Hike to Lake Chapfensee in Eastern Switzerland

Wednesday October 8, 2025 -- In the eastern part of Switzerland near Sargans and the Weisstannen Valley is a mountain lake called Chapfensee. We have long wanted to hike to this lake but getting there is somewhat complicated: We either had to hike quite a bit uphill from a bus stop in the Weisstannen Valley, or start at the summit station of a cable-car which belongs to the Schönhalden mountain restaurant/hotel at 1487m.

This latter was the more ideal option, but the only problem is that we first have a 35-minute walk from a bus stop in the valley town of Flums to the base station of the cable-car, but only 30 minutes to the cable-car run! (Or we'd have to wait up to another 30 minutes). On this beautiful fall day we decided we were going to attempt this. We walked quickly, and got to the cable-car station in just 25 minutes, all hot and sweaty...... (We had called ahead to have them hold the cable-car if we were a bit late, but we made it just fine!)

The rest of the hike to the lake and later to the bus stop in the Weisstannen Valley went without a hitch: great trails, lots of sunshine but comfortable temperatures, superb visibility of the mountains around the Rhine Valley and into Liechtenstein and the Graubünden Alps, and very beautiful reflections on the lake. We timed it perfectly once again to reach the hourly bus back out of the valley, and were home again by 6 p.m.!

As usual, any trip in the direction of Chur requires a photo of Lake Walensee and the Churfirsten Mountains! Right now it is 9:40, and we are just 10 minutes from the train station at Flums, where we caught a bus.

Waiting for the bus at 9:50 in Flums. The industry chimneys with the backdrop of the Churfirsten mountains look pretty impressive. (Side note: These chimneys belong to a company called Flumroc, and just the very next day after we were here, a molten mass at 1500 degrees leaked due to a technical defect, causing several million Francs of damage. See also this NEWS ITEM).

Our bus was running late, so we had even less time to walk up the hillside here: 1.7 km, but also 177 meters of uphill, mostly through forest, fortunately. Our map reads 37 minutes, so it looked like we wouldn't make it to the 10:30 run of the cable-car. We had phoned the operator ahead of time so they'd know we were coming! (In the back below, is the city of Flums).

Surprisingly, we made it to the cable-car station at 10:26, just four minutes before the scheduled run. That means we did the 37-minute walk in 24 minutes, but we sure were all sweaty!

As the cable-car now heads 850 meters (!) up the mountain on an approximately 12-minute run, we saw a farmer moving their cows to a different pasture below!

VIDEO:

The cows are moving to a different pasture!

The descending cable-car passes us at the half-way mark!

View over the hillside of Mount Flumserberg and the Churfirsten peaks.

We reached the summit station at 10:43, after an approximate 12-minute ride. The cable-car belongs to the Schönhalden mountain restaurant/hotel but is available for public use. It cost us 16 Fr. each to ride to the top.

Heading out on our hike... in the background is the mountain hotel. This was the wrong trail and we had to return to the hotel and start slightly further down. From the hotel, you can also descend 300 meters directly to the themed trail called "WALSA-Weg", but we prefer to stay higher up when possible.

Directly across to the eastern side of the valley (this is the Seez Valley) is the high plateau called Palfries. We have been up there twice, including a round tour we did in May of 2018.

Together with the first 1½-kilometer stretch to the cable-car station, this turned out to be a a 12-km hike (3½ hours) with not a lot of ascent, so quite a comfortable hike. We started at about 11 a.m. at the top of the cable-car station, walked down to Lake Chapfensee and then into the Weisstannen Valley to catch the 14:50 bus along the main road there.

Heading southwards now with a look down now into the junction of the Seez Valley on the left, with the Rhine Valley up ahead. The Rhine River bends here and heads northeast toward Lake Bodensee. The Seez River comes out of the Weisstannen Valley (where we are headed) and travels northwest to Lake Walensee.

Mountain farmers are making their final preparations for the winter season.

At one point, in a small space between the peaks of the Churfirsten mountains, I spotted the summit of Mt.Säntis to the north!

The trees are now changing to their fall colours.

Since we are walking on a trail higher up, we can look down at the Lake. This is the first view we got of Lake Chapfensee. Down below, to the right of the building and the round trees is a bench, and we are headed down there to have our picnic lunch, as it is now 11:45.

A zoomed view of Lake Chapfensee. Later, we are walking along that road below, and then along the (left) side of the lake.

Trying out a self-timed photo on our lunch bench!

View from our lunch bench down to Lake Chapfensee. Some of the mountains in the background are within the country of Liechtenstein.

Heading down through the pastures now to join the Walsaweg Trail, which is the lower trail to the lake. The mountain straight ahead is called Rundchopf, with the Gonzen peak on the right. This is the city of Sargans' local mountain.

To the south in the Pizol Region I recognized the "Black Horns", because I had just recently done the Pizol 5-Lakes trail (before it snowed recently) and passed via "Schwarzsee" (Black Lake) in the dip below the horns!

At about 12:30 we joined Trail no.68: "WALSA-Weg", and from there continued on to the west side of the lake.

A short stretch through the forest before we got back out into the open.

On the road to the lake, we see the Pizol peaks again, and walked to the sound of many cow bells once again!

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Listening to the cow bells!

Looking up the mountain behind us, we could see the bench where we had sat earlier!

Now the first view of the beautiful Lake Chapfensee.

You can walk around the entire lake, but we used the main trail on the north side of the lake.

There were two dams on the lake. Here at the north dam there was a large picnic area popular with families. Far in the back you can see the eastern dam.

Zoomed view of the dam on the east end of Lake Chapfensee. Far in the back are the Bündner Alps.

Beautiful reflections of the Pizol and the forest in the water.

Crossing the first dam, which is on the north side of the lake.

A sign indicates that if we take a little detour, we can reach a look-out point.

From the Chapfenstein Look-out point we can see down to the cities of Mels and Sargan.

After the detour to the look-out point, we crossed the eastern dam. (There are two islands in the lake, and they are off limits to the public).

View back across the lake from the eastern dam.

We then ascended via a large moorland and forested area to the clearing called Vermol.

Heading up through a sun-dappled forest toward Vermol.

As the ground is very wet here, there are several boardwalks to cross over.

From here at the little mountain community of Vermol, we can see down the Weisstannen Valley into the Rhine Valley below. (The mountains across the valley form the bountary with Liechtenstein, and we once did a fantastic hike up there in July of 2024.

Every field and meadow has a cat hiding in the grass, thinking we can't see it!

Heading down now through the houses in Vermol toward the trail which will lead us down to the main road in the Weisstannen Valley.

Here is our first view up into the Weisstannen Valley!

Passing a little chapel before heading down into the valley. Unfortunately it was locked and we could not see inside.

From Vermol, our trail actually takes us for over 2½ kilometers (45 minutes) up the valley toward the main road. This stretch of road is one we have walked on before, when we walked down the entire valley in May 2018. (Similar photo to THIS ONE).

Even though we were going to cut it close again for the bus, there is always time for a few photos!

As the Weisstannen Valley opens up into the Rhine Valley, we can see the city of Sargans.

We saw these out-of-the-way mailboxes last time we passed by here as well!

Beautiful view toward Liechtenstein.

Now the trail gets narrow and heads down toward the Seez River, which we have to cross to get to the main road on the other side.

Heading down toward the river.

A small farm at the bottom of the valley where we cross the Seez River and ascend the final forest road on the left to the main paved road.

The Seez River flows down the Weisstannen Valley into Mels below, then heads north (also past the train station in Flums) toward Lake Walensee.

From here looking back we can see the trail we had descended across the clearing. It was now 14:40 and the bus was to arrive around the corner at 14:50, so we made it with plenty of time!

What our day's walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps. From the bus stop at the base of Mt.Flumserberg we had to walk about 30 minutes to the cable-car station. And then from the Schönenberg Hotel above, we walked to Chapfensee, then via Vermol into the Weistannen Valley. In all, about 12 kilometers.

On the bus ride out of the valley, we can see up into the community of Vermol from where we had descended. You can also see the little chapel from here.

Up ahead is Mt.Gonten, as we head out of the valley by bus.

And now the bus winds its way out of the Weisstannen Valley toward Mels and ultimately the train station in Sargans.

Looking over the city of Mels. We had to change buses there for the final section to the train station in Sargans. On the right you can just make out the Sargans Castle.