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Gelmersee, Switzerland

Gelmersee

A works railway up a 106% gradient, and a turquoise reservoir at the top of it

Read this part first — 2026 only

The Gelmersee dam is closed to visitors through the 2026 season. There is a construction site on it. The circular walk around the lake still works, because the path has been routed in front of the dam wall instead of across it — but the two photographs on this page taken from the dam are of something you cannot currently stand on.

The valley station has moved further away, too. The same works mean about a fifteen-minute walk from the parking lot or the PostBus stop to the bottom of the funicular, over temporary paths and some steep steps. Budget the time, and do not plan it for anyone who would struggle with stairs.

Both of these are 2026 conditions. Check before you go — this is exactly the kind of detail that is true for a season and then quietly stops being true.

The whole lake from the path above
The whole lake from the path above

What it actually is

  • A reservoir at 1,850 meters at the top of a granite bowl above the Grimsel road, and the reason to come is as much the way up as the lake.
  • The way up is the Gelmerbahn: an open funicular that climbs 448 meters over 1,028 meters of track, at a maximum gradient of 106 percent — about 47 degrees. It is the steepest funicular in Europe and it does not feel like a piece of tourism while you are on it.
  • It was never built for you. Kraftwerke Oberhasli laid it in 1926 as a works railway, to haul material up to build the dam. It carried cement and men for seventy-five years and was only opened to passengers in 2001.
  • Twelve minutes up, twenty-four people to a car, open to the sky. The photograph on this page looking down the track from above is what the gradient actually looks like; the one inside the car is what it looks like from a seat.
The funicular climbing the 106 percent gradient
The funicular climbing the 106 percent gradient

At the top

  • The lake is the color the photographs say it is. That is rock flour off the granite, and it is at its most absurd in full summer with the sun on it.
  • The circular walk around the lake is the thing to do up there — a couple of hours over slabs and boulders, and it is a proper mountain path rather than a promenade. Boots, not sneakers.
  • Look at the shoreline. The pale stony band between the water and the vegetation is the drawdown mark: this is a working reservoir and the level moves through the year, the same as Lungern over the hill.
  • Up at the far end the valley closes in with snow still on it in June, and there is nothing built in the view at all — which, given you arrived on a hydro company’s cement railway, is a strange and good thing.

Budget tips

  • CHF 40 return for an adult, CHF 20 for a child from 6 to 15 — checked against grimselwelt.ch, 22 October 2026, along with the season and hours below. Singles are half that each way.
  • A one-way ticket is worth thinking about. You can walk down, and the ride is the same either direction, so if the weather is good and the legs are willing, ride up and walk out.
  • Book it in advance. Twenty-four seats a car is not many, and turning up on a fine July morning without a reservation is how people end up not going.
  • The 2026 season runs 6 June to 25 October. First ascent is 09:00 in June, September and October, and 08:36 in July and August; last descent 16:00 and 16:48 respectively. Nothing runs outside that — this is a mountain reservoir, not an all-year attraction.
  • Once you are up there, everything costs nothing. The walk, the lake and the whole bowl are free.
At the top, the lake and the peaks behind
At the top, the lake and the peaks behind

The day it belongs to

Seven of these eight photographs were taken on 9 June 2022, and so was every frame on our Aare Gorge page and two on the Lungern one. That was the day: up the Grimsel to the Gelmerbahn in the morning, the gorge at Meiringen in the afternoon, then over the Brünig past Lungern on the way out.

The eighth photograph — the one inside the car — is from 13 June 2024. We went back two years later and rode it again, which is the most honest recommendation on this page.

That is the shape worth copying. Gelmersee is not a day on its own; it is a morning. What makes it worth the drive is that the Haslital packs three or four of these into a single valley, and the road you take to reach one of them runs past the others.

Down to the valley floor from the car
Down to the valley floor from the car

Would we send you here at all?

Only if the rest of the week puts you within reach of it. This is a stop, not a destination — it earns its place because of what it sits between, and on a trip routed somewhere else entirely it is a long detour for an hour. Whether it belongs in your week depends on where you sleep the night before and the night after.

Knowing which stops are worth the detour for your route is the part we do.

Gelmersee in photographs

20 images, every one taken on one of our own trips.

The reservoir behind its dam wall — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The reservoir behind its dam wall Turquoise water and the snow at the head of the valley — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 Turquoise water and the snow at the head of the valley The bare rock walls above the lake — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The bare rock walls above the lake The dam and the valley dropping away beyond it — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The dam and the valley dropping away beyond it The whole lake from the path above — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The whole lake from the path above The track along the shore toward the mountains — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The track along the shore toward the mountains The funicular climbing the 106 percent gradient — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The funicular climbing the 106 percent gradient Inside the open car on the way up — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 Inside the open car on the way up At the top, the lake and the peaks behind — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 At the top, the lake and the peaks behind On the way up in the Gelmerbahn — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 On the way up in the Gelmerbahn At the Gelmersee, the ice above it — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 At the Gelmersee, the ice above it At the Gelmerbahn sign — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 At the Gelmerbahn sign
Show the other 8 photographs
On the rocks above the turquoise water — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 On the rocks above the turquoise water Cloud on the peaks above the lake — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 Cloud on the peaks above the lake The path along the water — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The path along the water The stone building at the lake — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The stone building at the lake Riding the funicular up — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 Riding the funicular up The track dropping away below — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 The track dropping away below Down to the valley floor from the car — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2024 Down to the valley floor from the car The valley below the funicular, cloud on the peaks — Gelmersee, Switzerland · June 2022 The valley below the funicular, cloud on the peaks

This is one stop. The route is the harder part.

Notice what the guide above never tells you. It does not name a hotel, or say where to stay at all — it assumes you already have a bed. It gives you no way into Gelmersee from wherever you woke up, no view on whether it belongs on the second day of your trip or the ninth, and nothing about the week it rains.

Those answers change with your budget, your dates and who is traveling with you. Working them out, and booking them, is the job.

Tell us about your trip

The day above is free and yours to use. What it cannot do is decide where this fits in a two-week trip, which hotel works with your arrival time and your walking pace, what needs reserving months ahead, or what happens on the day it rains. That is the part you would be hiring me for, and planning starts at $750.

Or read the questions we are asked most — what a trip includes, how far ahead to book, deposits and cancellation.