Weisstannen Valley Waterfalls

No matter how much I see of Switzerland, there’s always another bit of paradise just around the corner. Last weekend, we went chasing a few waterfalls in the Weisstannental (aka “White Fir Tree Valley”). It’s a long beautiful valley, with lush green meadows, a roaring river cutting through the center and waterfalls spilling from the mountains and cliffs on either side.

We chose Mattbachfälle at the end of the road as our destination, which luckily was easy to find as we hadn’t brought a map and there was no cell reception. Although there are many hiking options in the area, we simply drove right up to the falls and had a picnic with a view.

This spot has a lot of advantages. It’s accessible in April and May before most cable cars are open for the summer season. It doesn’t require a hike which appeals to those with mobility concerns. And it’s free, perfect for those who already spent their whole budget on Jungfraujoch or Zermatt. I loved it and hope to be back soon to explore more.

Location

Weisstannental is located southeast of Zürich, a long alpine valley between Flumserberg and Pizol.

Overview

Here is the summer hiking map for the Weisstannen area. I’ve marked both the Mattbach falls from this post and the nearby Batöni falls. You can download this map in PDF format.

We simply drove straight to the Mattbach falls and picnicked there, point A on the map. But there are lots of hikes in this area.

Batoni falls: From Weisstannen Oberdorf village, the fork to the left leads to the Batoni waterfalls. But the road is restricted so you have to hike, not drive. It’s about 4 km (1hr45 one way) to reach those falls. The community recently built a suspension bridge there. See a trail map here.

Theme trail: The day we were there was the grand opening for a new “Lernpfad” trail in this valley, hike #2 on this map. It starts a couple km west of Weisstannen and works it way along the river back to town. You could park in Weisstannen, take the bus to Vorsiez (one stop past Weisstannen) and walk back along the trail and river to town. There are some educational signboards along the way. I didn’t do the trail, so I don’t have much to say about it. But we passed lots of happy walkers on our drive home.

Getting There

By car: Drive to Sargans/Mels, taking exit 50 off the A3. Follow signs to Weisstannen, which will take you on a small, winding road up the mountain. Once you reach Weisstannen, follow the road to the right, towards Vorsiez. After another 7.5 km, you’ll reach the end of the road with waterfalls on each side of the valley.

By public transport: Take a train to Sargans, Bahnhof, then catch bus 432 to Weisstannen, Oberdorf. It runs hourly. A trail leads up the valley, 7.5 km along the river to the falls as shown below. It gains about 470m of elevation but it’s a gradual ascent.

On Sundays and holidays, the bus runs two stops further to Weisstannen, Vorsiez, where you’ll find a restaurant. From Vorsiez, it’s about 3.5 km to the falls. This bus runs only 4 times a day on Sundays and holidays, so check the schedule before heading out.

Drive up the valley

Along the way, you’ll see lots of waterfalls so drive slow and enjoy the view. Here are a few pics I snapped along the way up the valley…

Such a pretty drive…

And a couple more waterfalls along way…

Is there anything prettier?

Follow the road to Weisstannen (some maps show it as Oberdorf). It’s a small town, a couple cafes but limited services, no grocery or gas that I could see. At the end of town, take a right when the road forks. Continue driving all the way to the end of the valley.

Official picnic area

A couple minutes before reaching the end of the road, you’ll pass an official Schweizer Familie Feuerstelle (fire pit) with picnic tables and wood. It’s right next to the river.

Here’s the view from the picnic area. Not bad, eh?

Arriving at Mattbach falls

Keep driving and just after a farm, just before the road turns into a dirt, you’ll see the Unterer Mattbachfall on your right. You can drive up the dirt road and just park wherever you like. You can see below where we parked. In the photo on the right, we had just stepped out of the car, so you can see how close we could get without walking far.

We scrambled up the left side of the falls to get a closer look. It was muddy and slippery and a bit steep, not a great option for very little kids. Please note that at the top of this little mud scramble, the grassy hill abruptly ends and drops off a few feet down to the bottom of the waterfall. It’s not exceptionally dangerous, but I was glad my husband was in the front of the pack and saw the drop off before our boys raced forward without looking.

Here’s the waterfall up close. It was fun and took less than 5 mins to get there.

There’s nowhere to sit and enjoy the falls up close, just a muddy, wet knoll with a drop-off. We snapped a few pics then slipped our way back to the meadow.

There was a small stream near the falls, so we built a fire there and had a picnic.

There are three, maybe more, waterfalls directly across the meadow from the Mattbachfall. It’s one pretty meadow, don’t you think?

Explore up river

There are some other falls and another picnic area further up the dirt road. After about 300m, the dirt road “ends” at a picnic area and a small circle in the road. Just keep walking up the path to the river.

Please note the “don’t touch bombs” warning sign on this trail. Usually when you see signs like this (hopefully not too often!), they want you to stick to the trail just in case they haven’t found all the undetonated bombs in the area.

There are more waterfalls up this valley, but you have to hike up along the river, a little slow going for our crew. But I’d love to come back and hike to see the snowy mountain peaks on the other side.

Here’s looking down river. This would also be a fun place for a picnic with lots of room to explore. 

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