A Short Walk from Bürglen to Flüelen in William Tell's Homeland

Sunday February 9th, 2025 -- Even though for the whole past week it was absolutely stunning, sunny, cloud-free weather with great visibility in the mountains (with thick, high fog in all the valleys below, even those that don't usually get fog), we were not able to do our Wednesday walk as I was quite sick with a very disturbing cough, so did not feel like leaving the apartment. So terribly unfortunate.

But on Sunday I felt a little better, and even though the nice weather had turned, we were promised some sunshine in the Reuss Valley in a favourite place just south of Lake Uri, i.e. in Altdorf, which is a short travel time for us. Even though we have walked almost everywhere we can walk here, it seemed like an acceptable choice for a short Sunday walk close to home. (As it turns out, there was actually more sunshine right where we live!)

We started in Bürglen for the seven-kilometer walk to Flüelen, a cute little town which claims to be the birthplace of the fictional William Tell, and so there are many monuments to him, as well as in the town of Altdorf itself, which we also passed through on the way to Flüelen. (Altdorf is the capital city of Canton Uri). Unfortunately we had less sunshine than hoped, but it wasn't too cold and there was no fog!

I had done part of this walk once before on my own (Altdorf to Flüelen, those photos are HERE), but we did it again, as Urs was interested in the dry-stone walls that the area is famous for, and we still managed to cover not quite the same paths as last time.

At the bus stop in the heart of the cute little village of Bürglen is this tower called the Wattigwiler-Turm, one of four defense towers from the 13th Century in this small village. It was restored in 1966 and stands under heritage protection. It currently serves as the Willian Tell Museum. We started here about 1 p.m.

A few steps toward the main road below and we pass some lovely buildings: On the left the "Gasthaus Adler" (1574), on the right and across the road is the "Tell Bürglen Hotel, Restaurant and Café", and in the center, the lovely village church surrounded by several chapels and adorned with paintings of William Tell.

It's a beautiful building, but I cannot find out how old it is

The William Tell Monument in Bürglen was created in 1786 and used to stand in the town of Altdorf, where now the more well-know Tell Monument stands, although this was the first and original Tell Monument. It was a gift to the village of Bürglen from the town of Altdorf.

From the Canton Uri website, here is a bit of information about the village of Bürglen, allegedly the hometown of the fictional character of William Tell. His family home probably stood where the 1582-built Tell's Chapel now stands (with some of the oldest paintings of the story of William Tell); The Tell Fountain displays a 1786 statue of Tell and his son, the oldest Tell-monument gifted by the people of Altorf nearby; The Tell-Museum in the 13th-Century Wattigwiler Tower; Eight information placards tell the story of William Tell, including how he drowned in the nearby Schächen River in 1354 while rescuing a child during high water storm.

The Gasthaus Adler is really a magnificent building, and is one of the oldest Gasthauses in Canton Uri.

Down the road a bit you can see the roof of one of the other 13th-Century defense towers.

Cute!

The Tell Monument stands on the Tell fountain at the St.Peter and Paul church, which we are going to have a quick look at, although I have been here before (see also photos HERE). Documents of the year 875 mention a church here, but this building is early-Baroque, built in 1681. The small chapel with the rounded roof is one of three chapels on the grounds. It is called the "Oelberg Chapel" from 1693.

On the south side of the church square is the ossuary (St.Annas) from 1693. There are several real skulls displayed, and the foldable altar piece looks very old!

View past the graveyard to the south

The graveyard has some vary attractive sculptures, probably depicting something important in the lives of the deceased. There are many people with the family name of Arnold from this region. Many Arnolds have married other Arnolds.

From the front terrace of the church, we get a view over the town of Bürglen toward Altdorf, where we are going to walk to. We had hoped that the clouds would have disappeared by now, but this was unfortunately not the case.

The inside of the St.Peter and Paul church in Bürglen, which is very obviously a Baroque church (Early Baroque from 1681) with all the pink marble decor.

There were two small organs in the choir section near the main altar, as well as a larger organ at the back of the church.

The lovely and ornate balcony with organ at the back of the church.

The third chapel on the church grounds is called the Tell Chapel, from 1582, where allegedly the birth house of William Tell once had stood.

The Tell’s Chapel dates from 1582. During the renovation of the chapel in 1949, a valuable fresco cycle from 1588 was discovered under the plaster. These murals are among the oldest known Tell frescoes. On the right is a painting of Tell's son standing against a tree, as William prepares to shoot the apple from his head.

This pretty little bird has the unfortunate name of "Great Tit". Its German name of "Kohlmeise" is much prettier.

Heading down the road now, we pass another roadside chapel. There are so many chapels in this region, that a special "Chapel Trail" has been created, where you can walk past 16 various chapels.

The whole village is full of such pretty houses.

A look behind us at the second tower, called the Meierturm.

And a final look back at the church in Bürglen, which watches over the junction of the Reuss Valley and the Schächen Valley. After spending 30 minutes looking at the various buildings here, we finally headed on our walk at about 1:30 p.m.

After looking at the various chapels and towers and monuments all dedicated to William Tell in his alleged home town of Bürglen, we started on our walk toward Flüelen at 13:30, reaching Flüelen just over two hours later. In all, we spent about three hours outside, walked about 7 km, but didn't have the sunshine we hoped for.... but at least no fog!

After crossing the Bürglen River, we are now walking along Regional trail no.55: "Via Suvorov", which we followed to the train station in Flüelen. This is a look toward the Uri Alps up the Reuss Valley. The sky was very overcast, so we didn't see the mountains very well.

The trail passes through the grounds of a former boarding school called St.Josef, now an international school.

At the junction of the Via Suvorov trail and the Kapellenweg (Chapel Trail), this brings back memories of the Chapel Trail we walked in March 2020, just as the Covid chaos started (photos HERE. We had many nice days where we were asked not to come into the office!)

We always enjoy all the cats we encounter along the way.

As we enter the outskirts of Altdorf, we can see the large building which was a former Capuchin Monastery.

This building is the Suvorov house, one of many historical sites along the "Suvorov Trail", which follows where the Russian General traveled while fighting Napoleon within Switzerland in 1799.

Above us on the hill is the Nussbäumli Restaurant, which we hiked to on a beautiful April day in 2018 (photos HERE).

Details of the Suvorov House show it was built in 1550, and the chapel next door was built in 1730. On the 26th of September 1799, Russian General Suvorov spent the night here.

As we entered the town of Altdorf, we came across this very pretty building all covered in intricate paintings. It is a second-hand shop which I vaguely remember visiting about 10 years ago.

Details of the paintings on the outside of this second-hand shop. The cat in the window was a surprise!

The cat was walking among the objects in the window and we were surprised that nothing was knocked off the shelves!

This is the theater building in Altdorf, called the "Tellspielhaus".

It's now 2:15 p.m., and we have been sauntering from Bürglen for about 45 minutes. From here it should be another hour or so to the train station at Flüelen, but we didn't walk fast, and got there at 3:50 p.m.

Main street in Altdorf

Main square in Altdorf. Urs is going to check if there is a still a bakery in that building, but it turns out it is now a restaurant.

This is the well-known William Tell Monument in the main square in Altdorf.

We continued on our walk past this building, which is the Canton Uri Courthouse. (Altdorf is the capital city of Canton Uri).

After a few detours on side alleys, we made it to St.Martin's Parish Church in Altdorf. The small chapel in front has two entrances and two levels, i.e. a type of crypt below.

Heading up to see the inside of the church.

That's a cool tree!

St. Martin's has a very large cemetery with large family graves.

Inside the church, the two side altars are very ornate.

On either side of the main altar are ornately-carved choir benches.

Another beautiful organ at the back of the church. On either side is a row of separate wooden carved individual cubicles with family crests.

A final look at the parish church and past the large cemetery, as we continue on our walk toward Flüelen. Just the tiniest bit of sunshine here!

A look behind us up the Reuss Valley.

Starting on a path between the fabulous dry-stone walls.

Details of the dry-stone walls between Altdorf and Flüelen.

For most of the rest of the way to Flüelen, the trail followed a small stream with superbly clear water.

Walking along the trail next to a small river.

There was a bit of a rock slide here recently!

We got to the south end of Lake Uri at the Flüelen train station at 15:53, about 20 minutes early for the train for the one-hour trip back home. Now the sky is clearing and we are getting some sunshine!