Hike down Mt.Rigi from Rigi Staffel to Küssnacht

Saturday July 5, 2025 -- This was a tough one to decide on as the best weather forecast was, once again, at the lower elevations toward the north, where it might have been uncomfortably hot to do any kind of hiking. So instead of leaving early, we stayed home and waited for the clouds to lift somewhat locally, and we decided short-notice for a trip to Mt.Bürgenstock near Luzern, where we could walk on the cliff trail and through the forests. But the 9:30 train we wanted to take was cancelled, so we changed plans and headed to our local mountain, Mt. Rigi, before heading up with little mountain train, with the plan to walk down again. (The trip there was only an hour).

We had several options to walk down the mountain, and decided on the spur of the moment to walk down the north side to the lakeside town of Küssnacht, via Seebodenalp, a large alpine plateau about halfway down the mountain. Along the way we stopped first at a mountain restaurant called Alt Ruedisegg where we had planned to have something to eat, but it was too busy there and the staff was stressed, so we continued down the mountain and stopped instead at the Alpenhof restaurant in Küssnacht, a restaurant that we know well and have been to many times, as we have relatives who live here.

At the start of our hike at the train station of Rigi Staffel (about 200 meters lower than the summit at Rigi Kulm), it was almost too cold for me in my shorts! But on the first hour of walking down through the forest, it was very comfortable for us, as opposed to the dozens of people who walked UP the mountain trail, passing us all exhausted and sweating!

As for the views, at first it was very hazy, but as we continued down the mountain, the air became clearer and we had some very nice views of Lake Zug and the Küssnacht arm of Lake Lucerne. Also, it wasn't too hot at all....

We started our hike at the train station called Rigi Staffel, which is one station before the summit station at Rigi Kulm. We rode in the blue train, which continued to the summit, and this little red train followed behind ours up the mountain from Arth Goldau. I didn't even bother making a photo on the south side of the station (from where you usually get a fantastic view of the Alps), because there was so much cloud cover.

To descend down the north side of the mountain to Seebodenalp (along Trail no.63: Schwyzer Höhenweg) takes a little over an hour, and the most direct way to Küssnacht is 2½ hours. Since we took a detour around Seebodenalp, it was a little over three hours to get to Küssnacht.

The direct trail down to Küssnacht takes about 2½ hours. We crossed the Seebodenalp and descended at Altruedisegg, so it was about a 3-hour hike. We started at 10:30, and got to the Alpenhof at 2:30 p.m., with several nice breaks along the way.

Most of the descent to Seebodenalp was on a wide and rather "gravelly" trail, alot through forest, so not too hot for us. On the other hand, about 30-50 people passed us hiking UP the mountain (seems like a popular thing to do), and they were all sweating.

Our first view of the Küssnacht arm of Lake Luzern. At this point (10:45) the air was still hazy and you can barely make out Mt.Pilatus on the left. But the view got better within the hour. The large clearing below is Seebodenalp, and we walked to the little pond, and continued down from there.

It wasn't bad at all to walk down this forest trail.

After about 30 minutes we reached this look-out spot, and took a 10-minute break here.

By now (shortly after 11 a.m.) we can already make out Mt.Pilatus. This is from the look-out point. At the back on the right at the end of the other arm of the lake, is the city of Lucerne.

Directly to the north is Lake Zug. We live at the north end of this lake.

And right in the center at the north end of Lake Küssnacht is the town of Küssnacht.

Once we got to the bottom of the forested section, there were still people headed up the mountain!

Past the clearing we still can see Lake Zug

This farm is called Holderen. They used to serve refreshments here, but it looks like not any more.

A look above us to where we started on our hike down this side of the mountain.

Heading southwest along the upper Seebodenalp Trail

This here was interesting: Apparently, in 2009, a management group called Accenture had a project to plant 500 trees up here on Seebodenalp, including this little forest with 25 different types of trees. The various lanes also seem to have been planted with trees at fairly regular spacing.

We found a nice bench in the shade here, where we could enjoy the view over Seebodenalp and the Küssnacht arm of Lake Lucerne.

Far below us on the lower Seebodenalp Trail, we saw a "walking with a llama" group!

View from our bench in the shade. We think all those trees along the lane below were planted in the Accenture Project of 2009 (500 various trees planted up here).

Rounding a corner now we can see the little pond we saw from further up. The restaurant called Altruedisegg is just above the pond, at the end of the tree-lined alley. We are descending from there. You can see Mt. Pilatus much better now.

Those cows are all crowding to get into the barn. As we then passed the barn, I had a look into it from the other side, and it was jam-packed full of cows! There was simply no more room for these girls!

Upper left is Altruedisegg, an the tree-lined lane looks quite pretty from here.

We played "leap-frog" with this cute little family from the moment we reached the Seebodenalp, and the little guy with the hiking boots and huge backpack waved to us each time we passed each other!

Another alley of trees planted in 2009.

There were very many swallows here, all sitting on this cable line!

A very beautiful tree, but I could not find out what kind of tree this was! (Definitely older than the 2009 planting, though)

Look at all that moss!

There was a detour path to a little dock on the pond, but an entire family had already "taken possession", so we did not go there.

At 12:50 we got to the site of the Altruedisegg farm, where we were now going to start the second descent to Küssnacht.

Before starting on our descent, we wanted to stop here for french fries (for me) and ice cream (for Urs), even though there were lots of people here, including children. We sat at one of those tables in the shade, but there were no meal menus, and the staff was pretty stressed when I went into the restaurant to ask for menus, and we figured we'd have to wait too long, so we left.

The view down to the large town of Küssnacht. My dad lived here for a short time as a young man, and at that time there were only a few houses and lots of farms. It has become a very popular place.

A zoomed look at the north end of Lake Küssnacht. The ship travels here only on weekends, and only a couple of times each day. (Whereas on the rest of the lake there are very many ship courses between Lucerne and Flüelen on Lake Uri.)

A look back at the Altruedisegg farm and restaurant before heading down the hill. They had really bad luck here..... the restaurant is brand new, but as it was in the beginning building stages in October 2023, it burned down. Then they started rebuilding, and there was a fire again in November 2023. I'm surprised it's finished at all!

After another 60-meter descent through a forested section, we get back into open country with views. The air keeps getting better for clearer views as the afternoon progresses!

What used to be a cute little lakeside village has become a heap of concrete costing a fortune to rent here!

Studying the trail markers

What would a hike in any region in Switzerland be, without cows blocking our trail! They obviously prefer the shade on these hot days as well.

This plant was very popular with the butterflies, that were flitting all around it. I think it's called Wild Marjoram.

We had a lot of such small foot-paths on the three-hour hike.

All the farms up here have names: This one is called "Chlösterli".

Just five minutes before the restaurant Alpenhof, we passsed through a farm called Hof Landschi, where there was an event going on, which turned out to be a wedding reception. (The venue is popular for weddings). Lots of people in traditional dress and a group of Jodler's singing.

VIDEO:

Entertainment at the wedding reception at Hof Landschi

Looking behind us from where we just walked from.

The huge poles from the Seebodenalp cable-way were installed in 2018. When we first rode this cable-car, it was a much smaller affair!

As we pass below the Seebodenalp cable-way, we can see way up along the Rigi Massif the place where we started on our downhill walk.

We arrived at the Alpenhof Restaurant (a place we have been many times over the past 13 years) at 2:30 p.m. We stopped here for refreshments and dessert. The Alpenhof is popular with families as there are playgrounds, animals, trampolines and even a rope park.

We found a nice table in the shade, and spent 45 minutes here with ice-cream, frenchfries, and something cold to drink.

All kinds of fun stuff up here for the kids!

On the final stretch to the heart of Küssnacht where we were catching the 15:37 bus back home (less than an hour to get home).

Church steeple in the heart of Küssnacht.

These are the buildings around the main roundabout in Küssnacht, where several buses stop for trips in three directions.

"Gasthaus zum Engel" is the oldest Gasthaus (the original part is from 1405) in the town, and boasts that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had lunch here on October 7th, 1797, on his third trip through Switzerland.