Another Walk in the Entlebuch from Heiligkreuz to Hasle

Thursday July 2, 2026 -- Finally the heat wave broke on Monday and we had rain and thunderstorms (also on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, in some places less, and others with flooding!) and the air got cooler so we could finally cool down our houses and apartments before the next period of heat expected soon...

But Thursday was a lovely day and I did want to take advantage of another excursion, but not too far away. Recently we were in the Entlebuch region west of Luzern, and I noticed many trails we hadn't yet tried, so I headed out that way again. In 90 minutes I was up in a small mountain village called Heiligkreuz (with a pilgrim church) where we'd been twice already, but I headed north this time and descended to Hasle along the Kleine Emme River and the Wolhusen-Bern railway line, with great paths, lots of forest so comfortably cool, views of the lovely rolling hills. I even spotted a wild hare, which doesn't happen often. In the end, it was another almost 10 km, and it was only a bit hot when I reached the train station.

I was the only one in the small bus-van from Schüpfheim train station (about 100 people taking two buses from there to Sörenberg, though!), and the only person out hiking on this trail, which is just the way I like it!

It is at the town of Schüpfheim where you have to transfer to the bus to Heiligkreuz Village (and also to the popular Sörenberg Line). This is a view down onto Schüpfheim (8:30 a.m.) as the small van-bus makes its way up the hill to the east. 

Having left home at 7:20, I was already here at the start of my hike in the hamlet called Heiligkreuz at 8:42. So not even 90 minutes to travel with public transit!

The village takes its name from this pilgrim church called "Heiligkreuz" ("Holy Cross"). We had visited this church before, on our circular hike to Mt.Farnere just above here in October 2023, but I went inside again just the same.

The original church here was built in 1588, but this updated Baroque version is from 1754. The site itself is a popular pilgrim site since 1344. 

Frescoes and wall-paintings on all the walls, as well as a series of paintings depicting the "Stations of the Cross". 

A look toward the organ at the back of the church, i.e near the entrance (on the left). 

There is also a restaurant up here, which, as I learned most recently, gives this site the official designation of "VILLAGE" (A place of worship + a place to gather socially). 

This ended up being an almost 10-km, three-hour hike, but very easy, and very pleasant as I had lots of forest trails and cool breezes. Starting at about 9 a.m. at Heiligkreuz village, I got to the Hasle train station at almost exactly noon. To get here and back home is about 90 minutes each way by public transport.

A look back down at the village of Heiligkreuz as I start on my way up the mountain at 9:05. The air is comfortably cool and even though I walked up along the mountain road, I had enough shade that it was not too strenuous. 

A look back down to Heiligkreuz and the beautiful Entlebuch Region where the Kleine Emme River flows in the valley below. (The Entlebuch is one of Switzerland's UNESCO Heritage Sites). That large building below is a Spa Hotel, so more than just a small village!

After a 25-minute climb, I reached the highest point of my day's hike, a crest from where you can head in two different directions. Twice we have walked south from here, but this time I am headed north to Hasle, about another two hours' of walking from here!

From this crest we have walked south on two other hikes: In October 2023 when we went to the highest summit here past the ski-lift building on the photo, and the next time in August 2024 when we then descended (to the left) just a short distance along the trail here. 

Heading northeastward now mostly through cool forests, I get a glimpse once in a while of the Schafberg "massif", or rather a series of narrow crests called "Flue" to the south.  

I really enjoyed these lovely forest trails

And once-in-a-while I got a glimpse of the lovely Luzern Back-Country landscape to the north. 

I had thought this might be a nice spot in the early morning to catch sight of a deer maybe, but suddenly I spotted this wild hare! This is only the second time in all of our hikes that I had seen a hare. I was able to watch him for a long time from behind the trees, as he wasn't totally sure that I was there. 

These hares have really long ears and legs, and very large eyes! He took off immediately after I emerged from behind the trees. 

Continuing toward the east now. I believe this mountain is the Schimbrig, which we had seen from the north on our recent hike in the region in May. (Photos HERE). 

It's not easy, but I try to find places where I can set up my tripod for a self-timed photo! The view is to the "Flue" crests and Mt.Schafberg to the south. We have never hiked up there. 

Down below I spied a whole heap of bodies seeking shade under a very large tree! It hadn't even started to get warm yet, poor things. 

At the most eastern part of my hike (Schwarzenbergchrüz), I get a view of the western outlier of the Pilatus range. From here my trail heads westward up the hill again. 

A look back at a magnificent linden tree as the trail passes through the Schwarzenbergchrüz farm. They had a little self-serve fridge selling cheese etc, which I might have checked out, but the farmer was standing right near it having a chat with neighbours (maybe?) and I found that awkward.... especially when they can see that you wouldn't buy anything!

More lovely forest trails....

... till I reached a few houses and farm called Vorderschwandi and was greeted by an enthusiastic Bernese Mountain Dog! From there the trail heads down even more into a little gorge aptly named "Löchli" ("Little Hole"). 

Down in the little ravine called "Löchli" was the perfect place for a snack-break at 10:40! There were two little streams here, and it was perfectly lovely, so I rested here for 10 minutes. (I would have stayed longer, but I wanted to catch the noon train in Hasle, and still had over an hour to walk from here!)

Two little bridges over two little streams down here: Schwändibach and Chienisbach. This is all part of the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch.  

Living dangerously crossing my trail and being pretty well camouflaged! (I have unfortunately stepped on a couple of these beauties). 

10:52, and 55 minutes to go. I want to catch the 12:03 train back to Luzern, because the trains stop only once an hour in Hasle, and I didn't feel like hanging around there for another hour in the heat. 

Thick clouds forming over the Pilatus Range to the east. When it's so hot, there are often thunder storms in the mountains in the afternoon. 

I am now heading down toward a farm called Dürrenegg

In regions where there are cow herds with babies in the pastures, there are often warning signs as the mothers can become dangerous when you get close to their young. What I saw here for the first time is a sign warning that the bull is in the pasture as well!

(I am actually heading the other way, but this is a nice photo of me returning to get my camera after setting it up for a self-timed photo!!)

Well there he is, the bull, and how carefully he is watching me!

What a massive beast, keeping watch over the babies! I am always amazed at how cute the calves are, whether male or female, as well as the cows... but the bulls are massive and ugly!

The dad notices I am no danger, but the babies are still very curious!

A look back at the Dürrenegg farm. 

More nice trails, more beautiful rolling hills. 

I always get a kick out of the meadow cats who think you can't see them. 

As I approach the town of Hasle now (to my left) I can see the town of Entlebuch to the north, where we ended our May 27th hike, having descended into the ravine which separates this hillside from the one to the north. 

A convenient view bench along the paved road above the town of Hasle is a good place to set up my tripod for another self-timed photo! (The train station is further down past the town and I have to walk through it and past the church). 

Town of Hasle in the Entlebuch, near the Kleine Emme River. 

Heading down main street in Hasle, past the Gasthof Engel. On the right is the village church, which I detoured to, but the best part, i.e. chapel with lots of frescoes, was under renovation. 

Too bad that there were renovations going on in the church here. It was a side chapel with what looked like very nice wall frescoes, but as I peeked inside, it was also full of scaffolding. 

A quick look into the town's church as I always do if I can, even if time is running short, and then off for the final stretch to the train station nearer to the river. 

As is most often the case, I just reached the Hasle train station with a few minutes to spare for the 12:03 train. Along this train line, the train stops only once an hour here, and I didn't want to wait around in the heat for another hour. 

Here comes the 12:03 train from the BLS line, heading to Luzern. I was back home by 1:30 p.m., having had the best part of the day for this lovely 3-hour walk!

What my 9-km walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Heiligkreuz and ending in Hasle, on the south side of the gorge where the Grosse Entle River flows. Four weeks earlier we took a bus ride up the valley of the Grosse Entle River, and walked down to Entlebuch. 

These are all the hikes we have done so far in the Entlebuch Region near Luzern. 

Location of Hasle etc. within Switzerland. 

Hike Down the Valley of the Grosse Entle River to Entlebuch

Wednesday May 27, 2026 -- Today was one of the few days this week which started overcast, but that was OK as it was already getting to be a hot day, even though we started early. 

There is a small side valley (where the Grosse Entle River flows down to join the Kleine Emme River) in the Entlebuch Region with a road that leads up to the Glaubenberg Pass, but there are few buses, and in spring or fall it is either too early or too late for us to head up there. So now with this heat, no problem to start early.

By 8:20 a.m. (having left home at 6:45) we were in the village of Entlebuch, but had a 30-minute wait for the 8:53 a.m. bus to Gfellen (end of the line for now on the road to the pass), so we walked up to the Entlebuch church and back to the train station. After a 15-minute bus ride, we started on our hike just after 9 a.m.

The trail out of the valley took us via a protected moorland, a gorge, a ravine, and a lovely water channel diverted from the Grosse Entle River, back to the town of Entlebuch. A lot of the walk was through forest so we were once again able to beat the heat. A big surprise along the way was a tram-car in the forest set up as a picnic hut, apparently the very last tram which ever ran in the city of Luzern before they converted from tram service to bus service!!!

It's only a 90-minute trip to Entlebuch (near Luzern) but the way the bus schedule works for the 15-minute ride into the side valley, we had to wait 30 minutes either in Luzern or here in Entlebuch. As it was not yet hot at 8:20 a.m., we did the short walk from the train station up to the village church. 

Village church in Entlebuch. 

Details of the inside of the village church, another typical Baroque build. The date above the door reads 1778.

View to the hills of the Entlebuch Region to the south, from the terrace in front of the church. 

Another view to the hills in the north as we head back down to the train station again. 

A particularly cute house. 

This one is also very pretty!

Back at the train station at 8:42, and our bus is already waiting. Departure is at 8:53 for the 15-minute ride to Gfellen, on the road to the Glaubenberg Pass. (Starting on the coming weekend, the bus will continue on to the pass as well). 

Views of the rolling hills of the Entlebuch, as the bus heads up the valley. 

View from the bus

More views from the bus. 

End-of-the-line at 9:05 at a restaurant in the little hamlet called Gfellen. Urs is checking out the pizza vending machine! 

There is a mountain here called the Schimbrig, a geological wonder which was born 135 million years ago, with origins further south from here. But as the area was all covered in water at the time, the limestone, sand and clay layers dissolved and built up, then was pushed further north when the African tectonic plate pushed up against the European one, creating folds in the earth and pushing up mountains such as this one. 

This is the hill that the locals called the Schimbrig. 

A first short stretch along the paved road before we climbed up into the meadows. A cat came running toward us, but for a change did not wish to stop for Urs to pet it!

Starting in Gfellen at just after 9 a.m., we hiked up into the Fuchserenmoos Nature Reserve, then through Finsterwald village, down the Burggraben ravine, and ultimately reached the Grosse Entle River, where we followed a canal back to the town of Entlebuch. We caught the 14:05 train there for the 90-minute trip back home.  

The nice trail starts below at that house on the road. This is a look back down to the vehicle road as we start our hike up the hill. Another nice view of Mt.Schimbrig on the left. 

A nice stretch through the forest on the way up the hill. Lots of memories of when we were here once before in April 2018 after a major storm where many of the trees were downed in this forest and we had to climb over several tree trunks. 

Starting off on this hot day with some lovely cold water in the pasture fountains!

Probably another Linden Tree. I'm looking forward to them flowering soon!

A look down past the Grosse Entle Gorge to the Schimbrig. With this long stretch of hot weather, the farmers are busy mowing the meadows again. 

Down below is the farmer mowing the pastures! Behind me is another small mountain called the Farnere, which we climbed up to in October 2023. 

The massif on the left is called Schafmatt, and the smaller peak that just came into view is called the Fürstei (or Fürstein), which we also hiked up to once before, in October 2022. 

We then reached the Fuchserenmoos nature reserve, but the trail through this part of the moorlands is off-limits to walkers. Which surprised us, as we had walked through here last time we came this way, in April 2018. There is another official trail through here, though. 

After a regular forest road we reached the new "entrance" to the Fuchserenmoos nature reserve. Here we are permitted to walk!

As usual, we are very pleased with wooden bridges!

In the moorlands was a little lake where we sat on the bench for a break and admired the water lilies!

What a cute bench! This was on the way to the village of Finsterwald. In local dialect, the text reads "Im Fischterwaud schynt d'Sunne i dis Härz" which translates to "In the Finster Forest, the sun shines in your heart".   ("Finsterwald" = "Finster Forest")

One of the few sections which we had to walk on a paved road, into the village of Finsterwald. 

A few impressions of the village of Finsterwald. 

This small village has a very large, modern-looking church. For a change we didn't go inside. 

Across the road, before rejoining the trail, we passed this HUGE storage building full of wood chips. These are used in the local district heating plant, the first such innovative system in Canton Luzern, developed here. The wood chips provide heating for 27 properties in Finsterwald, including the school and the church. 

Shortly afterwards, we reached the forest called "Chilewald", where there was an exhibition about the use of the wood chips in the district heating, how it works, and how modern building construction now allows for much less use of wood for heating purposes. 

As it was now getting close to noon, we were hoping to find a nice place for our picnic lunch. This surprising site in the Chilewald would have been a perfect place, but it looks like a large group of hikers had already taken up all the available spots, including a cute little shelter created by a tram car. The city of Luzern used to have an electric tram service (now totally replaced by buses) and this was the very last tram in the city, which a volunteer group transported here to this place in the forest to create this and set it up like a tram stop!

We continued down through a small ravine called Burggraben, following a small stream (Rigelbach) with rocks all overgrown with moss. It was a bit warm here as there was no wind. We are looking for a place to stop for our picnic lunch! 

More bridges, how lovely!

Even more bridges! It was a very nice trail here through the small ravine. 

Can you see me?

This would have been the perfect spot to stop for our picnic lunch (at 12:15), and in retrospect we should have stopped here, but according to our map and trail markers, after a 10-minute uphill hike from here might be a fortress ruins (on the map it reads "Burgstelle", which means "site of a fortress") and the fortress chapel, so we took a risk in the hopes of finding a picnic spot up there. (The text on the bench translates to "Over every small stream is a small bridge". How very fitting!)

It was this sign that made us think there might be a fortress ruins up by the fortress chapel. It turns out that these are the ruins above the town of Wolhusen! (Seat of the Barons of Wolhusen who ruled this whole Entlebuch Region from the 12th to 14th Centuries). 

It only took us five minutes to get up to the "Fortress Chapel", but there was no fortress, and no shade either (the bench in front of the chapel would have been perfect, but it was in the blazing sun), so after a look inside the chapel, we continued on down the steep forest trail on the other side. Furthermore, this chapel is new, built in 1975 at the site of an older chapel 

The trail from the chapel through the forest and down to the Grosse Entle River was quite steep, but consisted almost totally of steps such as these. (At the top near the chapel was a sign warning that the trail is steep). 

Looking down at the forest trail, steep but safe and not difficult to walk down!

No problem at all getting down the steep trail to the valley bottom. 

At 12:44 we reached the Grosse Entle River

The water from the river is diverted here into a side canal, which runs into the town of Entlebuch, where earlier the water power was used to operate a saw mill and textile factories. 

This canal was a pleasant surprise for us and made the last leg of our hike quite enjoyable. 

A canal diverted from the Grosse Entlebuch River. 

What a relief to finally find a place (in the shade!) to stop for our picnic lunch, as it is now 12:50! But first I washed my face and hands in the canal.... it was so lovely and refreshing!

A look back at our picnic table as we continue on our walk at 1:15 p.m. 

Continuing along this very lovely section of the trail. 

When the canal was built in 1865, they had to make a tunnel here at this place, in the hard sandstone cliffs. Urs is reading information about how the tunnel was built at the time. 

A tool such as this one was used to create holes in the sandstone cliffs to place dynamite powder when the tunnel was built in 1865. One worker held the iron tool and another hammered on the end. Then the tool was turned 1/4-turn for each blow. 

At this end of the canal is this warning: "The canal trail is used at your own risk. During certain extreme weather conditions, the trail cannot be used. Beware of the following: Rockfall, falling trees during a storm, and black ice"

This is a display of a Girard-Turbine which was used here to run the saw mill from 1894 to 1905. (This hydraulic turbine was invented by French engineer Louis-Dominique Girard and was pivotal in the development of hydro power.)

Our trail now heads to this lovely wooden covered bridge over the Grosse Entle River.  

The bridge is called the Obflüebrücke, and was originally built across the Kleine Emme River (1852), but due to not being able to carry enough weight, a concrete bridge was built at that location, and this wooden bridge moved here over the Grosse Entle River in 2004. 

Final few steps before reaching the train station. 

And here is that very pretty house we saw from the site of the church earlier in the day (you can also just make out the bell-tower of the church from here). 

Here comes our 14:05 train for the 90-minute trip back home!

What our 10-kilometer hike from Gfellen to Entlebuch looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

These are all the hikes we have done in the Entlebuch Region around Schüpfheim and Entlebuch. 

Location of Entlebuch and Finsterwald within Switzerland.