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.
Contents
| 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 2023: | cable car one way Adult CHF 15, Child CHF 7.50, Included in Tell Pass. Small discount for SBB GA/Half-fare. Junior Cards not accepted. |
| Services: | restaurant, playground, no fire pits |
| More info: | www.fuerenalp.ch • webcam |
Gallery
Location
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.
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
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. 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. I didn’t eat here so I can’t vouch for the food. But given the views, I’d certainly give it a chance.
Below the restaurant, there is a playground with swings, slides, trampolines, sandbox, and a view. More pics of playground on their website.
If you walk under the cable car, you get a sweeping view of the Engelberg valley.
2. Starting the trail
Now onto the trail. Heading east from the cable car, there are two parallel paths (trails #1 and #2) leading west to the Stäuber waterfall. The most straight-forward option is trail #2. However, we started on the Grotzliweg trail (#1), which starts slightly lower than trail #2. They join together after a kilometer or so, after which you can continue on trail #2 to the falls instead of turning back and completing the loop of the Grotzliweg.
The Grotzliweg is an educational theme trail. We saw a few numbered markers (shown below) but no information signs to go with them. After posting this, I heard from the Fürenalp team who directed me to a PDF on their website (in English!) that has descriptions for each numbered station on the trail.
For example, here is the description for #3 below: “As soon as a mountain range rose above the sea level the energy of weathering started to have its effect. River carved valleys through the layers of rock. The cold and the water broke the stones. The weathering is easily recognisable around us, for instance on the pale high mountain limestone along the path. Rainwater washes away the calcium out of the stone leaving groves in the rock surface called karst.”
Quite interesting. And special thanks to the Fürenalp team for helping us all out!
It doesn’t matter how you start the trail, just make sure you follow trail signs to Stäuber. I slightly prefer starting on trail #1 because it passed by interesting rock formations (shown below) and through some wild blueberry bushes (usually the fruit is ready in late August). We had a tummy full of blueberries to hold us over until lunch time.
A couple views of the trail.
In this section, it got narrow and had a few switchbacks. The photo on the right is looking back up the trail, so don’t worry: we walked downhill, not uphill.
After the switchbacks, the trail joined up with a dirt road.
After about 1hr on the trail, we stopped at this cafe/cheese shop/overnight hut to use their bathrooms. We also bought some pretty delicious cheese.
3. The waterfall
Finally the waterfall was in sight. We reached it about 15 mins after Alp Hobiel, the cheese place.
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 below on the right. 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.
4. Walking down river
At the falls, the trail splits. Take the trail down the valley, along the river, toward Engelberg. This section has some narrow, rocky switchbacks, but not particularly difficult or dangerous.
Eventually the trail flattens out and you can easily walk off the side of the trail and access the river. The river was flowing fast but not too high when we were there.
There weren’t any fire pits along the trail, so climbed down to the river and just made a fire with driftwood and had a picnic there.
However, we should have walked a bit further where the river valley widens and there is easier access to the river, as shown below, left of the trail. We saw a couple people picnicking in this spot.
We had a few encounters with “wildlife.” My 6yr old caught an enormous grasshopper, which in retrospect totally creeps me out as we’re currently reading about the locust swarms in Little House on Plum Creek. He also spied a snake in the grass, a rather unusual sighting in Switzerland. I guess it was our lucky day.
Along the way, we saw lots of other waterfalls, small and big, near and far.
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.
When we reached the main road, there were a couple restaurants with outdoor patios. 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. If you have mobility issues, it’s worth looking into.
Eventually the trail flattened out, the riverbed widened, and the trail meandered through big fields.
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.
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.
15 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.
Great post Tanja – thanks for sharing. I am responsible for the website of the fuerenalp and have linked this post to our website. I hope that is fine for you. You write about the “Grotzliweg” and miss some additional information. This can be found on our website as a document to download: http://www.fuerenalp.ch/en/grotzliwalk. If you like any more information, we are happy when you contact us at info@fuerenalp.ch. kind regards Peter
A budget-friendly cable car, hike that is manageable with kids, and gorgeous views of the Alps. Thank you! Exactly what I have been looking for recently :).