Hiking the Alpine Panorama Trail – Stage 18 Rüeggisberg to Guggisberg

Stage 18 of the Alpine Panorama Trail (Route 3) is a 17 km hike with 820 m ascent and 620 m descent that goes from Rüeggisberg to Guggisberg. This stage was wonderfully varied making for a very pleasant hike. Like the last stage, this stage of the trail was inside the Gantrisch Nature Park. And, in addition to the alpine panoramas (really fantastic views from the platform atop the Guggeshorn rock formation), it also had a lovely forested ravine with interesting bridges, a small town with a castle and quirky artwork, and lots of lush farmland with happy cows. We very much enjoyed hiking this section.

Detail Summary

Where:	Rüeggisberg to Guggisberg Canton Bern, Switzerland
Train/Bus:	Zürich HB -> Rüeggisberg, Post  – 2 hr 2 min Guggisberg, post -> Zürich HB – 2 hr 3 min
What:	Alpine Panorama Trail – Stage 18 Rüeggisberg to Guggisberg (SwitzerlandMobility) Yellow trail markers – Alpine Panorama Trail Route 3
Skill:	Medium – About 5 hrs 15 min Length 17 km, Ascent 820 m, Descent 620 m

Additional Info

Alpine Panorama Trail – Stage 18 Rüeggisberg to Guggisberg (SwitzerlandMobility) Rüeggisberg Priory (Wikipedia) Gantrisch Nature Park Robert Maillart and the Schwandbach Bridge Schwarzenburg Tourism (german) Jürg U. Ernst and the Gnomenweg (german) sculpture trail Gasthof Bühl (german) Schawrzenburg Castle (german) Guggisberg Tourism (german) Guggisberg webcam Sternen Hotel (german)

Getting There

The Alpine Panorama Trail is best done with public transportation as each stage starts and ends at different points. This stage starts at the Rüeggisberg, Post bus station and ends at the Guggisberg, Post bus station.

After arriving at the bus station, and before heading off on the trail, we decided to take a small detour and walk around the Rüeggisberg Abbey ruins.

Touring the Rüeggisberg Abbey Ruins

The Rüeggisberg Priory was founded between 1072 and 1076 by Lütold of Rümligen with construction of the main church taking place from about 1100 to 1185. While it was an important monastic site during the Middle Ages, it later fell into disrepair. Then, after a large fire that destroyed much of the town in 1532, the abbey was abandoned and the stones taken and used to rebuild the town.

Between 1938 and 1947, the old foundations were excavated in an archaeological dig. And today the ruins are open to the public. After walking around the ruins for a bit, we turned around and walked back to the bus stop and our trail.

The Trail

From the bus stop, our trail headed past the little farm store we stopped in at the end of the last stage and then headed up and out of town. The alpine panorama was behind us, but we turned around from time to time to admire it and to take photos.

After we went over the ridge, the trail dipped briefly into the forest before coming back out to traverse rolling farmland. We made a wrong turn here and a local stopped us to get us back on track. There were livestock guard dogs on duty and she wanted to make sure we stayed safe.

The next section of the hike took us through the Rossgraben ravine and over the Schwarzwasser river. The trail description on SwissMobility said to keep any eye out for two concrete bridges designed by Robert Maillart, and so I did (first and last pictures below). Built in 1932/33, these bridges are considered civil engineering masterpieces. According to wikipedia, the Schwandbach Bridge (first picture below) was even featured in an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

After leaving the ravine, we hiked a bit through the forest. The sunlight was hitting the fiery orange leaves just so.

Then, just before we got to Schwarzenburg, the trail went up along a farm on the ridge with fantastic alpine views. This would have been a good place for a picnic if we had packed our lunch.

When we reached Schwarzenburg, we passed the quirky concrete sculpture in picture two. I later found out this sculpture was by artist Jürg U. Ernst and that it is part of sculpture trail called the Gnomenweg (german). By this time, we were rather hungry and fortunately Schwarzenburg has a number of restaurants. We stopped at Gasthof Bühl (german), a traditional Swiss restaurant, for lunch where we both got dishes from the Autumn wild season specials (venison and wild boar). Delicious!

After lunch, the trail took us through town. I loved that the butcher had a meat vending machine. We also passed Schawrzenburg Castle (german) shown in the last picture above, but we didn’t stop for a tour or anything.

After leaving town, there was a long flat section of the trail.

So late in the year, the sun was low in the sky and it was directly in front of us. It was nice when we reached the ridge, turned away from the sun and started the climb up to the Guggershorn. Although as you can see from the sign in picture two, the locals don’t seem too crazy about all the hikers going by.

After a tough climb, we finally reached the Guggershorn, which is a steep rocky peak with a staircase to the top and a platform to view the panorama.

The sun was beginning to set, and while we considered staying at the top to watch it, I didn’t want to hike through unfamiliar trails in the dark, so we headed down. The trail would have been fine to hike at dusk and when we reached the lounge chairs in picture three we decided to stop for a bit to relax and watch the sun set.

From the lounge chairs down, the trail was rather easy and it wasn’t long before we reached Guggisberg.

Getting Back

Guggisberg is a cute little town. We had some time before our bus came so we stopped in at the Sternen Hotel for a drink.

This was a fun and varied hike and I enjoyed this stage a lot. The short daylight hours make doing longer, far away hikes challenging so I’m not sure how soon we will get to the next section. But whenever it is, I’ll be excited to get back to it.

<<<< Previous Stage

Next Stage >>>>