Grass, lake wind, and the spot where three cantons once swore an oath.
Central Switzerland Brunnen
Brunnen
Plan
Plan your trip
A handcrafted itinerary for Brunnen.
SleepFind your stay
A short, curated list. None of them a chain.
GuidesFollow a route
Hand-curated, walked before written.
Brunnen lies in the canton of Schwyz, where Lake Lucerne narrows into the Bay of Uri. The Gotthard railway has stopped here since 1882, and boats from the pier below the Föhnhafen, a small harbour built to shelter ships from the sudden gusts of the foehn wind, reach Lucerne, the Rütli meadow, and the villages on the opposite shore. Cable cars and funiculars rise from the surrounding valley toward the Rigi and the Stoos, making Brunnen one of the more practical bases in Central Switzerland for a day spent somewhere higher up or further along the water.
Things worth slowing down for
A few of our favourite spots in Brunnen.
High above the lake, the air smells of hay and quiet water.
The lake shrinks to a ribbon of light before the gondola even reaches the top.
Bells mark the hour above the rock where legend says Tell once leapt to shore.
What makes Brunnen slow travel perfect
Brunnen is a departure point disguised as a destination. Its position at the hinge between Lake Lucerne and the Bay of Uri has made it a junction for longer than the railway has existed, and today that same position does the work: within an hour of arriving, a visitor can be on a boat to the Rütli meadow, in a cable car toward the Rigi, or on a train to Schwyz for the steepest funicular railway in the world.
The crossing to Rütli takes ten minutes. The meadow itself is unassuming, a slope of grass above the lake, but it is where the oath that is said to have founded the Swiss Confederacy was sworn in 1291. From there the Swiss Path begins, a 35 kilometre trail that follows the shore back toward Brunnen, passing Tell's Chapel and the old Axenstrasse before ending where it started.
Schwyz, a short train or bus ride away, is the starting point for the Stoosbahn. Opened in 2017 and recognised by Guinness World Records as the steepest funicular railway on earth, it climbs 744 metres in under seven minutes, its cylindrical cabins rotating to keep passengers level even as the track outside tilts to a gradient of 110 percent. At the top, the Fronalpstock opens onto a ridge with views that on clear days reach across several lakes.
None of these trips require much planning. A ticket, a timetable, and Brunnen's harbour does the rest.