revisit.
Thanks for your report! Yes, I agree that this or any trail can be dangerous with spring snow, especially for small children. Unfortunately, this year the snow is holding very late. Usually that trail and my other spring recommendations are free from snow by early May, but not this year. I would definitely not hike on this trail with spring snow.
For any hike through early July, I would recommend talking to the cable car operators (calling ahead if possible) about the trail conditions before heading out. We have found them very helpful since they have staff that maintain the trails and talk to other hikers about their experiences. This has helped us avoid snow covered trails in the past.
I’m glad you were safe and liked the trail despite the difficulty. Thanks for helping other families with your advice.