Hike on the Rigi – a mountain with a view

The “Queen of the Mountains” is the affectionate name given to the mountain massif in Central Switzerland. With its location between Lake Lucerne, Lake Lauerz and Lake Zug, the Rigi lives up to its name and offers a truly royal destination in the middle of the magnificent Central Swiss landscape. Although, if you think “let’s go to the Rigi”, you will quickly realize that not all Rigi is the same. The highest peak of the mountain massif is the Rigi-Kulm – hardly overlooked thanks to its striking transmission mast – but there are other delicacies for summiteers. Dossen, Rigi-Scheidegg and Hochflue are the other peaks from northwest to southeast. Just as diverse as the excursion destinations are the means of transport that lead to the Rigi. The best known are the two cogwheel railways of Vitznau and Arth. The Vitznau-Rigi Railway was put into operation in 1871 as the first mountain railway in Europe. A ride for railway nostalgics. In addition, there are countless larger and smaller cable cars. Among other things, the Vitznau-Wissifluh cable car made a prominent appearance in the crime scene “Hanglage with a view”. You see, one mountain – a thousand possibilities.

For me, planning a hike on the Rigi was rather a spoilt for choice for the reasons mentioned above. The many peaks and railways mean that you can go up and down practically anywhere and there is accordingly a wide selection of hiking trails from the wheelchair-accessible gravel path to the daring via ferrata, where you are spit out directly at the transmission mast.

Our starting point was Weggis, where we took the cable car to Rigi Kaltbad. A pleasant surprise: for GA travelcard holders, this trip is free of charge. Both thumbs up!

Start of the ridge hike Rigi Kaltbad

At the Rigi Kaltbad we enjoyed the mountain panorama for a short time and then hiked towards the Staffel. Still undecided where exactly we wanted to go, we took out the hiking map again during a breather after the steep climb. Apparently, I seemed a bit helpless, because immediately an older gentleman joined us and asked: “Can they help you?”.

I asked him where there was the better view – on the Rigi Kulm or the Rigi Scheidegg. “Too different, you can’t compare apples with oranges” and gave us an insider tip on the way “take the left path at the First, it offers a great view of the lake”. No sooner said than done. We hiked leisurely across alpine meadows and turned off at First onto the so-called rock path. Good decision! The view is unique on this section. Unobstructed view of the lake, the Bürgenstock, the Pilatus and other magnificent mountains unknown to me.

Hiking in the heat

The only thing that bothered us on the way was the burning sun. We had caught what was probably the only hot day of the summer and in between we wished to walk to the shore of the lake instead of on gravel paths along the ridge. Well. After about 2.5 hours we reached Rigi Scheidegg, where we treated ourselves to a refreshment in the mountain inn of the same name. Thanks to a large children’s playground, the terrace was mainly populated by families. Before we took the mini cable car back down to the valley, we enjoyed the unique 360° panorama from the so-called “Ark”. Afterwards we made our way home via Kräbel, where we changed to the cogwheel railway in the direction of Arth.

Our Rigi Hike

The map shows our route – p.s. the strange detour Rigi-Kaltbad to Staffel does not necessarily have to be hiked after, which is due to my indecision. The route is about 9 km long and includes an ascent of 440 meters and a descent of about 240 meters in altitude. The pure runtime is around 2.5 hours. Rigi Kaltbad can be reached from Weggis by cable car (free of charge for GA travelcard holders) and Rigi Scheidegg by mini cable car from Kräbel (one-way journey 22 CHF adults or 11 CHF GA holders).

Key data of our hike from Rigi Kaltbad to Rigi Scheidegg

Starting point	Rigi Kaltbad (cable car)
Length	8.5 kilometers
Elevation gain	↗ 428 m 223 m ↘
Duration	2:30 p.m.
Destination	Rigi Scheidegg