Klewenalp Stockhütte is a small mountain resort near Lucerne, a good choice for families with its easy trail, two big playgrounds and a fun scooter ride down the mountain.
We typically do the trail that starts at Klewenalp, where you’ll find a playground and marmot enclosure. The trail winds around the mountains, on a fairly easy wide dirt path, good for beginner hikers and families.
The trail ends at Stockhütte, where you’ll find another playground, nice picnic area and restaurant. Here you can rent “Bike Boards” to ride 5 km down the mountain, adding more excitement to the day.
We particularly like this area in mid October, when many of the trees turn bright colors.
| Location: | Lake Lucerne Region |
| Address: | Beckenried-Klewenalp cable car: Kirchweg, 6375 Beckenried Emmetten-Stockhütte gondola: Hinterhostattstrasse 4, 6376 Emmetten |
| Car: | Parking: 46°57’57.2″N 8°28’24.4″E 25 mins from Luzern, 1hr from Zurich |
| Train: | Bus stop: Beckenried, Post 50 mins from Lucerne, 1hr50 from Zürich |
| Trail: | 5.5 km one way, about 2 hr walking time with kids |
| Condition: | wide dirt path, possible with all-terrain strollers |
| Skill: | easy |
| Services: | multiple restaurants, picnic areas with fire pits with wood, playgrounds, mountain scooters, theme trail |
| Cost 2024: | Adult cable car return CHF 40, kids under 16 free. Gondolas free with GA & Tell Pass. Discount for SBB Half-fare. |
| Open: | mid May to beginning of November |
| More info: | www.klewenalp.ch • webcams |
Klewenalp trail overview
The summer map below shows the mountain transport and everything I mention in this post.
Trail Map
Our trail starts at the top of the Beckenried-Klewenalp cable car and ends at the top of the Emmetten-Stöckhutte cable car. The 5km trail is relatively easy walking, appropriate for any kid that can go the distance.
Most of the trail is on a wide dirt road, possible with an all-terrain stroller but quite bumpy on the second half.
See interactive trail map on Komoot
Bike boards
After the hike, instead of riding down the Stockhütte gondola, you can ride the “Bike Board” mountain scooters down to Emmetten, which we highly recommend. In 2024, the scooter rental costs CHF 18/bike board. I talk more about it below.
Goldi Safari tour
The Goldi Safari tour includes the same trail described in this post. But after you ride down to Emmetten, it adds on a scenic tour, which includes a bus ride to the alpine village Seelisberg, a funicular ride to the lake, and ferry ride back to your starting point.
Instead of the Klewenalp day pass, you would buy the Goldi Safari ticket, which includes all transport for this longer round trip journey. More about the Goldi Safari in this post.
Planning your day
Tickets
If you plan to ride the cable car & gondola on both sides of your hike, buy the Tageskarte (day pass). In 2024, a day pass costs CHF 40/adult. You can buy your tickets online beforehand.
GA and Tell Pass ride free. SBB Half-fare get 50% discount. As of 2024, kids under 16 ride free when accompanied by a parent.
If you plan to ride the mountain scooter at Stockhütte, only purchase a one-way cable car ticket, which costs CHF 24/adult (same discounts as above apply). In 2024, the mountain scooter costs CHF 18 per scooter, includes helmet.
If you are doing the Goldi Safari, the round trip ticket is CHF 68/adult (2023). The full journey is included with the GA or Tell Pass. SBB Half-fare and SBB Junior cards are accepted on the full route. More about the Goldi Safari in this post.
Opening Times
All the mountain transport is open mid-May through mid-October. They are open daily, generally from 8:30 to 17:30. On Mon & Tues, the Stockhütte gondola closes for an hour over lunch. Check website for current schedule.
Services & where to eat
The closeup of the summer map shows where the services are along the trail (download the Summerprospekt.pdf brochure with this map). There are playgrounds at Klewenalp and Stockhütte (slide icon).
There are restaurants at both ends and a couple restaurants along the way (marked with the numbers in white boxes). There are two picnic areas on the trail with fire pits, wood and tables , we prefer the one at Twäregg, which has a fantastic view. You can also grill at the Stockhütte playground.
How to get there
Klewenalp is a mountain area near Lucerne.
This is a one way trail, so you will start in Beckenried and end in Emmetten, then take a bus back to Beckenried.
By car
Drive to Beckenried, southeast of Luzern, and follow signs to the Klewenalp cable car (Kirchweg, 6375 Beckenried). There is a large parking lot next to the cable car station, CHF 5/day.
By public transport
Take a train to Stans, then bus 311 to Beckenried, Post. It’s a short walk to the cable car station as shown below.
At the end of the trail
Ride the Stockhütte cable car or bike boards down to Emmetten. Walk east on the main road to the Emmetten, Post bus stop, where you can catch bus 311 to you starting point. Check bus schedule on SBB.ch.
If you parked at the Klewenalp cable car station, ride back to Beckenried, Post. Or continue on the bus to Stans train station where you can continue your journey home by public transport.
If you are doing the Goldi Safari, you’ll catch the bus instead to Seelisberg. See my Goldi Safari post for details.
Photo story of the trail
1. Riding up from Beckenried to Klewenalp
Here is the Klewenalp cable car, which runs about every 20 mins.
View from the top down to Lake Lucerne.
These are some of the nicest views you’ll get of the lake, so take some time to enjoy them before starting the hike.
We loved this swing bench facing the lake view.
2. Playground at top of Klewenalp cable car
The playground was updated in 2019 and now looks like this. Thanks @swiss_bodem, one of our SFF field researchers, for letting us and sending this pic!
We went in 2020 and had a great time on the playground before starting the hike.
My kids had fun trying out the new obstacles and were happy to see the new and improved zip line.
The playground has a ring for Schwingen, the national sport of Switzerland. It’s similar to wrestling, with the players wearing shorts made of rough jute material, which are hanging on the playhouse nearby so you can try the sport yourself. The common wrestling moves are pictured on the ring if you need some tips.
3. Trail to Stockhütte
The trail starts on the dirt road toward the mountains.
When the trail splits, keep to your right.
The mountains are super green in July.
Lots of fall colors on the surrounding mountains at the end of September.
Easy walking on this dirt road.
When the trail splits, keep to your left, following the dirt road around the mountain.
The trail leads down to a restaurant.
Here is the restaurant with a playground.
The trail goes back up a bit, then splits. Stay to your left, following signs to Stockhütte.
The trail leads through a valley.
View once you leave the valley.
This picnic area on this ridge at Twäregg has the best view. It has picnic tables, grills and wood.
View from the picnic area.
Back on the trail leading down through a forest to Stockhütte. The trail gets rather bumpy here, a bit more difficult with a stroller.
This trail has an archery course. The Achtung sign below is warning you to stay on the trail, so you don’t get hit by an arrow. This arrow course has lots of stations, with animal figures in the forest that the archers can shoot. Both times we’ve been on this trail, there were archers shooting, which was very cool to watch.
Last stretch before reaching the end.
4. Stockhütte & Playground
Reaching our destination at Stockhütte, where you’ll find a big playground, restaurant, and WC. Our kids spent at least 45 mins playing here before we headed down on the scooters.
There is a picnic area next to the playground with grills. In 2020, there was a box of free firewood at the gondola station.
They recently added a barefoot path here.
It also has some obstacles to cross as well as the sensory experience.
Trampoline, swings, zip line, climbing stuff. The playground equipment changes every time we go, so it might look different when you go.
5. Bike Boards, aka mountain scooters
Instead of riding the gondola down, you can ride a “Bike Board”, which is this large three wheel scooter. It is very stable and easy to ride, with hand brakes.
It costs CHF 15 per scooter.
Recommended age 10+ to ride alone. Age 6-10 can ride double with an adult. Helmets provided.
Full details for this Bike Board ride here.
6. End in Emmetten and catch bus
Both the gondola and mountain scooter takes you down to this village of Emmetten.
It’s a short walk east on the main road to the Emmetten, Post bus stop where you can catch the bus back to your starting point at Beckenried. If you are doing the Goldi Safari, you will instead catch the bus to Seelisberg, in the other direction – details in my Goldi Safari post.
What a full day! We had such a great time here and I hope you do too.
12 Responses
I was wondering the cost and age requirement for the scooters. Can you share?
In 2024, the bike board rental is CHF 18/person. This does not include the gondola fee to reach the bike boards.
Last time I was there, ages 10+ can ride alone. Age 6-10 can ride double with an adult.
Dear Tanya
In summer 2023 the bus 311 goes 3 times per hour on the weekend. At :31, :56 and :57.
Kind regards
Ksenia
Thanks for the update. I’ll make the change in the post.
Thank you so much for all the info that you published!
Sadly, that particular detective trail doesn’t seem to exists any more.
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll remove the detective trail elements from my post. Strangely it’s still on the Klewenalp website, but not on the Detektiv Trail website.
Hi. Sounds like a great hike. Do you know if the Klewenalp cablecar and the Stockhütte cablecar accept the SBB Tageskarte? Or do I need to buy extra tickets for the two cablecars? Thanks!
Based on the SBB GA Validity map, there is no reduction on either of these if you have a SBB Tageskarte. I also didn’t see a reference to it on their website. So you would need to purchase these separately. Sorry it took me so long to respond!
We wanted to do this hike yesterday but it was closed due
to snow, but we had a lovely walk round Klewenalp anyway. I was just going to add that there is now a brand new wooden playground by the cable car station. My kids loved it, obstacle course, a zip line, climbing wall, my son loved all the wood to play with in the little wooden house and there’s even a little sandy bit for wrestling (shorts included!) It wasn’t great weather, but still very pretty.
Sorry about the snow! Glad to hear about the playground. Do you happen to have a pic we can use on the post so others can see it? That would be so nice!
We went yesterday and it was absolutely fabulous. I wore my 13 month old (he walks pretty well already so he did some of the hike) and my 4 year old did her longest hike. Daddy had to carry her on his shoulders a couple of times but she did most of it on her own. Many of the restaurants have small play areas so that also helped keep her going. We ate at Naturfreundehaus Röthen, a simple sausage and salad, but really tasty and easy. I would say that the path was pram friendly insofar as it was wide and flat-ish, but it had long parts with quite large gravel, so I would recommend quite a robust pram and some sturdy shoes.
We took the kids’ own helmets and went for the bike board descent. It was sooo busy yesterday that although the hike was quiet, we started to queue for the bike boards a little past 4pm and were near the end of the queue for the day (they stop rentals at 4:45pm). I wore our baby on my back with a helmet and our daughter rode with daddy. The man at the rental/gondola station said I shouldn’t go down with the baby on my front (and he was right). On my back, he was fine and I felt very much in control. It was such a warm day yesterday, but the bike boards are in the shade much of the way down in the evening, and the wind can be quite cold. My daughter wanted gloves on the way down (and we made shifted something out of one of her big sweatshirts we had brought).
Absolutely amazing scenery, easy to get to, fantastic playground and the bike board. This is going to be one of our go to hikes for kids as well as friends and visitors! Thanks so much for the post and recommendation for this weekend!
Hi
Thanks for the fantastic website, so much info for visiting Switzerland with young children, We are visiting in August 2018 and are looking forward to following some of your hikes and scooter rides,