St.Margrethenberg Hike to Pizalun Look-out Platform and back to Pfäfers

Monday May 25, 2026 -- This was a long weekend and under normal circumstances we would be hiking every day. We did do a very nice hike on Friday in the Emmental region (photos HERE) with luckily a cool breeze, but with unusually hot temperatures for this time of year, we were exhausted and took Sunday off. Instead, we planned a hike for Monday.

Once again, it is difficult to find options for higher up where it's cooler, as many cable cars and mountain buses don't run till mid- or end of June. But there is a bus to a mountain village called St.Margrethenberg near Bad Ragaz in the Rhine Valley, a place we hadn't been to yet, with a fairly easy climb to a look-out point called Pizalun, from where you can get the most fantastic views across this part of Eastern Switzerland. All went well with the transfer to the small bus at Pfäfers, and the hike up the hill on the forest trail (all in the shady side of the mountain), till we reached the ladder to the look-out platform... and suddenly encountered lots of people! (with many more coming up later... apparently a popular excursion especially for families). Unfortunately, views were hazy but still great, and on the second half of our hike back to Pfäfers we left everyone else behind on a tricky section (others walked a loop hike back to their cars).

We got back to the bus just in time again, and were congratulating ourselves on how well it all went, and that we'd be back home by 4:30 p.m. But a stranded train on the tracks heading home destroyed that idea, and with an impromtu boat ride (too warm, too many people) on Lake Walensee, and skipping the overfilled trains, we got home three hours later than planned..

PART I: Hike to Pizalun and back down to Pfäfers

Leaving home at 7:15 for the 2½-hour trip to Pfäfers (train to Bad Ragaz and bus to Pfäfers village), we board the smaller van bus for the final stretch up the hill to the village of St.Margrethenberg in a higher alpine valley. It is now 9:50.

Instead of going directly up the hill, the bus takes a detour up the Tamina Valley. From the road here on the east side of the valley, we get a nice view of the Pizol region in the Sardona Tectonic Arena. In August 2024, I hiked down this valley passing through the village of Valens, seen on the right. (photos HERE).  

The bus travels right to a town called Vadura, where I had originally wanted to start on my August 2024 hike, but at that time there was too much shade on this side, so I took a bus to Vasön instead, which is the village on the right, where I then started on my hike out of the Tamina Valley. Almost exactly to the day a year ago, Urs and I started even higher up in the valley, walked across the mountain higher up, and ended our hike in Vasön. (Those photos HERE). 

The bus then returned down the Tamina Valley, and headed up the road to here, St.Margrethenberg, where we started our day's hike at 10:10, with a fill-up of fresh, cold water!

We are headed to Pizalun look-out point, about an hour from here. 

A look behind us at some of the houses up here. 

That's the peak we are headed up to! It looks higher than the 280 meters we apparently have to climb!

To our right is the paved road which forms part of the popular loop trail. Later, we encountered many people at the peak, and most of them will be returning along that road, as most of them came up by car and parked here. For us it would have been too hot, so we chose to descend on the east side of the hill, in the forest. 

A look behind us at the mountain village of St.Margrethenberg as we start on our climb. In the back we can just make out the Churfirsten range. Unfortunately, the air is pretty hazy this day, which happens a lot after a few days of very hot weather. 

There were actually very few people on the trail as we made our way up. But this little family was really very cute! Turns out this is actually a popular trail for family outings. Even our bus driver (bottom left) did a quick hike up the mountain because he had a long pause before having to drive back down, and it was too boring to just wait in the bus. 

The trail was good and the morning shade on this side of the mountain was VERY welcome!

Most of the way up the mountain was in the shade, perfect on this hot day. 

Through a break in the trees we caught sight of a tiny chapel which lies along the other road returning to the village. But we are not passing that way, unfortunately. 

We reached Pizalun at 11 a.m., the junction where there is a large clearing with places to make grill fires, and a short 5-minute climb to the look-out platform. This means we actually made it up here in 50 minutes!

There is a long stairway to the platform, and just as we got there, we became aware at how many people there really were up here! They must have come long before we got here. 

One problem was, that there were a lot of people going up and down, and you couldn't pass on the staircase, so always had to wait, which took a long time if all the people at the top, including kids, older people, and women carrying babies wanted to descend at the same time!

Our turn to climb up! The platform was quite small, and more people came up behind us, so we didn't stay long. 

First views down the Rhine Valley as we reach the platform. 

Directly to the east we get a view over the city of Landquart and the Landquart River, where it flows out of the region called the Prättigau. Further to the back at the higher mountains you get to the region of Klosters and Davos. 

Panorama view of the Rhine River Valley from the viewing platform at Pizalun. Behind those mountains is the border with Austria and Liechtenstein. 

This is the Rhine River, which then heads down the valley on the right, which is the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The city on this side of the river is Bad Ragaz, at the entrance of the Tamina Valley. On the left is the upper plateau where we started our hike after the little bus ride. and in the center is a small clearing which we passed on our way back toward Pfäfers. 

Close-up view of St.Margrethenberg where we started on our hike. 

A bit away from the crowds on the staircase was this spot you could clamber up to.... 

..... with this steep drop to another plateau below, and the wide flat Rhine River Valley (this region is called "Heidiland", because the inspiration for the popular children's story comes from this region.) On our way back, we passed across that clearing below. 

After descending from the narrow look-out area, at least 20 people passed us going up, and just as many were making campfires, so we hurried on, first through the forest then through these lovely flowering meadows. 

The normal "loop trail" continues on to the large barn at the far back, and then heads back along the paved road we saw earlier. We are heading down the mountain on the left, slightly past that little building next to the trail. But first we found a bench there, perfect for our picnic lunch as it is now 11:40.

As we enjoy our picnic lunch here in the shade on a well-placed bench, the first of several other hikers now make their way toward the back of the valley, from where they will return to their cars at St.Margrethenberg. 

We, on the other hand, headed down the mountain on the east side of Pizalun, and encountered no more people until we got back to Pfäfers. This is a HUGE tree!

So pleasant in the shade of the forest! This forest has a name, it is called Valzaudawald. 

The clearing we passed here also has a name, it is called Valzauda. 

More huge trees. This part of our descent was very pleasant, good trails, and not very steep. 

Another lovely clearing with views into the Prättigau region. 

That mountain is called Vilan, also a popular summit to ascend to. We have not been up there, but did one of my favourite hikes in the upper plateau just to the left of that, called the Meienfelderalp, to three gorgeous alpine lakes (Photos HERE). The mountains further back form the border with Liechtenstein and Austria. 

It is such a pleasure to come across the flowering meadows. All the meadows lower down have been mowed again (second or third time) because it is perfect weather to make hay. 

View into the Prättigau Region of Canton Graubünden. A river called the Landquart flows out through the narrow section and joins the Rhine River at the city of Landquart. From here we head into the tricky part of this day's hike.... 

We then reached a very steep hillside which we had expected based on the way it looked on our map. It was a pretty rough trail and definitely a steep slope, and not surprisingly, there were no other people on this trail! 

On top of navigating the rough trail, we had to climb around downed trees!

From here you can see how steep the mountainside is. You can just barely see me on this photo. 

We just have to be very careful! We were happy that this part of the mountain was in the shade, so it was comfortable to walk. 

VIDEO:

Not an easy trail this one!

Last few steps to an easier descent. 

After the steep section, we join an easy forest road with always a slight downhill, and once-in-a-while a view down to the Rhine River. The larger town on the left is called Meienfeld, and this was the inspiration for the children's story HEIDI. 

The final three kilometers were along a forest road, and then a small section of paved road, before reaching the town of Pfäfers. 

A pleasant surprise along the paved road

Fortunately, the section on the paved road was also in shadow. 

At 2 p.m. (well, 14:03) we reached the main road in Pfäfers (where we had come up by Postauto earlier in the day). The bus we want to take back down to Bad Ragaz comes at 14:11, so we are in plenty of time this time! The trip back home from here takes only two hours, so we should be home by 4:30 p.m. at the latest... 

View into the Rhine Valley from Pfäfers. 

The 14:11 bus to Bad Ragaz train station, and ultimately a two-hour trip home (...well that was the plan anyway). 

This is what our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. Starting at 10:10 in St.Margrethenberg (after a bus ride up from Pfäfers), we reached the Pizalun lookout platform at just after 11 a.m., and then returned to Pfäfers by 2 p.m. 

All the hikes we have done in the region between Bad Ragaz, Landquart and the Tamina Valley. In various sections, we have walked the entire Tamina Valley from the Kunkels Pass and via the Tamina Gorge to Bad Ragaz. 

Side note: This is a view of the Calanda Range from across the valley on our July 2024 hike. In the red circle is the Pizalun Peak where we were this day. 

PART II: Boat Trip on Lake Walensee from Unterterzen to Weesen

It seldom happens to us that there are delays on the railway line either on trains we are traveling on or other broken-down trains, but it was just our luck that an hour before we reached Bad Ragaz, a train had broken down on the stretch we needed to ride, and it was unclear when other trains would be able to pass again. We rode as far as the train could go in Unterterzen, where already hundreds of people were gathered on the platform, waiting for whatever might happen next. As it turns out, there was a ship scheduled to dock in 15 minutes, and a one-hour boat ride to Weesen on Lake Walensee, a trip Urs has long wanted to make. So we did an impromtu boat ride, which passed by the place where the train was stuck.... and by the time we got to the train station in Ziegelbrücke at five p.m., the first train to Zurich was just pulling in, jam packed with people, bikes, and baby buggies cramming all the aisles and train entrances. We didn't even bother, but took the next local train, almost empty, but arrived home three hours later than the original plan. 

All these people had the same idea we had, to take the boat ride to Weesen. Many of them actually arrived on a train an hour earlier, and have been waiting here longer than we have!

The 15:15 boat called Quinten arrives at the Unterterzen dock to collect us. We had to pay 20 Fr. each for the ride to Weesen, an hour and 15 minutes' trip on the lake. We ended up sitting in the inner room because a) fewer people, and b) there were people smoking on the upper deck. But it was too warm for me inside. And even then not free from smoke, as people stand just outside the open entrance to smoke. (One of my pet peeves here in this beautiful country). 

View back to the lakeshore at Unterterzen as the ship heads westward on Lake Walensee. (I think many of the stranded passengers spent some time at the beach there!) 

Nice views of the south flank of the Churfirsten mountains. The few communities on this side of the lake can only be accessed by boat or on foot. We have walked along here many times. 

At 15:30 the boat nears the village of Quinten on the north bank of the lake, a popular site for a Sunday or Holiday outing! Currently docked is the ship headed in the other direction. 

We have boarded the normal ferry-boat here in Quinten several times, but NEVER with such a crowd of people!!! (There were so many people that they actually had an extra boat waiting for the overflow crowd!) Normally, we would not have chosen to do this trip on a weekend or holiday. 

Another view eastward along Lake Walensee. 

Now the ship heads to the south shore and makes a stop in the villlage of Mühlehorn (no one got on here). It was between here and Unterterzen that the train was stuck. 

Back on the north side again, at Betlis, is one of Europe's highest waterfalls (Seerenbach Falls), i.e. the water falls over 600 meters in three sections and the middle section at 305 meters is among the highest free-falling waterfalls in the world. From the vantage point of the boat, you could only see the bottom section, the Rinquelle, where the water flows out of a spring inside the cliffs. I did a hike to these beautiful waterfalls in December 2023. The upper two sections look like this, from the vantage point of the chapel up here --> PHOTO. 

Many similar little sailboats, so perhaps a course on sailing?

Now we pass where the road from the lake at Weesen heads up to the sunny plateau at Amden, where we have also been often. Once we also walked down including along the road at the covered avalanche gallery. (November 2019). The road was built in 1882, and until then there was only a foot-path made of a long stairway to the upper plateau. 

We are now approaching the end of the boat ride at Weesen. Our plan after debarking is to walk along the lakeshore to catch a bus next to the village church. We once started a hike in Amden (on the right), hiking up along Mt. Mattstock (the front peak) and descending to Ziegelbrücke further to the west. (March 2023)

Off the boat at Weesen. (Hahaha, there must have been a spot on my lens, it just coincidentally covers only Urs' face!). All these people will be taking the bus here near the dock, so we had a great idea to head back toward the village church, as there is a bus stop there where we can get on when the bus comes off the mountain, and before reaching the village!

What the boat trip on Lake Walensee looks like from where we boarded in Unterterzen, with stops in Au, Quinten, Mühlehorn, Betlis and ultimately Weesen. This stretch took an hour and 15 minutes and cost us 20 Fr. each. 

Coming up behind us is the second ship, the overflow ship because there were so many people boarding in Quinten and Betlis!

A pretty fountain in the bay at Weesen. 

Far in the back we see the mountains in the Linth Valley, i.e. the Glarus Alps. 

A pretty house as we make our way along the lakeside promenade toward the village church. 

This was just the cutest thing I saw. The boy is communicating with the sculptured people... 

The lakeside promenade from the boat dock to the village church. 

Enough time to have a quick look into the village church before the bus arrives at the stop here along the main road. 

Details of the little church in Weesen. 

The bus stop across from the church in Weesen. We caught the 16:44 bus from here in the direction of Ziegelbrücke train station. Two buses came down the mountain from Amden, and we got on the first, which was almost empty. And as expected, at the next stop near the boat dock, so many people got on, that they had to stand in the aisle! Good thinking!

We then reached the Ziegelbrücke train station at 16:55. By then the first train toward Zurich had made it through. It arrived 10 minutes later than scheduled and was so full, even at the entrances, that you couldn't possibly get in. So we took the next local train at 17:19, almost empty, but a connection taking 30 minutes longer. A much better choice, even though we got home altogether three hours later than expected, i.e. at about 7:15 p.m. 

My train from Pfäffikon to Küssnacht via Arth Goldau with some of my favourite views of the Schwyzer Alps including the popular Mt.Fronalpstock. 

View of Lake Lauerz and the foothills of Mt.Rigi, before the train reaches the Arth-Goldau station. 

Location of Bad Ragaz and Lake Walensee within Switzerland.