Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs: October 2025

Friday October 31, 2025 -- Final day of October and weather forecast was showing for lots of sunshine, albeit with hazy clouds, which from my experience means very little sun.

Nevertheless, I wanted to go out walking and enjoy the fall colours before all the leaves disappear off the trees. My choice was to ride the bus to just short of the Glaubenberg Pass in Central Switzerland (near Mt. Pilatus and somewhat south of Luzern) to the final stop called Langis, from where we had previously started another hike on October 6, 2018. (As it turns out--and I only realized this later--this weekend is the final run of the season to the Langis bus stop, before the winter schedule (mid-December) when there is enough snow for cross-country skiing up there.

My first mistake was sitting on the wrong side of the bus on the way up to the pass from Sarnen, as this was when I would have had the best views of the lake and all the fall colours! Once I started my descent to Giswil, there were only a few short spurts of sunshine and a few glimpses of glowing colour. Other than that, most of the descent was without view, steep, slippery due to recent rains and lots of leaves covering the trail. The part I did expect was the very wet boggy landscape of this region. Perhaps this hike might have been better left for a sunny summer day.

(I actually picked this hike because I have long wanted to walk on this part of the mountain where we had not been before, and it was less than two hours travel time to get there. Also, Urs had to work today, and he would not have liked this hike).

Leaving home at just before 9 a.m. I changed trains in Luzern. From there, the train heads past Lake Alpnach on its way south toward Sarnen, where I will transfer to the bus.

View of Mt.Pilatus from the bus in Sarnen.

I sat on the wrong side of the bus and missed all the nice views of Lake Sarnen as we headed up the mountain. But this view of the village of Stalden is quite pretty, as seen from the front seat near the driver. I started another very nice hike with views of the lake from here, back in May of 2023.

Heading up to the Glaubenberg Pass, this view is down to Giswil in the valley bottom, where I am headed to this day, and to the Brünig Pass at the back, which forms the border with Canton Obwalden and Canton Bern. The snow-covered peaks at the back are some of the mountains of the Bernese Oberland.

Barely visible now, due to the position of the sun, is the south end of Lake Sarnen below. This is the Sarneraatal, or Sarneraa Valley.

After less than two hours of travel time (which includes a transfer of 15 minutes in Luzern), the bus reaches Langis near the Glaubenberg Pass at 10:45. My goal for this day is to walk down to Giswil, 3 hours and 15 minutes from here.

This is what the hike from Langis near the Glaubenberg Pass, to Giswil looks like. It is mostly downhill, and as it turns out, quite a wet and slippery descent due to recent rains, lots of leaves on the trail, and generally a swampy area. Starting at 10:45, I made it to Giswil for the 14:35 train, for the 90-minute trip back home. So just over 3½ hours of walking.

Already at the start of the hike the trail was very wet. But this is a well-known "wet" area anyway. It was "clean" wet, as it is a peaty kind of ground cover.

A large part of my hike down the mountain was through forested area. Here at the higher elevations is was fairly green, with lots of moss and ferns. With some sunshine through the trees, it was quite pretty.

I also had to cross a few streams.

Here was a nice clearing and a spot for doing outdoor grilling and picnic. It was called Münchenboden.

For quite a long time I had to walk in this kind of terrain! My shoes got wet, but not dirty.

These wooden boardwalks helped in the very wet areas, but the wood was also slippery, and so you had to be careful.

Above the tree tops I got a single glimpse of the Obwalden Alps to the east. (i.e. on the east side of the Sarneraa Valley).

Another wooden bridge of which there were several.

After a long stretch on a wide forest road (which was very welcome!) I came to this place at 11:50, where I got the first views of the lake below. From here it is still 2¼ hours to go, so I have come one hour, which is just right.

Walking down wth a view of Mt. Stanserhorn on the left, and the Sarnenaa Valley.

More forest now, and it is getting more colourful the more I descend.

Passing via a mountain farm. No more animals up here now!

At 12:30 I found this little forest hut with a bench in the sunshine, so I took a 10-minute "lunch break" here.

On this day I wasn't unhappy to have regular roads to walk on! And now, a view of the Bernese Alps as well.

Those mountains are on the other side of the Brünig Pass. Unfortunately, the sky is filled with hazy clouds this day. (The mountains look so much better with a background of blue sky!)

And now a view down to the town of Giswil at the valley bottom. This little mountain village is called "Im Aspli."

Scattered farms now all the way down the hill, and a view of Lake Sarnen.

That's a little bridge!

South end of Lake Sarnen. As I near the valley bottom, there is more sunshine.

Here the trail followed a mountain stream which has been equipped with steps to prevent flooding when there is a lot of rain.

The trail continues on the other side of the stream and it was a bit tricky to make my way across!

The trail crossed a road and continued along the stream with the steps. Here is a look back to the road.

Beautiful colour!

Another look back... soon I'm out of the forest.

Out of the forest now. Although I had barely any sunshine on the hike till this point, now the hazy clouds dissipated a bit.

I ended up on a road called the "Historical Walking Trail". I liked this barn, and went to have a look at an information placard.

The placard refers to this house: It is calle "Haus Chälenboden", and even though unsure how old it is, the style of construction seems to indicate it is about 500 years old! The current owner did major renovations in 1992.

A look behind me at the forested section that I descended next to the stepped stream.

All the lovely colourful trees on this mountainside!

I like this little path through the farmland! From here at the flat valley bottom, I still have to walk for an hour to the train station in Giswil.

These cows are surely also enjoying the lovely mild weather! There is one boss cow watching me closely.

I was trying to take a nice photo of the trees and the snow-covered mountains on the other side of the Brünig Pass.... and only later I realized there is a heron sitting on a small branch on that tree!

That cat is watching me quite critically.

Lovely view of the Brünig Pass and the mountains to the south.

To the north is Mt.Stanserhorn.

The farmers are still hard at work.

A familiar landmark: The parish church of St.Anton, called the "Church on the Hill" (built in the early 1600's). I visited this church in August 2024 when I walked down to Giswil from Lake Lungern higher up and closer to the Brünig Pass.

Last stretch now to the train station in Giswil.

Crossing the Giswileraa River, which is water diverted out of Lake Lungern at Kaiserstuhl.

"Gasthaus zum Bahnhof" across from the railway station in Giswil. The sign above the front door reads that this is a family-owned business since 1888.

I got to the train station at 2:25 p.m., so about 3½ hours after starting up in Langis. The 14:35 regional train from Giswil to Luzern is already waiting on Platform 4.

These are all the hikes I have done around Lake Sarnen. The dark blue line is the walk I did this day.

The train runs north along the east side of Lake Sarnen. Langis, where I started on my hike, is about at the saddle at the center of this photo.

Up ahead is Mt. Stanserhorn.

By the time the train reaches the village of Alpnach Dorf, we are right across from Mt.Stanserhorn. You can even see one of the towers of the famous open-topped Cabri-O cableway.