Short Stretch of Via Gottardo Trail from Wassen to Göschenen

Saturday September 13, 2025 -- After an exciting morning experiencing the Meiental Alpine Cattle Descent (photos HERE), we were finished with that event in Wassen in the Reuss Valley at about noon. It being a very nice day and too early to head home (this is not far from where we live), we decided to add on a 7-kilometer (2-hour) hike along the Via Gottardo trail to the town of Göschenen, which is just south of the old Gotthard Railway Tunnel, a marvel completed in 1882 and now used mostly as a panorama line (after completion of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in December 2016). 

This is a stretch we had not yet walked (although we did ride our bikes down this stretch in September 2014), and the day and time were perfect for this, as there is too much shadow in this steep valley later in the year. Because of its proximity to the tunnel, it is also part of the themed trail "Gotthard Train Adventure" between Erstfeld and Göschenen, so there were lots of interesting things to see along the way (an "open air" museum, information panels, old rusted cranes originally used for lifting granite blocks onto the trains...)

Additionally, on this particular weekend, the organization called "SBB Historic" were running historical trains up and down between those two towns, and all along the way we passed train afficionados waiting with expensive camera equipment for the trains to pass! (We had been very lucky to have seen the trains up close while we waited for the cows to come down the mountain in Wassen).

As usual, we were just entering the train station in Göschenen with one minute to spare for the 14:09 train back down the valley!

At just after noon we started on our hike southward to Göschenen (a two-hour hike). This is a view back toward the village of Wassen (and down the Reuss Valley), where the cows had just descended from out of the Meien Valley. (You can see them gathered in the grassy section below. They are being loaded for transport to their winter farms). Side note: As it is a Saturday, there is the customary traffic backed up over 6 kilometers from the Gotthard Tunnel. 

For valley hikes, we usually start at the higher elevation and walk "downhill". But since we were in Wassen already, we started from there, walking "uphill" to Göschenen. It was a two-hour hike and about 6½ kilometers.

On the stretch between Wassen and Göschenen there is a lot of information about the construction of the railway line and the Gotthard railway tunnel, as well as the "mining" of granite.  This is a little open-air museum which you can visit, which shows how the granite was cut and loaded by crane onto the railway cars.  

A viewing platform gives us a look down onto the railway line at Wassen. 

This is the little railway station at Wassen, which was important in the days of granite mining. No trains stop here any more. 

The panel informs us that during the building of the Gotthard Tunnel in the late 19th Century, Wassen acquired a train station. The railway line was important for the transport of the granite blocks. The quarry provided work for 300 people at the time. 

Above us is a railway passage above the waterfall. 

A wayside chapel which was open, so we had a look into it (pretty standard).  

This section of hiking trail is part of several themed trails: No.2: Trans Swiss Trail, No.7: Via Gottardo, No.55: Via Suvorov, and the Gotthard Railway Trail. 

The Reuss River

A look behind us as we head upwards on the trail to Göschenen. 

We are being observed!

A look behind us down the Reuss Valley again. We can see the church in Wassen on the hill on the left. And lots of backed-up traffic on the freeway!

A very attractive concrete arched bridge ahead of us!

The trail is closed in winter because that bridge ahead of us gets removed before the first snows, and there is no other way to cross here. 

Crossing the bridge over the Hinter Neiseren Valley. The bridge is removed in winter so that it does not get damaged due to possible avalanches. The trail is closed until late in spring when there is no longer avalanche danger and the bridge gets replaced!

Crossing over the freeway. We can see the Wassen church far in the back. Here there are no cars backed up because they get stopped along the way and are "released" in "batches" to prevent traffic inside the 15-kilometer, two-lane Gotthard tunnel. 

Interesting trail in forested sections 

Interesting trail in forested sections 

Crossing another bridge. Not sure if this one also gets removed in winter. 

The final 1½ kilometers of the trail into the town of Göschenen was next to the railway line. This little building is a "cable booth"

Along the way there were several photographers waiting for the arrival of the steam engine, which had passed by us back in Wassen when we were watching the cow parade. There were many photographers along the line between here and Erstfeld to the north, as it was a special day for train afficionados!

Crossing the Göschener Reuss River (tributary to the main Reuss River) at the town of Göschenen. The river comes down the Göscheneralp Valley, which we have visited several times. (HERE are photos from the hike we did down the valley, ending here in Göschenen in June 2019)

We got to the Göschenen railway station at 14:07, but the train (which had already entered the station), was to leave at 14:09, so we had to run the last stretch!

After catching the 14:09 train in Göschenen (right next to the Gotthard Tunnel), we head north again, passing above the town of Wassen. From below, earlier in the day, we had seen these folks waving the Swiss flags, which they waved every time a train passed here. 

A look down at the town of Wassen as the train passes by here three times on its way down the valley. It was a 90-minute trip home from Göschenen. 

What our (approx.7 km) hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Wassen and ending in Göschenen. (The cow parade was down the Meien Valley to Wassen). 

The following photos are of the special historical locomotives which did a few runs this day between the villages of Erstfeld and Göschenen. There were many people along the way with fancy cameras to photograph the trains. We were lucky to be standing next to the railway line while waiting for the cows to come down the mountain, and these trains passed us at close proximity:

From the SBB-Historic website is the intinerary for the historical locomotives running this line for the day, and how much it cost to book a seat for the ride. (For about 700 Fr. once could also ride in the locomotive with the driver!)

This locomotive is nicknamed the Crocodile

The crocodile passes by with older model wagons. This was in Wassen where we waited to photograph the cows. At this place the train heads north, and further up it heads south again. 

Higher up on the mountainside above Wassen, the train has made a turn and heads south again to Göschenen. 

VIDEO:

The historical train called the Crocodile passes us twice on its way to Göschenen.

Later, the historical steam engine is on its way from Göschenen to Erstfeld. Once again, we were lucky to see this beautiful machine up close. This locomotive is nicknamed the "Elephant". 

VIDEO:

Historical Steam Train passes by us in Wassen.

Location of Wassen within Switzerland.

These are all the sections of the Via Gottardo trail which we have now walked between the Gotthard Pass (where the Reuss River has its source) and down the Reuss Valley to Flüelen on the south end of Lake Uri (55km). (We still need to walk northwards from Wassen to Meitschligen....). 

SIDE NOTE: This video was posted to Facebook by someone named Kerstin Warda, who took a video of what was going on on the higher level of the railway tracks (which we could only see from below) as the "Crocodile" passed by, greeted by some apparently well-known "Fahnenschwinger", i.e. "Flag Throwers", a Swiss tradition.