Hike Down the Gotthard-Reuss Valley from Gotthard Pass to Hospental

Tuesday August 20, 2024 -- This early morning we were actually on our way to the Schächen Valley to ride some more farmer's cable cars we hadn't been in yet, but nearing the valley (which is not far from our home) we were discouraged by the low clouds there, so we checked our weather reports for other nearby areas where the forecast was better, and decided to stay on the train which was headed south through the Gotthard Tunnel.

The forecast for the Gotthard Pass was for clear skies, and we could be up at the pass in just two hours from leaving home, and this was a decision that paid off for us. We were not in the mood for a strenuous hike--having done several strenuous hikes in previous years starting from the pass--so we opted for a 2½-hour walk from the pass northwards to Hospental (near Andermatt) in the Urseren Valley. It was an easy walk always slightly downhill and next to the Gotthardreuss River (the Reuss River, one of Switzerland's major rivers, has its source here), with great visibility and a cool breeze, and excellent paths along the original mule trail which the Romans created to cross the pass between Cantons Uri and Ticino.

The quickest way to get to the Gotthard Pass at this time was via Airolo in Canton Ticino at the south end of the old Gotthard Tunnel, from where you take a bus up the winding road partly on the original cobble-stone road reaching the old hospice hotel at the pass from the south. Along this stretch you get some nice views into the Bedretto Valley and of the original fascinating Tremola road, which I walked down on a solo hike in October 2019. The only thing that mars the landscape up here are the dozens of campers who spend the night here....

Side note: I did this exact same hike on my own back in September 2015, but I could not remember much of it at all! Urs had walked this path once during his military training, but it was at night, so this was new for him.

From the south end of the Gotthard Tunnel, the bus winds its way up the mountain toward the Gotthard Pass. This view from the bus window is over the city of Airolo and down the Leventina Valley. Here there are no clouds and the weather is great.

A look up the beautiful Bedretto Valley.

An interesting sight next to the Gotthard Pass road: Workers are securing the mountain with steel nets, to prevent rocks breaking off and falling on the road.

The road traveled by our bus is the new road, and across the Tremola Valley is the original "paved" road built between 1827 and 1832, and paved entirely with cobblestones. I did a fascinating hike on my own in and out of the Tremola Valley in October of 2019, crossing the Tremola Road (it has 24 bends!) several times on my way back down to Airolo. (Those photos are HERE).

We left home at 8:15 in the morning, and got up to the Pass by 10:30.

This is the barren landscape of the Gotthard Pass, with several beautiful lakes. When we were first here in 2013, there were no wind turbines yet. This is at an altitude of about 2090 meters above sea level.

It has become a tradition that Urs buys a grilled Bratwurst up here before we start on our hike!

Urs is checking out which stand has the best sausages. This has now become a popular tourist spot, as so many other places in Switzerland, unfortunately. 10 years ago it was not like this.

In this region of Switzerland, the times provided on the trail signs are often rather low. The hike to Hospental takes a good 2½ hours, not 2 hours. Also, the 5-lake tour starting and ending here (we did it twice) is listed at 3hrs45, but it takes at least 4½ hours. It's as if the post with these trail markers should have been planted closer to the dam!

This was an easy walk, starting at about 10:45 from the Gotthard Pass and walking always steadily downhill to Hospental, where we boarded the train at 14:13. It was about a 10-km walk in perfect weather conditions.

This section of road is still part of the original 1832 construction of the pass road between Göschenen (Canton Uri) on the north side of the pass, to Airolo (Canton Ticino) on the south side. It was all paved with cobble-stones.

This is the Lucendro dam. There is a spectacular lake behind it. We have been up there three times now, twice to do the Five-Lake loop hike on the north side of the lake (photos HERE), and once to cross the Lucendro Pass to the south, where the Reuss River has its soure (photos HERE).

The trail heads north down from the pass, between the original pass road on the left, and the newer highway on the right. A short section here is an old mule trail.

The river here is the Gotthard Reuss, which flows out of Lake Lucendro and down to the Urseren Valley to join the Furka Reuss River.

Horse-drawn coaches also travel over the pass road (tourist attraction) and are a real annoyance to the cars using this road. (When there is an accident in the tunnel, cars have to detour over the pass, and this becomes a real annoyance in the sections shared by both old and new roads. We once almost missed our train in Airolo because the bus got stuck behind one of these....)

Horse-drawn carriage tours along the old Gotthard Pass Road.

This is the season for Fireweed, and there were large patches of purple along the way!

The trail we are walking on is part of several other thematic trails, including National Trail no.7: "Via Gottardo", Trail no.2: "Trans-Swiss Trail", and Trail no.55: "Via Suvarov", all trails of which we have already done several sections.

This passerelle passes under the highway right at the Canton Border. We started in Canton Ticino, and have now crossed into Canton Uri.

In the distance we can now see the Urseren Valley (perpendicular to this one), which seems to have low clouds. But here it's still nice! And the stone-paved mule trail is great. The landscape is changing a lot now from the rocky barren slopes closer to the pass.

We made a detour around these cows, climbing up to the road, as there were babies in the herd. That is always a bit tricky, as mother cows can get aggressive.

This is the vent for the Gotthard Motor-Vehicle Tunnel, which passes directly below here. The tunnel entrance is in Göschenen in the North, and Airolo in the South. The tunnel is 17 kilometers long.

Even though it was cooler up here than the 30-degree weather in the valley bottoms, it was 1 p.m. and we were looking for a shady place to eat our sandwiches. Under those trees was ideal, with the Gotthard Reuss river on one side, and a small stream on the other. Rushing water makes the air feel cooler!

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Waterfalls and the sound of running water are always so welcome on a hot day!

Continuing on down the valley, this is a look behind us. On the left is another upper valley called Guspis, which we really want to try to access some time. (Unfortunately we would only be walking in and back out again).

A view all the way back up the valley.

Final stretch now, and so many patches of fireweed. The photos don't do it justice. The river has carved a ravine at this point.

Heading down the ravine toward Hospental

The first view now of the mountain range that forms the north side of the Urseren Valley. There is a high trail just below the cliffs, one we have walked before in 2014. The low clouds which we saw earlier are gone now.

This is off-trail now, but we saw one of those "Grand Tour of Switzerland" frames on the other side of the tunnel, so we crossed the road to head through the tunnel. Then a procession of these cool old sports cars passed by!

The "Grand Tour of Switzerland" frames seem mostly to cater to tourists who travel by car, but when we find one, I like to take a photo of me in the frame, if I can! This one highlights the ruins of he Hospental fortress tower.

Heading down the road now to the village of Hospental.

The Hospental Tower, built in 1277, now apparently has a viewing tower and a stairway built inside. (I was inside the tower once in 1988, and at that time it was just a hollow tower where you could see a square of sky when you looked up.)

The lovely Gasthaus in Hospental. At this point it's 14:07 and we knew there was a train passing through in five minutes, so we opted to try to make it to the train station instead of waiting another hour for the next train. If we had just missed the once-per-hour train, we would have checked out the tower and stopped at the Gasthaus.

Looking up into the ravine in the valley we had just descended.

Just made it to the train station as our train was pulling in!

It is always a nice train ride to Andermatt, where we change trains to head down the Schöllenen Gorge on the left.

I take this photo of the Devil's Bridge every time we travel from Andermatt to Göschenen via the Schöllenen Gorge! The Gotthardreuss and Furkareuss Rivers have joined now to create the official Reuss River, which flows north into Lake Uri / Lake Lucerne.