European Trip 6: Schwyz-Stoos, Switzerland

Monday 23rd September 2024 (day 10)

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday we had sunshine and excellent visibility, today the clouds have rolled in and you can’t see the tops of the mountains and there is rain about.

We decided to head east, moving on to the Lucerne area. The intention being to take a ride on the steepest funicular railway in the world, up from Schwyz to Stoos, a village at around 1,300 metres high.

On the way, we saw a huge waterfall which we would have loved to visit, but there was nowhere to stop. When we were able to stop, the view was almost completely obscured by trees, but I post it here to give an idea of its scale.

Our route took us down alongside Lake Lucerne until the sat-nav directed us off the main road. We could not understand why, until it said “…and take the ferry”, which we did:

After crossing the lake, we made our way to Schwyz and the funicular railway. It is remarkable, not only for the fact that it is the steepest in the world, but that is is made up of barrel-shaped passenger compartments which rotate as you ascend, keeping you upright. The sensation is almost like being in a lift, but with an amazing view.

The upward journey passes through a couple of tunnels before smoothing out on the approach to the upper terminal building. Half-way up, you pass the other train, which counterbalances the one you are on.

The small, elevated village of Stoos, is is a pleasant, if quiet settlement. There are some traditional dwellings, as well as more recent development as well as hotels and restaurants. Most appear to be closed.

The church is particularly attractive, the interior being built almost entirely of wood:

When we were walking through the village later, one guy was calling across the valley to someone else. He could have done with one of these:

Stoos is a winter holiday resort and presumably it gets much busier in the season. There is a ski-lift which was working when we were there. Today, the village was just underneath the cloud layer, so anyone taking a ride, quickly disappeared from view. I asked a couple of young women leaving the lift, if they could see anything. They said: “No, …just fog and more fog.” We didn’t take the ride.

Despite being in the rear-most carriage on our return journey on the funicular, we still got a good view as we were essentially stacked on top of all the other carriages:

We spent the night on a large car park in a small town called Brunnen where motorhomes were allowed to stay overnight for just the parking charge (5 Swiss Francs). We walked through to the lake, but a rain storm was clearly brewing and we just made it back to the van in time,

Tomorrow, we head east towards Liechtenstein.