Guide to Engelberg

OH Our holiday

EV Engelberg village and amenities

TR Transport

WA Walking

OW Our walks and photos

EP Extra photos

If you have any questions or suggestions to improve information given, please e-mail D and J.

Our holiday

Hotel and transfers were made using Kuoni - the Kuoni pricing system is complex and the best way we found to check out costs was to test via the Kuoni website.

With Kuoni you can travel on any day of the week, and also stay for varying amounts of time.

Kuoni gives the choice of three hotels in Engelberg. With hindsight we made a poor choice for us, as for evening meal you were required to arrive between 6:30pm and 7pm. This curbed the length of time we could spend on the walks - a pity as the transport infrastructure was very good and lifts ran to 5pm or 6pm, with trains running later.

In reality due to weather, illness, and other factors, the early evening meal did not impact too much. In future we would e-mail hotel before booking to check meal times.

Engelberg Village and ameneties.

Engelberg is a holiday resort situated at a height of 1000m in Central Switzerland in the canton of Obwalden. It is in the Lake Lucerne tourist area.

Engelberg is situated at the end of the Engelbergtal, a valley which runs south from Lake Lucern, about 34km from the city of Lucerne.

Engelberg has more of a feel of a small town, rather than a village. That said, it is pleasant to wander around and has all the usual ameneties. There is an outdoor and indoor pool at the Sonnenberg swimming baths near the centre of the town. In the centre is a small park with a bandstand where concerts are held. The tourist information office is on Klosterstrasse, a couple of minutes walk from the railway station. There is a small but interesting village museum and it is also possible to visit the Benedictine Abbey and its cheese factory.

Transport

We flew into Zurich airport then took Swiss Rail train from the airport to Engelberg changing in Lucerne. It is about a two to two and a half hour journey.

The ralway line from Engelberg to Lucern is called the Zentral Bahn and can be used if walking to or from villages further down the valley. In the walks section we mention where we used the train. The trains are not expensive and if you have a Swiss Card you will get half price fare. If you are considering using the trains to do a number of excursions then it may be worth purchasing a Tell Pass.

In Engelberg there are three main cable car systems Titlis-Jochpass, Brunni,and Furenalp. There are a number of other cable car systems in the valley and where used are mentioned in the walks text. This summer the Swiss Card gave half fares on some of the cable cars, including the cable car to Titlis.

Walking

Engelberg has an extensive walking area which is well serviced by the three lift systems. In September 2005 there was major flooding of Engelberg and the surrounding area. This has caused landslips and some paths are being re-established. Where we came across problems with paths on our walks they will be mentioned. Hopefully by 2007 all the paths will be open.

Titlis-Jochpass - This area is to the south of the village. The first stage of the cable car goes to the Gerschnialp - a high level plateau about 250m above the village. The cable car then goes up another 500m to the Truebsee at c1760m. From Truebsee a gondola goes to the top of the Titlis at 3200m the highest mountain in this area. Titlis is a very popular destination and there are shops, restaurants and exhibitions at the top station. From the other end of the Truebsee a chair lift goes to the top of the Jochpass 2200m. This pass seperates Engelberg from the walking area of Melchsee-Frutt. The Truebsee and Jochpass are very popular, and some might find this and the cable car installations detract from the beauty of the area.

Furenalp - This area is to the south-east of the village. There is a cable car to the Furenalp which lies below the Wissberg peak. There is some very pleasant walking in this area with some excellent views. The valley below - is well provided with refreshment stops and the track up this valley leads to the Surenenpass, the village of Attinghausen lies on the othe side of the pass. The path over the Surenenpass down to Engelberg and up to Truebsee and over the Jochpass is part of the Alpine Pass Route a challenging walk across Switzerland taking about two weeks to complete.

Brunni - This area is to the north-east of the village. A cable car goes to Ristis 1600m and a chair lift goes up to Brunni 1860m. This is another popular area with a number of refeshment stops. On the crags above Brunni there are some Via Ferrata routes.

Running north of Engelberg towards Lake Lucerne is the main Engelbergtal. There are numerous footpaths lower down in the valley and up on the slopes and ridges. Good walking bases in the valley are Oberrickenbach/Bannalp, Wirzweli and Niederrickenbach.

A walking map of the Engelberg area at 1:25000 should be available locally, unfortunately when we went they had sold out and there would be no more print runs for the year. Before going out to Switzerland we purchased Kompass Map 116 "Vierwaldstatter See Luzern" at 1:50000. In the village we managed to buy the Hallwag Top Map "Engelberg Titlis" at 1:15000. The signposting and marking of footpaths is generally very good however care has to be taken in some places. Note that the familiar yellow signposts show time to the destination not distance.