Alpine Cattle Descent along the Meien Valley to Wassen in the Reuss Valley

Saturday September 13, 2025 -- From end of August to beginning of October, the cows which spent about 10 weeks in upper alpine pastures are brought back down to their valley barns. This involves long treks which the cows have to make, sometimes on steep mountain trails.

In many parts of the country, the mountain farmers celebrate a successful summer by decorating their cows with flowered headdresses, flags, and bells, and then lead them in what has become known as a "alpine descent". As the cows arrive in the valley villages, locals gather to welcome the farmers with festivities and local traditions (and usually including a market). In the meantime, these cow parades have become very popular with outsiders as well.

We have visited several such parades over the years, but there was one nearby in a lovely valley called Meiental starting at a farm called Hinterfeld, which we have visited a couple of times on hikes down the valley (Photos from July 2018 hike HERE). The cows walk 11 kilometers down the valley along the Old Susten Road to the village of Wassen, where a large crowd of mostly locals awaits their arrival. Urs had long wanted to see this parade, but by welcoming the cows in the valley and not just in the end village.

So on this day we took the bus early into the Meien Valley and waited along the Old Susten Road until the parade passed us, and we then followed the parade to where the cows have to walk a short stretch along the main road, and were able to board the bus again to head back out of the valley, where we then watched the cows a second time as they wound down the mountain. 

Because the bus ended up behind the cow parade, we had to sneak along behind them. The driver had never been to such a parade and she wanted to take some photos, so when the cows left the main road, she simply stopped the bus and we all got out for photos (as a long line of cars had to wait behind us!). Another highlight of the day is that we witnessed the passage of a couple of historical trains which were running through Wassen this day.

Leaving home at shortly after 7 a.m., we were headed by bus into the Meien Valley in Cantonn Uri about two hours later. Here we are passing the church at Meien Village, and we got off the bus just past here. 

This is a view down the Meien Valley from the level of the bus stop where we got off at 9:25. (We could have gone further up the valley, but we had called the Hinterfeld Farm the day before and were told the cows would leave the barn at 9 a.m. and reach here about 40 minutes later. We didn't want to miss them by going further up!)

Close-up look at the Meien Dörfli church, which we passed by on two previous hikes down the valley.  

Still many cows half-way up the valley here. Not sure if they will stay up here in winter, or if they will also be led down later!

As we were pretty early to meet the cow parade, we decided to walk up the valley along the Old Susten Road until we found a nice place to wait for them. This is another look behind us down the Old Susten Road which the cows will be walking down later. 

About 10 minutes from the bus stop on the main road, we reach the hamlet of Fürlauwi. Still looking for a good place to wait for the cows. This is not the place, because we could not get out of the cows' way when they passed here!

On the far side of the village of Fürlauwi, we saw two farmers working on the special fences that line both sides of the former pass road. 

An information panel tells us that these fences are very unique to this valley. As they represent a cultural "treasure", several sections of the fence along the Old Susten Road have been restored by local citizens, using only native larch and spruce wood. 

A look up the beautiful Meien Valley while we wait for the cows to arrive from way up there somewhere!

I wandered down to the river for a spell, to a small bridge which we crossed here on a hike we did (in July 2018) down the south side of this river (the Meienreuss River, a tributary to the Reuss River at Wassen to the east). 

Finally, at 10:15 (almost an hour after leaving the bus), the parade appears. We had found a good spot at a bench along the trail (about 1 km from the bus stop along the main road) to wait for them.

We had continued walking up the valley until we found a short wall next to the trail which we could stand on to be out of the way of the parade. It was a perfect vantage point to watch from! 

Here is the first set of cows which passed us as we stood on the wall. We had been told by the farmers (we had phoned them for information the day before), that there would be 100 milk cows and 70 heifers in the parade. It took only about three minutes for this section of the parade to pass us! (Later we found out that there was another group coming behind this one). 

VIDEO:

The parade of cows from the Hinterfeld Alp at the back of the Meien Valley pass us about half-way down their 11-km walk to the village of Wassen

(Video is 1 minute 15 seconds)

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After the cows had passed, we followed them toward the main road where we had left the bus. Another look here up the valley as Urs is studying the bus schedule, to see if there is any way we can catch the 10:25 bus back out of the valley (as it was now 10:21 and we still had to walk behind the cows back to the main road, it seemed pretty doubtful!) 

Passing back through the hamlet of Fürlauwi behind the cows. We could not pass them anywhere because of the special fences on both sides of the path!

We were in luck! The bus which came over the Susten Pass (from the Bernese side of the pass) was running late, (plus the cows had already reached the road now and the vehicles could no longer pass) we were able to board the bus here at 10:30, where we had gotten off just over an hour earlier!

The cows had to walk along an almost 1-km stretch of the main paved road before heading back down onto the Old Susten Road track, so the bus had to follow at their pace, as well as an entire column of cars behind us! 

There were only about eight of us in the bus, so the atmosphere was very familiar as we chatted to the bus driver. She said she had never had an occasion to witness this parade, and was thrilled to watch it up close like this! Had the cows left their barn on time at 9 a.m., they would have long been gone from this section of road!!!!

A view of the cows from the bus up ahead along the paved road. The asphalt is not very comfortable for them, so fortunately they only had to walk less than a kilometer before heading back onto the dirt path. 

It took the cows only about 10 minutes along the paved road before reaching back on the former Susten Pass Road. All along the way, our bus driver had said how much she wanted to photograph the cows, but could not do it while driving. So she surprised us by simply pulling the bus over on the side of the road, and got out to take photos! And then so did some of the other passengers, including me! (And all the other cars still had to wait behind us, as they were not allowed to pass here!)

The cow parade now passes the bus as the cows leave the paved road. 

All the cars behind us have to wait as our bus driver wants to witness the parade up close!

VIDEO:

Watching the cows pass us as our bus is pulled up along the side of the road!

The bus then continues out of the Meien Valley and into the Reuss Valley, where it will then pass through the village of Wassen (which we see below) where we will get out and wait for the cows to reach here!

As the bus descends into the village of Wassen, we pass by the large crowds of people waiting now along the main road for the cows to descend! The cows were expected to reach here at 11 a.m., and as it is now 10:50, we know that they (and we also) still have a long time to wait!

This is the path that the cows took, starting further back in the Meien Valley at the Hinterfeld farm, and ending about 11 km further down at Wassen in the Reuss Valley. 

VIDEO:

As we head back up the road to get away from the main crowded spots to find a good view point along the path the cows are descending, we are entertained with some local Swiss traditions: In this case, Flag Throwers (Fahnenschwinger) and Alphorns!

Heading up to find a good vantage point to watch the cows come down here, there aren't very many people waiting along the road. To the north is the railway viaduct and the main road out of the valley, where we descended by bus. That road was now "blocked" in anticipation of the cows coming down, and any cars coming out of the Meien Valley will now have a very long wait!

We found a good spot on a hill just above the railway line, with a view of the town of Wassen below us, and the winding road above us, where the cows are going to descend.

Because we were right beside the railway line, we could watch the trains go by as well, which is fun!

We were surprised when this intriguing train passed by! It is called a Crocodile and is a historical locomotive. We then remembered that on this same day the historical trains were running up and down the Reuss Valley between Erstfeld and Göschenen, a very popular event for train afficionados!

VIDEO:

The historical train pulled by the "Crocodile" passes us twice on its way up the valley!

Before the cows arrived, another farmer came down with a herd of goats! We had seen them waiting in a curve of the road as the bus had come down out of the Meien Valley. 

VIDEO:

The cows had not appeared yet, but a different farmer started the parade by walking down with a herd of goats!

VIDEO:

At 11:15 we caught sight of the first cows arriving down the road further up. At the same time, the historical crocodile passes above, traveling slowly so that the passengers can see the parade from above!

Now we enjoy the same line of cows descending past us the second time!

VIDEO:

More cow parade!

Some close-ups of the decorated cows!

Just as the last cows were passing, we also got to witness the beautiful historical steam engine pass by! 

VIDEO:

Then the large steam locomotive passed us at the spot we were standing and watching the cows go by. So we had two fabulous events to witness this day!

VIDEO:

After the first group of cows passed, people still waited around, so we figured another group of cows were coming down. So we found a different spot to watch these ones pass. This vantage point was better than the last one! (One-minute video)

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The last of the cows passed by here where we were watching and we started down into the village. But this girl wasn't moving any more! We thought she had sore feet, but her handlers said she is afraid of tunnels, as there was a tunnel under the railway line here!

VIDEO:

As we were headed back into the village, we were surprised by another herd of animals heading down the road. This time they were mostly the beautiful Valais Black-Necked goats, as well as the equally attractive brown "Chamois-colored mountain goat"

After the final cow passed, this lady followed, scraping up the cow manure from the streets! That's the Swiss cleanliness!

All the spectators were headed now to the main road, where there are lots of market stands. There was a sausage stand here on the left, and Urs bought himself a Bratwurst. 

This is some of the traditional entertainment offered at such events!

The final herd of goats didn't make it past the crowds, as everyone was impressed at how beautiful they were! They seem to love the attention. 

The lovely Valais Black-Necked goats have been washed and combed and they look so sleek!

Among the herd was this baby wandering around! So much fun for both little and big people!

A couple of llamas had also joined the parade. This here is the main square in the village of Wassen. (Note, this is a rather local, small-time event compared to other such Alpine Descents!)

We walked past some of the market stands, some of which belong to the farmers who own alpine farms. This one is called Alp Galenstock. (The farmers from Alp Hinterfeld, where the cows started on their parade, also had a market stand, and we considered buying their cheese, but there were too many people in line). 

We ran into Urs' cousin who volunteers here, and she recommended the homemade eggnog, so Urs bought a bottle!

As it was only about noon and we had a nice afternoon ahead of us, we decided to add a two-hour hike to our day! Heading south out of the town of Wassen, we could see the cows gathered below the village. The decorations have been removed, and it looks like they are being loaded into trucks to bring to their valley farms!

A nice look down the Reuss Valley from south of the town of Wassen. The dominant mountain here is Mt.Bristen. And down below you can see the long traffic jam of all the cars headed toward the Gotthard tunnel on their way south of the Alps!

This is the path that the cows took, starting further back in the Meien Valley at the Hinterfeld farm, and ending about 11 km further down at Wassen in the Reuss Valley. 

Location of the Meien Valley within Switzerland.