A short Afternoon Walk from Schwyz to Brunnen in Central Switzerland.

Friday April 3, 2026 -- A beautiful day, but Urs had a lunch get-together with friends in the town of Schwyz, so I met him after his visit at 3 p.m. in the center of town, and together we did a rather short, 6-km afternoon walk to the train station in Brunnen, where we caught the 17:07 train back home (a 35-minute trip). 

This week the weather is finally warming up, and not being used to it, we were overdressed, and didn't feel like walking further than this 90-minute walk. But visibility was pretty good, and the mountain landscape here in this lovely area of the Schwyz and Uri Alps around the Vierwaldstättersee (here called Lake Uri) is always beautiful. Nevertheless, we are currently restricted in our hiking options as the big snowfall we received on March 26th is just not receding quickly enough! (The nights are still too cold). 

About half of the walk was along the Muota River, and if we would have been dressed slightly better, we would have followed the river right to where it empties into Lake Uri, and followed the lakeshore for a while, another stretch we haven't yet walked!

Heading toward Schwyz along Lake Zug in Immensee at 2:30 p.m. It is unbelievable that the snow is so low on Mt.Zug and Mt.Rossberg across the lake, where there was no snow for a long time in February and March. 

A view of the two beautiful Mt.Mythen peaks, as the train travels south from Arth Goldau to Schwyz. From the train station in Schwyz, you take a bus up into the town center. 

At 3 p.m. I met up with Urs at the town center in Schwyz. From here the Greater Mythen peak looms over the town. (Side note: The next day there was an article in the news that about an hour earlier, there was an avalanche on the other side of this peak, and two climbers were caught in it. One of them died. NEWS-ITEM) 

This is the government building of the city of Schwyz, which is the capital city of Canton Schwyz. 

This was a very short afternoon walk, almost 6 kilometers and not quite 90 minutes, starting in Schwyz at 3 p.m., and arriving at the train station in Brunnen at 16:50. The trip back home was only 35 minutes!

A pretty villa along the road we are walking. 

Heading down and away from the town. 

Now out in the open pastureland, we get a look at the Uri Alps, which are on the west side of Lake Uri. 

Directly south from us is the mountain called Fronalpstock, where the very popular Stoos Ridge Trail is located. This year it will be a long time before the trail will open!

And behind us the two Mythen peaks. 

Now out in the open pastureland, we get a look at the Uri Alps, which are on the west side of Lake Uri. 

It's farming country here at the valley bottom. 

Almost every walk in the lower areas features a cat sitting in a pasture!

Every once in a while a look behind us.

These fluff-balls are chickens!

We have now reached the banks of the Muota River, and our trail now leads over the railway bridge.  

Crossing the Muota River along the railway bridge passerelle. 

For the next 2½ kilometers, our trail follows the Muota River, with views of the Nidwalden and Uri Alps. 

Close-up view of Mt.Gitschen in the Uri Alps to the south. 

We then came to the outskirts of the city of Brunnen (called Ingenbohl), passing through an industrial district. 

There are always some fun details and works of art to be observed along each hike!

This wooden covered bridge called the Wyler-Brücke (which I recently crossed on a hike in March of 2025) has an interesting history. The original bridge was first covered in 1555. This one in its current state dates to 1716, although it was moved 15m upriver (in 1974) from its original location. It lies under heritage protection.

We walked across the bridge and back, for a view up the Muota River. This bridge originally stood 15 meters further down river. 

Finally, a bit of colour in the landscape!

Now heading eastward toward the train station, that pink building ahead of us. It is now 16:50 and we are going to catch the 17:07 train for the 35-minute trip back home. Behind the train station you can see the building of the former Ingenbohl Abbey (teacher's college for nuns, built in 1888), now a private girls' school. We visited those grounds on a hike in May 2024. It is called the Theresianum. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps (the dark pink line). These are all the hikes we have done in the region around Schwyz and Brunnen. On this day we could have continued walking along the Muota River to where it enters the lake, then along the lakeshore to the boat dock and then back to the train station (another 30-40 minutes), but we had had enough with the 90-minute afternoon walk, as we were dressed too warmly and it was quite hot!

View across Lake Küssnacht to Mt.Rigi at 17:35. The snow is unusually low still for this time of year. This is still from the large snow-fall we had on March 26th.