Hiking the Gotthard 5-Seen-Wanderung Trail
The Gotthard 5-Seen-Wanderung (5 Lakes) trail is a 12 km long trail with 600 m ascent/descent that takes you past at least 5 alpine lakes (although, some say 7 alpine lakes). Two of the lakes have upper and lower sections, and so how you count the lakes is up for debate. (Do you count them as separate lakes if you walk along the shore of each one? Does it count if you only see it from above?) Plus, there are a number of small unnamed lakes (ponds, marsh areas?) along the way. Whatever the number, this is a gorgeous alpine hike and one I recommend.
Detail Summary| Where: | Gotthard 5-Seen-Wanderung Canton Uri and Canton Ticino, Switzerland |
| Train/Bus: | Zürich HB -> Passo del San Gottardo (Gotthard Passhöhe) – 2 hr 33 min Note: Bus service to Gotthard Passhöhe is seasonal and limited. We missed the 16:25 bus and needed to wait three hours for the next (and last) bus of the day. Check the bus schedule carefully before heading out. |
| Car: | Zürich -> Passo del San Gottardo – 2 hr 10 min Parking is available near the dam. |
| What: | Gotthard 5-Seen-Wanderung Trail Map Red and White Mountain Trail Makers This isn’t an “official green route” so just follow the waypoints. Gotthard Hospiz -> Lucendro -> Laghi d’Orsino -> Laghi d’Orsirora -> Gatscholalücke -> Lucendro -> Gotthard Hospiz The section up to Gatscholalücke is a spur off the main trail to a viewpoint on the ridge. You can skip it if you are short on time saving about 20 minutes, but the view is amazing and totally worth it if you can do it. Note: Snowfields possible into summer months on high-level sections. The Andermatt website includes a snow report. |
| Skill: | Hard – About 4.5 hrs Length 12 km, Ascent 500 m, Descent 500 m |
| Cost | No additional costs. |
Getting There
This trail is a loop starting at the Lake Lucendro dam with two spurs off the loop. One spur is to the bus stop and parking lot (the other is up to a very worthwhile viewpoint). If you come by bus, like we did, from the Gotthard Passhöhe bus stop follow the road towards Lucendro and Laghi d’Orsiror and then take the road down to the dam.
As we were walking down the road, we were concerned about how cloudy it was. Then we got distracted by the ticket booth in front of the open military mountain tunnel, the Sasso San Gotthardo.
Detour to Sasso San Gotthardo
The Sasso San Gotthardo used to be a secret military base hidden inside the mountain, and now it is a museum. We decided to wait for the clouds to clear a bit and to do the short tour of the museum that does not require reservations – a quick loop thought the tunnels past some machine rooms and some displays about the crystals found while digging the tunnels.
While it was an interesting detour, doing it was a mistake. As it turned out later, we didn’t have time to do this tour and the hike as we missed our intended bus home. We ended up having to wait almost three hours for the next bus. Lesson learned.
The Trail
After leaving the Sasso San Gotthardo, we continued down the road, meandering our way towards the dam. We were following route 2 here and not the road, but either way will get you to the road leading to the dam. Once at the dam, we followed the paved path up the hill alongside, and then just before reaching the reservoir, we came to the turn off for the start of the loop.
When we left the paved path following the trail in the direction of Lake Orsino, I regretted not bringing our poles. The trail was steep and uneven, and I had to be careful. And later, the climb up to that first lake would have been much easier with poles. The views were lovely though.
The first lake, is Lake Orsino which was very pretty. After the steady climb up to it, we were ready for a break and as it was now just after noon, we decided to stop and have our picnic lunch. From this lake, the trail continues either on a lower path down by the shore or on an upper path high above. The lower path has a steep climb later to meet up with the upper path. We chose to take the upper path, and I’m happy we did.
From the upper path, we got a great view back down to the lake and you can even see the pink hotel back at the pass in the background. It also took us past a marshy area with lots of pretty white flowers.
After leaving Lake Orsino behind and cresting the ridge, we had a fantastic view down to the lower Lake Orsirora, and then after a scramble up the rocky ridge, we were at the upper Lake Orsirora. We saw a guy jump in for a swim here, but from the sound of it, he found the water extremely cold.
After leaving Lake Orsirora, we came to a fork in the trail with one branch pointing to Gatscholalücke. The section up Gatscholalücke is a spur off the main trail to a viewpoint on the ridge. My husband was tired, so he rested on a rock near the main trail while I hiked up to the top of the ridge. Even though the clouds completely blocked the view on the other side, I’m still glad I hiked up. The view back over the twin pools of Lake Valletta, all the way back to the hotel at the pass, was worth it.
After coming back down from the Gatscholalücke ridge viewpoint, the path took us past the upper and lower sections of Lake Valletta, in addition to a few smaller, yet very pretty, unnamed pools.
Next began the descent back down to the Lucendro reservoir. Beautiful mountains views!
And then stunning views of the Lucendro reservoir!
Such a pretty lake! If you aren’t up to the rest of this hike you can just come and walk along the shore of this lake.
After reaching the dam we turned and walked back down the paved path past the turn off to the beginning of the hiking loop. We then, simply walked back to the Gotthard Passhöhe bus stop.
When we checked the bus schedule, we realized that we had just missed the bus, and the next one didn’t come for three hours. We considered calling a taxi, but decided instead on an early leisurely dinner with dessert and drinks at Passo San Gotthardo Hotel. Although we got home much later than we planned, it turned out to be a fine day.
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