This is a short forest walk to an old quarry, abandoned in 1873 and now taken over by nature. Underground springs feed a small stream that pours over the mouth of this formation and topples down the “steps”. It’s rather spooky appearance presumably led to its name “Tüfels Chilen” which means “Devil’s Church.”
We had a lovely hike through the forest to get there, grilled up lunch, then played in the stream awhile before heading back home.
| Location: | Zurich Region |
| Car: | Parking: Nussbergstrasse 8, 8483 Zell ~20 mins from Zurich |
| Train: | Train station: Kollbrunn ~25 mins from Zurich |
| Trail: | 2 km each way from parking, about 1 hr each way 3 km each way from train station |
| Condition: | dirt road and path, strollers possible most of the way |
| Skill: | easy |
| Open: | year round, best April through October |
| Prices: | free |
| Services: | picnic area with fire pits |
| More info: | www.zell.ch – www.prokollbrunn.ch |
Overview
This hike is located east of Zürich near Winterthur.
This is an easy 3 km walk from the train station, through a quiet neighborhood, past a cemetery, through the forest along a stream, then up some stairs to reach the Tüfels Chilen formation. Generally you will follow yellow trail signs to Tüfels Chilen or Nussberg, which is a little further than Tüfels Chilen.
You can return on the same path or take one of the Nussberg hill trails and walk through the forest north of the road, as I’ve marked on the map below.
You can use strollers on the whole path except the short section right at the Tüfels Chilen formation, which has some stairs. Just leave your stroller at the bottom of this section and retrieve it after exploring this area.
There are picnic areas with tables and fire pits below and above Tüfels Chilen. There is usually plenty of wood, but bring firestarters.
The trail is open year round (not maintained in winter), but probably best April through October. We went in late April, before the trees and flowers were out. I suspect this place is prettiest in May and June.
This hike is in the Zell Gemeinde (county). Their website has a description of the hike in German. Some other trails pass through this area, including Züri Oberland Höhenweg.
Getting There
By car: Drive to Nussbergstrasse 8, 8483 Zell and parking the cemetery parking, shown with the “P” below. This is 1 km closer to your destination than the train station. There is additional metered parking at the Kollbrunn train station.
By public transport: Take a train to Kollbrunn, then follow hiking signs to Tüfels Chilen.
Trail Details
From the Kollbrunn train station, walk east, taking your first left on Bolsternstr., then right on Bückliweg, which will meander through a neighborhood.
When you reach the cemetery, follow the Nussbergstrasse road north. After a few minutes, the road will fork to the left and the trail will fork to the right. Stay on the trail to the right and follow it through the grassy fields before entering the forest.
The path continues through the forest, along a stream.
Follow signs to Tüfels Chilen.
After about 2.5 km, signs for Tüfels Chilen will point to a trail on your right where another stream joins up to the stream you have been walking along. The pic below on the bridge is on the last part of the trail that leads up to Tüfels Chilen, which gets narrow and lumpy with lots of steps.
At this point, leave strollers below and continue the rest on foot. This last part is short so small kids can do it on their own or you can easily carry them the rest of the way.
Walk up this trail a couple minutes and you have arrived at Tüfels Chilen, which you can view and explore from above and below.
Here is the “monster mouth” of Tüfels Chile. You can’t climb on it but you can climb up the side on the slippery mud and get quite close to the mouth.
A stream trickles down over the entire formation.
This sign (in German) explains the origin and formation of Tüfels Chilen.
After admiring the formation from below, follow the stepped trail up to the top of the formation and eventually you will reach a clearing with picnic tables and a grill pit.
From the picnic place, you can find the source of the stream and follow it down to the top of the main formation. My kids had a lot of fun throwing rocks and sticks in the stream and playing around in the debris.
8 Responses
Excellent trip not far from us. We did a bit longer 10km reaching waterfall, excellent weekend trip. We will be definitely coming here again in summer
Sounds nice. I need to visit this area again, maybe also on a longer hike.
This was a great little hike! I was just looking for a walk in the woods this afternoon, not too far from home, and Tüfels Chilen fit the bill and then some. It was not at all what I expected from an abandoned quarry. The naturally occurring limestone formation is a real surprise as it appears rising over the ravine. Since I couldn‘t read the information board (in German) I went right home to research this site. First, the calcareous springs were used for Pagan rites. Second, the steps or ridges of the formation are the result of lime precipitation from the springs calcifying on the moss of the ravine (in a process I won‘t even try to explain further, but look it up – it‘s cool!) Finally, the lime “tuff” (this particular type of limestone) from this quarry was used to build a church tower in Winterthur, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk in the woods and am already looking forward to a return trip to look more closely at these formations, maybe going on to the village of Ober-Lagenhard and then the archeological site at Schauenburg (ruins of an important castle keep in Zürich’s history.) I arrived and departed by train to Kollbrun and never saw another soul after the cemetery. No kids with me, but I can see where this would be a fun place for them to explore, although it might be too slippery for toddlers in rainy weather. It poured on the way back out! Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the detailed trip report and so glad you enjoyed your outing!
I loved this trail. Even though we planned it differently, so that we don’t have to walk that much in the city and the same way twice. But we had the advantage of two cars. So we have started in Schlatt bei Winterthur, get to the trail, and then just walked and walked along the river until Teufels Chilen and Kollbrun. In total around 3 km.
Great tip! Next time I go, I’ll follow in your footsteps.
great tipp, we did it and the kids hat lots of fun!
thanks Tanya for the inspiration!
Iren
We did this hike today, thanks for the idea and blogging about it