Sunny Side of the Thur River Valley from Wildhaus to Alt St.Johann

Sunday December 21, 2025 -- On this, the shortest day of the year, we were very lucky once again to find a place above the fog to do another 10-km walk in the sunshine.... in fact, we had more sunshine than we had expected!

With this unending fog in the lowlands, you have to go up high to get above the fog, either very high where there is snow (but lots of skiers), or half-way up where the landscape is half-snow, so not really great for hiking.

But right now the temperatures in the eastern part of Switzerland are relatively high due to Föhn wind effects, but also with lots of fog in the valley bottoms... except in the Toggenburg and Thur Valley near Mount Säntis (similar to where I had been just a couple of days earlier, photos HERE). Checking webcams before we left, we knew it would be fog-free, so headed out on the 2¾-hour trip via Buchs in the Rhine Valley (through the fog!) to the town of Wildhaus near the source of the Thur River, and did a three-hour walk on the sunny side of the valley. Considering that the sun is in its lowest position of the year, we were glad that the Churfirsten mountains to our south weren't throwing shadow onto our chosen trail, which was mostly along paved mountain roads, but with practically no vehicle traffic.

Highlights were the very many pretty houses to admire, and the fabulous backdrop of Mt.Säntis.

After a two-hour trip to eastern Switzerland via Sargans and Buchs all the way in the thick fog (we left home at 8:45), we changed to a bus from Buchs toward the Thur Valley. As the bus climbed, we eventually got out of the fog and could see the mountains of Liechenstein.

Getting out of the fog now! It's now 11:13.

Heading eastward along the main road on the southern flank of the Alpstein Massif toward Wildhaus, with views of farmhouses.

This is the view of the north side of the Churfirsten mountains after our bus arrived in Wildhaus at 11:25. (We had not felt the need to start any earlier on this day!). Just below here is one of the two sources of the Thur River: The "Wildhauser Thur".

Two churches to check out first. This one, closest to the main road, is the Evangelical Church.

Inside the Evangelical church in Wildhaus. It was originally the first church in the community, used by the Catholics until the reformation in 1524, but then shared once again with the Catholics from 1595 until the construction of the Catholic church building in 1777.

Only a few meters away from the Evangelical Church is the Catholic Parish Church, consecrated in 1777.

Typical Baroque church interior in this 1777-built church.

Detail of the altars (main and two side altars) and the small organ.

As it is now nearing Christmas, there are nativity scenes set up in the various churches. This one is particularly pretty.

A look behind us as we leave the Catholic Church and head through the cemetery of the Evangelical church, as we now start on our hike at 11:40.

Starting in Wildhaus at 11:40, we walked about 11 km (about 3 hours) on a mostly paved road (almost no traffic) on the sunny side of the valley. We only had shadow once we got down to Alt St.Johann, for the final 30 minutes of our walk along the regional themed trail no.24: "Thurweg", or "Thur River Trail"..

Interesting painted front of this house.

Looking down the valley and across to the Churfirsten Mountains. We did a hike on the other side of this valley on January 1, 2016 (photos HERE).

This was a really pleasant level trail along the sunny mountainside, even though it was paved. There were very many benches along the way, and we stopped many times.

There are very many vacation apartments here, as the other side of the valley is a popular skiing area, when there is snow! A "ski bus" even runs up this way in winter, so that people staying in these apartments have access to the ski hills, to get there without requiring a car.

These bushes with all the red berries looked quite pretty!

Looking behind us, we can see into the snow-covered mountains of Austria and Liechtenstein.

More vacation apartments which can be rented. Not much action right now because of the lack of snow! We did pass quite a few people walking along the same path we were on.

It looks like this used to be a barn, and they filled up the valley... or did they lift the roof, remove the bottom part, and put the roof back down again?

Some ski equipment waiting for action. These people are probably very frustrated because they took vacation time for skiing, and there is no snow!

Our goal is the valley bottom at the arrow on the left, but first we head into a side valley to the right, and then descend from just past the little village (Halden) on the right.

This is the beautiful landscape which we are going to cross.... The Säntiser Thur River (i.e. source of the Thur River) flows down here and drops over some very nice waterfalls, so we've heard! (plan for later some time).

Many pretty houses to admire along the way.

This was probably my favourite house. There is text on the house which reads "Unser Paradies auf Erden", i.e. "Our Paradise on Earth"

And now, at the back of the side valley, Mount Säntis is coming into view. This is where the other Thur River (the "Säntiser Thur") has its source. From here heading down to the valley are some impressive waterfalls which we haven't seen yet. (We want to wait till summer).

Mt. Säntis in the background!

There is a llama farm here

Close-up look at the weather station on the summit of Mt.Säntis.

It is warm enough that we could take off our jackets!

By now it's just after 1 p.m. and even though there are clouds to the south, the sun just always managed to avoid them, so that we had more sunshine than expected.

Another convenient bench for a break with a view. Mt. Säntis is the one in the center at the back, but the mountain I found more impressive is the one on the right: the Schafberg .

Some pretty impressive folds in the rock composition of Mt. Schafberg.

Another look back over the mountainside where we had walked, with an even better view of the Austrian and Liechtenstein Alps.

Mt. Schafberg keeps looking more impressive as it is illuminated by the late afternoon sunshine.

This was a cute little corner to take a break (Gubel), with a self-serve shop where you could make coffee and tea, or buy beverages and snacks, and enjoy the view on lamb-skin covered "benches". If this hadn't been the shortest day of the year, we might have stopped here for a bit.

Now on our way down to valley bottom to the town of Alt St.Johann we can see how much snow is still on the valley bottom because there is more shadow there at this time of year. For now it looks like we still might have some sunshine, though, before reaching the end of our hike at Starkenbach (which ended up not being the case).

Down below us is the site of the former Benedictine Monastery of Alt St.Johann (Old St.Johann), established mid 12th Century. Our trail heads right down there, so we will have a look into all of those buildings. A very sad scene is the tiny strip of snow at Alt St.Johann chair lift, as that is supposed to be a ski area! At this point there was just a small slope at the bottom for the kids.

A chapel and a church at the site of the former Benedictine Monastery (known as "St.Johann in Thurtal"), which was founded earlier than 1150, and served as such until 1626 when due to severe fire damage to the original buildings, the religious order was moved 10 km down-valley and renamed "Neu St.Johann". By 1806 this became the parish church here.

This is the interior of the little side chapel next to the large church building. Of particular interest was the magnificent wooden "winged" organ. We got here at 2:20 p.m.

This is the south side of the site... after 1806, the church became parish church, and the rest of the facilities were first used for the army, and since 1906 a home for metally challenged people.

The interior of the St.Johann parish church looks very modern, except for the organ, which seems so out of place!

This is the Evangelical-Reformed church in the town, right next to the Monastery church. Here was originally a chapel belonging to the Monastery (St.Anna) which was donated to the Evangelical community in 1526, but after the 1528 fire in the Monastery, it was rebuilt in 1586. There was a second fire in 1628, which it survived, but this building is pretty new, from 1861 (INFO).

Details of the Evangelical Church in Alt St.Johann. Also here was a very cute little Nativity Scene. Note: Usually church buildings face the other direction, and it is not known why this one faces to the West.

Finished looking around the site here, it is now 2:40 p.m. and we have to head out along the Thur River now to catch the 15:18 bus. (We have to hurry now, as it's still 35 minutes to walk there, and also, we have lost the sunshine).

The Gasthaus Schäfli advertises they are closed for Christmas Holidays

More nice houses along the way. From here on we have joined the Regional Themed Trail "Thurweg" (i.e. "Thur River Trail") of which we have done several sections in this part of the country.

This is an interesting tradition I did not know about. Many villages select 24 houses to display decorated windows, and each house has a number, like an Advent Calendar. Every day the town folk go to visit the "window of the day" and sometimes the owners offer refreshments. This was the window from December 18! (We missed the one for this day, the 21st, and didn't have time to go back and look for it!)

And this is probably the prettiest door I had ever seen!

So now we are following the Thur River down valley. This is a look back upriver toward Alt St.Johann.

The former mill, now a museum called "Klangwelt", which demonstrates lots of "noises" from different cultures.

Two working waterwheels next to the former mill building.

Another look back at Mt. Schafberg, which still has sunshine! It was up on that hillside where we were walking and from where we descended.

This final 35-minutes stretch was a fairly straight 2½ kilometers. We passed this lovely stone bridge.

And another look behind us to the stone bridge and Mt. Schafberg.

Farmhouse near Starkenbach

Another farmhouse near the bus stop.

We made it to the bus stop with about three minutes to spare for the 15:18 bus. From here it's a 2-hour 25-minute trip back home.

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, about 11 km from Wildhaus to Starkenbach.

All the hikes we have done in the region around the Churfirsten mountains and the Alpstein Massif. The reason we decided to walk all the way to Starkenbach (we could have caught the bus in Alt St.Johann) wasvso that I could join onto the start of another hike we did from there in September 2022.