St.Niklausen to Sachseln via Flüeli-Ranft, Home of Patron Saint Brother Klaus

Saturday May 31, 2025 -- Another very hot day ahead of us, so we planned a walk nearby so we could get there early and finish our walk and get back home before the heat of the day.

Back in May of  2014 I had done a walk along the St.James Trail (part of the Camino de Santiago passing through Switzerland) from Sarnen near Luzern, visiting the little Ranft hermitage in the Grosse Melchaa River Gorge where Nicholas von Flüe (Bruder Klaus, 1417-1487), Switzerland's Patron Saint, spent the final 19 years of his life living as a hermit and acting as political and religious advisor to some of Switzerland's most important people. As Urs had been here only once on a school trip long ago, we figured this would be a good day to go there again, and also include a visit to the two historical buildings in Flüeli, the village above the gorge, where Nicholas was born and ultimately raised a family before feeling called to a life of "solitude". (I had also visited these sites on another hike I did on my own in May of 2023.)

This time, instead of heading directly down to Sachseln on Lake Sarnen, as I did on my last visit in Flüeli-Ranft, we walked on nice foot-paths via the very fancy Paxmontana Hotel to the "Hohe Brücke" ("High Bridge", the highest covered bridge in Europe) which we had also visited in 2015 (photos HERE), and then down to the lake where we then caught the 13:29 train for the 90-minute trip back home.

The hardest part of the hike was heading out of the gorge, and it wasn't really all that much of a climb!

Lovely landscape on the bus ride from Sarnen train station on the road that heads into the Melch Valley. 

Having left home at 7:20, we started in the little hamlet called St.Niklausen at 9 a.m. The fastest way to the hermitage in Ranft is 20 minutes from here, but we took a longer route via another historical chapel called the Müsli Kapelle (30 minutes). 

Starting in St.Niklausen at 9 a.m., we walked down into the gorge to the hermitage in Ranft, then climbed out to Flüeli, and from there took a new route to the train station in Sachseln via the "High Bridge". We ended at the lake at about 1:20 p.m. and sat on a bench for 10 minutes. In all it took us 4½ hours for this "short" walk, as we spent lots of time at the historical sites. 

Such a pretty pastoral landscape with lots of farms. In the background we can just make out the summit of Mt. Pilatus. 

Shortly after starting down the road we came across a dairy shop with a self-serve refrigerator. 

Urs bought some cheese here out of the self-serve fridge. The "Cash Box" was this milk can!

Up higher on the hill is a little church called St.Niklausen, a church I visited first on my May 2014 hike to the Ranft Hermitage, and which we also admired in June of 2024 when we did an 11-kilometer walk out of the Melch Valley, ending near here where we started this day's walk. 

A close-up look at the St. Niklausen church. Built in 1350, it is the oldest preserved building in the region, and has some very special frescoes on the inside, as well as a beautiful painted wood-panel ceiling. (Apparently, Brother Klaus also spent a lot of time in this chapel, admiring the frescoes). See also this WEBSITE.

I always get a kick out of cats hiding in the meadow grass!

The sign here is so appropriate! "Beware of Cat"!

To the southwest is the Giswilerstock Massif. There is a trail around the entire massif, which I would love to walk one day. 

And right across the gorge is the little village of Flüeli, the birthplace of "Nicholas of Flüe", who later took on the name "Brother Klaus" when he retreated into the gorge for a life of solitude. After walking out of the gorge to the village, we then walked over to the Paxmontana Hotel on the right, before heading down to the lake. 

A view down into the gorge shows us the little chapel where Brother Klaus spent 19 years of his life (1467 to 1487?), living in tiny quarters behind the church building. 

We are on our way to the first of several chapels: This one is called the Müsli Chapel!

Nice to enjoy some meadow flowers... 

Müsli Chapel

The interior of the Müsli Chapel was very pretty!

Details of the inside of the Müsli chapel, including some nice fresco paintings and a very attractive wooden ceiling. 

There was a very small door in one wall of the chapel, descending into a little tiny room, a side of the building built right onto a boulder!

Above the chapel door was this inscription. Usually this is the date when the chapel was built, but we could not figure out what these numbers were! Checking the Internet, we learned that this chapel was built in 1484. So Urs suggested that the two unusual symbols might represent "half of an 8",  i.e. =4, which would totally make sense. 

From here at the Müsli Chapel, it's 10 minutes to walk down to the Grosse Melchaa River at Ranft, and an additional 15 minutes to get back out of the gorge to the village of Flüeli. This trail is part of Trail no.4: "Via Jakobi" (St.James Trail) and also Trail no.2: "Trans Swiss Trail". 

A view down to Ranft across the river, where we are headed next. In the back, the Paxmontana Hotel is just visible, with Mt.Pilatus in the background. 

A long set of stairs makes the descent to the river quite easy. 

Crossing the Grosse Melchaa River. 

The next chapel we get to is called the "Lower Ranft Chapel", the larger of the two chapels here at Ranft. The smaller one ("Upper Ranft Chapel") at the back is where Bruder Klaus lived for 19 years, but with all the pilgrims wanting to visit this spot, the upper church was too small, so they built this additional one in 1501. 

The interior of the Lower Ranft Chapel was absolutely stunning. This is apparently a lovely example of Late Gothic architecture. 

Details of the lower Ranft Chapel, built in 1501 to accommodate all the pilgrims who visited this site. The statue lower left is a typical statue of Brother Klaus. 

On the entrance side of the church is a large mural commemorating Switzerland coming out unscathed from WWI. Many religious people believe it was through prayers to Brother Klaus which was what kept the country safe. 

After admiring the Lower Ranft Chapel, we headed up to the Upper Ranft Chapel (The attractive wooden house is in private ownership). A tour group had just arrived at the lower chapel as we were leaving, so we hurried up here to see Brother Klaus' living quarters before the group arrived.  

The little building on the left side was the living quarters of Nicholas von Flüe, built for him in 1468 by his neighbours in the village up above, who all supported his calling into solitude. (The accomodation is made of two levels, 4.6 m2 each!). There was originally a small chapel for him to use, but this particular chapel was rebuilt in 1693.

On the upper left photo is the entrance to the living quarters. Upper right photo is the upper floor. Lower right photo are the steps to the lower level, where there was a small tiled wood stove. Urs shows how low this ceiling was! (When I was here in 2014, there was a stone bench on the lower level which had apparently served as a bed, but this was gone on this visit). 

After leaving the little "living quarters", we saw the tour group heading up from the Lower Chapel to the upper one, so we quickly popped into the attached Upper Chapel for a look, before they got here!

Details of the inside of the Upper Ranft Chapel. In particular, the wood-paneled ceiling was spectacular. This is not the original chapel built for Nicholas by his neighbours when he moved down here. This one replaced the original in 1693.

A look down at the Upper Ranft Chapel as we head out of the ravine now. What we see below attached to the chapel is the living quarters where Brother Klaus spent 19 years of his life as a hermit, away from his family, but giving political and religious advice to many visitors. There was another long set of steps leading out of the ravine.

A look back across the ravine to where we started on our walk at those little houses in the clearing. 

As we get to the top and into the village of Flüeli, the sign informs us that we have just ascended 303 steps!

Another look into the ravine and Mt. Stanserhorn in the background. 

Main square in the village of Flüeli. (We did not go up to the church on the hill this time, as I had visited it when I was here in May 2023.

The first thing we did was have a look at the family house where Nicholas von Flüe lived from 1445 after he got married and raised 10 children with his wife Dorothee Wyss. (In 1468 when Nicholas felt a calling to move into the nearby gorge to live in solitude, his eldest son was old enough to run the farm, and apparently his family was in agreement for him to make this move). 

Over the centuries, there were many changes made to the make-up of the house, but the building was restored to its original state during renovations of 1944-1945 and in commemoration of the naming of Brother Klaus to Sainthood in 1947. The building is a cultural object of national importance. 

The various rooms on the ground floor of the house, as they might have looked like at the time the family lived here. It is believed that Nicholas von Flüe built the house himself. 

A look up at the village church as we walk through the village of Flüeli. (Such a pretty house in the foreground here!)

On the far side of the village is another historical house, this one is the birth house of Brother Klaus.

A plaque on the entrance side of the house informs that the original building was erected around the year 1300 (the foundation is this old) and was placed under National Monument Protection in 1925. In that same year the house was reconstructed with ancient wood to try to restore it to what might have been the original build. 

The rooms inside show how the family might have lived in the 14th and 15th Centuries. In one of the rooms there is a statue of Bruder Klaus, typical of such statues of him all around Central Switzerland.

At 10:30, after viewing the two historical houses, we found a bench in the shade where we had an early picnic lunch. 

In the village of Flüeli there are at least three restaurant (not including the one at the Paxmontana Hotel) and one of them advertised a Gelateria, so of course, Urs had to get his ice cream!

Continuing on our walk now, we look behind us into the ravine of the Grosse Melchaa River, which flows out of the Melch Valley at the back. 

A look back at the church on the hill in Flüeli as we head through the pergola on the way to the Paxmontana hotel. 

A view of the Paxmontana hotel as we make our way along the long and pleasantly shady pergola. 

The hotel was originally built in 1896 in Art Nouveau style. 

View toward the Melch Valley from the patio at the hotel 

Past the hotel grounds, we followed the edge of the gorge (always on our right) along a narrow footpath, admiring all the farmland and the busy farmers to the west of the ravine. (Those hills are on the west side of Lake Sarnen). 

To our north, the summit of Mt. Stanserhorn. 

This is the second cutting of hay this spring. (We observed the first cutting on our May 1st walk in the Entlebuch, photos HERE).  

And that would be Mt.Pilatus to the northwest. 

A really lovely footpath along the edge of the Melchaa River ravine. 

At 11:30 we got to the covered bridge called the "Hohe Brücke" ("High Bridge"), which is apparently the highest covered bridge in Europe. It spans the Melchaa River by 30 meters, and sits 100 meters above the river. 

This covered bridge, one of about 200 in Switzerland, was built by the military in 1943. 

After the bridge, the trail continues along the edge of the ravine. 

Another look back toward the Melch Valley

Some of the farmers still dry the hay by hand!

That tiny house actually ha a wood-stove in it! I wonder who uses that building? Nothing around it where you might just sit outside and relax. Maybe for hunters?

At noon we had found a bench in the shade at the side of the road, before the trail headed down through a forest and along a stream called Galgenbach. We sat on that bench for about 20 minutes or longer, before continuing along this footpath next to the little stream (not visible due to the high grass!)

At 12:50 we reached the lakeshore of Lake Sarnen. This view is to the north end of the lake, to the town of the same name.  

This was the least favourable part of the walk, 15 minutes on a wider path along the lakeshore, as it was now the hot part of the day (1 p.m.). This view is southward along the lake toward Mt. Giswilerstock. 

The lovely meadows on the west side of the lake

We were too early for the 13:29 train in Sachseln, so we were able to enjoy the shade on this lakeside bench for about 15 minutes. It was so nice here that we almost missed the train!

View from our lakeside bench of Lake Sarnen and Mt. Pilatus to the north. (We misjudged how long we had to get from here to the train station, and almost missed the train! But then it was only a 90-minute trip home, and we were home by 2:45 p.m.). 

What our walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps. Starting in St.Niklausen, we walked into the gorge of the "Grosse Melchaa" River to Ranft, then back out of the gorge to Flüeli, then along a very nice path all along the edge of the gorge to the lakeshore at Lake Sarnen, and caught the train back from Sachseln. 

These are all the hikes we have done in the region around Sarnen, Sachseln and the Melch Valley. 

Location of Sarnen and Sachseln within Switzerland.