Seealpsee and Escher

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  • Start Point: Wasserauen (850m), parking available

  • End Point: Ebenalp 1620m

  • Total Distance: 6.5 km

  • Elevation Gain: 770 m

  • Duration: Approximately 2.30 not counting stops at lake and hut

This hike is probably one of the most famous in Switzerland. It is in the Appenzell region that is very "folkloristic", let's say it is Switzerland as you imagine it.


The hike starts in Wasserauen 850m where you'll find a large parking lot at the bottom of the cable car. From there you head off the end of the valley. The first part of the hike goes via grassy pastures to the Seealpsee. It is the lake depicted on the Appenzeller Bien cans! And looks very beautiful. You'll find make picnic spots and also a hut on the lake shores. This first part takes 3km and 280m uphill so about 45min.


If you're like you might also find some Swiss horn players! Just to add to the folklore.


After the lake you almost U turn and start to climb closer and closer to the cliff on the edge of the valley. Initially you are in the woods and after a while on a narrow path just below the cliff. 


 After 2.4 km and 380m uphill so about another 45 min you'll reach the famous Äscher hut. It looks very dramatic as it sits just below the vertical cliff nested in a slight recess. The structure is a very tipical wooden hut where you can get cake and all the tipical dishes. You will find the best viws of the hut slightly after if looking back where you'll really be able to grasp how small it is below the massive cliff.




After the hut the path continues below the cliff for a while and then goes INSIDE it! A cave large enough to fit a small house opens and you go through it to the top of the cliff where the landscape becomes grassy again and you'll find the Ebenalp cablecar that will bring you back down to the parking. Overall this adds 200m uphill and 1h to the hike.


Location: Appenzell, Switzerland

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