Stoos Ridge Hike Switzerland

I’ve been meaning to create a post about this fabulous hike I did in 2023. Many tourists coming to Switzerland have heard of the Stoos Ridge hike. I want to share my experience to let interested people know all about this hike.

I had seen pictures of the Stoos Ridge hike online and knew that I wanted to see this place. Because the starting point of Schwyz is a 2.5-hour drive from where we live, I wanted to plan a multi-day trip.

You can reach Schwyz (the parking of the Stoos Funicular) from Zurich by car in one hour or from Lucerne in 45 minutes.

We arrived on a Thursday to Stoos where we spent the night. To get to this car-free village, we took the funicular from Schwyz. The roundtrip cost for the funicular is approximately 23 Swiss francs (CHF) but you can get a full access (funicular and lifts) ticket for 58 CHF. See all prices here.

The Stoos Funicular is the world’s steepest with a gradient of 110% (47 degrees). It took 7 minutes to ascend 744 meters to an altitude of 1300 meters.

I was thrilled to ride this impressive transportation vehicle. It didn’t seem that steep when we were inside, and the railway was very smooth.

As we were spending a long weekend for hiking, I decided to stay overnight in Stoos the day of the hike. We had a nice dinner at the hotel on Thursday evening and left Friday morning to take the funicular back down to the parking.

The Stoos Lodge was a modern hotel with self-checkin facilities. The hotel allowed dogs which was perfect for us. Our spacious room had a great view from the window.

Upon arriving to Stoos on Thursday morning, we left our luggage at the hotel and then started our hiking adventure. We had to walk a short 15 minutes from the hotel to the chair lift which ascended to Klingenstock.

Our ridge walk started here for a breathtaking 2.5 hour journey to Fronalpstock. I couldn’t get over the beauty all around us. As it was a Thursday in early September, the paths weren’t too crowded.

The well-maintained path was mostly downhill from Klingenstock with a big uphill at the end. We are avid hikers so didn’t find this hike to be too difficult.

Below chart shows the ridge path with height in meters, distance in kilometers, and minutes between each point.

After a scenic walk, we finally arrived to the next highest peak of Fronalpstock (1,921 meters) where we relaxed with a cold beer and sausage at the Fronalpstock Restaurant. We sat outside on the terrace overlooking Lake Lucerne. What a gorgeous place this was!

Most people who do this circular hike take the chair lift from Fronalpstock back down to Stoos, but we decided to walk down for another 1.5 hrs. Important to know is to check the chair lift timetables to ensure you have enough time to get back down to Stoos. The same applies for the funicular from Stoos to Schwyz (see here all timetables).

We were very lucky with the weather on this day. Conditions were ideal for September. It was my birthday weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed this hiking experience. The second hike we did on this trip was the Pizol 5 Lakes, see the link below. That hike was even more amazing but much longer.

If you are looking for other ideas on what to see in Switzerland, you will want to see my other posts below!

• Best Gorge Hikes in Switzerland
• Want to know the Secret Spots in Switzerland?
• Cool Things to See in Flims Switzerland
• Spring in Switzerland
• Biking the Heart Route in Switzerland
• 9 Activities Not To Miss in Switzerland
• 3 Day Itinerary in Ticino Switzerland
• 5 Lakes Walk in Zermatt Switzerland – a Must-Do!
• 9 Top Spots near Interlaken Switzerland
• E-Biking in Switzerland
• Discover Adelboden Switzerland in Summer
• What to See in Meiringen Switzerland
• Unexpected Excursions in Lugano
• Best of Appenzell Switzerland
• Awesome Autumn in the Swiss Vineyards
• Schynigge Platte Things to Do
• 2 Days in Basel Switzerland
• Pizol 5 Lakes Hike
• Stoos Ridge Hike
• Switzerland Destination Page

If you are looking for assistance to plan your next trip, I am here for YOU! I love to plan travel itineraries for myself and others. For more details on how I provide this service, please check out my Itinerary Planning page and drop me a quick email at jan@janadventures.com to get started!