Alpstein (AI/SG) · The lift brings you back
Geologischer Wanderweg Alpstein
Hoher Kasten – Saxer Lücke – Brülisau
Hoher Kasten to Brülisau, over the Saxer Lücke
This is the rare mountain day that returns to its own start: the cable car goes up from Brülisau and the path comes back down to it. The last car up is 17:00 in the autumn period, and the last one down 17:20 — but you are walking down, so it is the first car that matters.
Switzerland's first geological hiking trail, and one of the great ridge days in the east. The cable car lifts you to Hoher Kasten at 1,794 m; the path runs the Alpstein crest past Staubern to the Saxer Lücke, where the Sax-Schwende fault has shifted the eastern massif by a few hundred metres and you can see it in the rock. Then down past the Fählensee and the Sämtisersee to Brülisau — where you left the car.
Getting there and back
The lifts and stops this walk depends on
Brülisau to Hoher Kasten
Cable car, 8 minutes, every 20 minutes · Hoher Kasten Drehrestaurant und Seilbahn AG
- Season
- April to February; closed for revision in March (1–24 March 2027)
- First up
- 08:00 in the period to 18 October 2026; 08:40 in winter
- Last down
- 17:20 to 18 October; 16:40 in winter
- Fare
- CHF 28 one way, CHF 40 return; under 16s free; dogs CHF 10
A Half-Fare card, a GA and a Swiss Travel Pass are not valid here — the company left the national fare network in 2024. The Appenzell, Oskar and Bodensee guest cards do give a reduction. A tourist-board page still shows the old discounted fares; it is out of date.
Hoher Kasten cable car, times and faresRead 20 September 2026
Train to Appenzell, then PostBus 192 to Brülisau
Rail and bus, 13 minutes from Appenzell
- Runs
- All year
- First out
- Appenzell 06:31, Brülisau Kastenbahn 06:44, then every half hour
- Last home
- Bus 192 leaves Brülisau at 18:14; later, line B23 runs at 19:18, 20:18 and 21:18
- Fare
- Ostwind zone fares: CHF 3.30 for one zone, 5.00 for two, 7.60 for three
An on-demand PubliCar also serves Brülisau Kastenbahn, booked by app or on 0848 55 30 60, for CHF 5 on top of the normal ticket. St. Gallen to Appenzell takes 36 minutes.
PostBus and the national timetableRead 20 September 2026
At the start
- Hoher Kasten bus stop, 55 m away
At the finish
- Kastenbahn bus stop, 75 m away
- Brülisau (Kastenbahn) bus stop, 88 m away
- station station, 109 m away
Stops and stations come from OpenStreetMap, measured from the ends of our line. Times and seasons come from each operator's own page, on the date shown. Check them for your date.
Making it a loop
Longer ways round, if you drove or you are running
A one-way walk means a bus or a lift home. These are circuits other people publish near this one, for a day that finishes where it started — usually at the cost of the climb the lift would have given you.
The whole circle on foot, without the cable car
22 km
Brülisau – Sämtisersee – Fählensee – Bollenwees – Saxer Lücke – Staubern – Hoher Kasten – Brülisau, about seven hours. You climb everything the cable car would have given you. No official body publishes this as one route, so the figures come from a walker who did it rather than from an authority.
Swiss Nomads (not an official source)Read 20 September 2026
The Steinbock Safari, from the hut
Bollenwees – Saxerlücke – Zwinglipass – Rotsteinpass – Widderalp – Bollenwees, the circuit the hut itself publishes. A long day in the high Alpstein rather than an extension of this one.
Berggasthaus BollenweesRead 20 September 2026
On the way
Where you can stop
Berggasthaus Staubern
Mountain inn, on the ridge · 1,751 m
- Open
- May to November; April and December by arrangement
- Food
- Regional cooking, game in autumn
- Beds
- 45, from double rooms to a dormitory
- Phone
- +41 81 757 24 24
It has its own small cable car up from Frümsen on the Rhine-valley side — an escape route, or another way to start.
Their own pageRead 20 September 2026
Berggasthaus Bollenwees
Mountain inn at the Fählensee · 1,471 m
- Open
- Daily from mid-May to the end of October 2026; closed 18–23 October; Tuesdays close at 17:00 outside the high weeks
- Food
- Daily through the season
- Beds
- Rooms from CHF 100 per person, dormitory from CHF 50, breakfast included
- Phone
- +41 71 799 11 70
Read 20 September 2026
Berggasthaus Plattenbödeli
Mountain inn, the last one before Brülisau
- Open
- May to early November, daily
- Beds
- 33 beds and 50 dormitory places
- Phone
- +41 71 799 11 52
Read 20 September 2026
Drehrestaurant Hoher Kasten
Revolving restaurant at the start · 1,794 m
- Open
- April to February, closed in March with the cable car; open during cable-car hours
- Food
- Lunch daily from 11:30; breakfast buffet at weekends; full-moon dinners once a month
- Phone
- +41 71 799 11 17
Read 20 September 2026
How hard it is
Grade, and how long it takes
“SchweizMobil gives technique "medium" and fitness "hard" and flags a precipitous spot needing sure-footedness and a head for heights. The tourist board and Swiss Hiking Trails both call it T2; tour portals rate the Saxer Lücke descent T3. The cable-car company and the huts publish no terrain warning at all.” — SchweizMobil route 988
| The operator's time | 5 h 25 | SchweizMobil route 988 |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss signpost time | 5 h 46 | The official hiking-time method, on our line |
| At a running pace | 3 h 10 | Our estimate; the grade does not change because you run |
Official: 16 km, 640 m up and 1,500 m down. Ours: 16.2 km, 539 m up and 1,379 m down. Appenzellerland Tourismus gives 16.21 km and 5 h 30 — the same walk, measured again.
Conditions
What it is like right now, and month by month
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (922 m) and high point (1,820 m)…
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (922 m) and high point (1,820 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather Geologischer Wanderweg Alpstein: at the lowest point (922 m) and the highest point (1,820 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Mixed | Poor |
| High point, day / night | -1°/-7° | 0°/-7° | 2°/-5° | 6°/-1° | 11°/3° | 14°/6° | 16°/8° | 16°/8° | 11°/5° | 8°/2° | 3°/-2° | 0°/-5° |
| Low point, day / night | 3°/-3° | 4°/-3° | 8°/0° | 12°/3° | 16°/7° | 19°/10° | 21°/12° | 21°/12° | 16°/9° | 12°/6° | 7°/1° | 4°/-2° |
| Rain, mm | 102 | 94 | 111 | 109 | 161 | 176 | 185 | 190 | 150 | 121 | 117 | 118 |
| Snow at high point | Likely | Likely | Likely | Likely | – | – | – | – | – | Frost | Possible | Likely |
| Daylight | 8 h 52 | 10 h 15 | 11 h 49 | 13 h 33 | 15 h 03 | 15 h 54 | 15 h 36 | 14 h 19 | 12 h 39 | 10 h 58 | 9 h 23 | 8 h 31 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
What could stop you
Nothing at the Saxer Lücke itself
No inn stands at the gap. The stops are Staubern before it and Bollenwees below it, which is worth knowing when you plan the middle of the day.
Appenzellerland Tourismus, Alpstein mountain innsRead 20 September 2026
The descent from the Lücke is the serious part
Steep switchbacks down to Bollenwees, and a short rocky rope-secured passage just after Staubern. Slippery when wet. The canton has decided against fall-protection netting on Alpstein paths, on the grounds that it would create a false sense of security — so the protection here is your own footing.
SchweizMobil route 988 and Swiss Hiking TrailsRead 20 September 2026
The cable car is being replaced
Station alterations and a new pylon foundation run through 2026 and 2027; the present system stops in November 2028 and the new one opens in summer 2029. Nothing affects the walk today, but the times and fares will change.
Hoher Kasten 2029 projectRead 20 September 2026
Season: June to October. The operator reported all trails to and from Hoher Kasten snow-free on 21 May 2026, and the tourist board called the paths well prepared on 20 September 2026. Old snow can linger in shaded places like the Kastensattel into May.
Make it your day
Shorter, longer, or at a run
This one already comes back to your car
Ride up from Brülisau, walk the ridge, come down to Brülisau. It is published as a line rather than a circle, but you finish at the station you started from — which is what most people want a loop for.
The whole circle on foot
Leave the cable car out of it and walk up as well: Brülisau – Sämtisersee – Fählensee – Bollenwees – Saxer Lücke – Staubern – Hoher Kasten – Brülisau is about 22 km and seven hours. No official number covers it, so we have not built a line for it.
Shorter days from the top
The cable-car company publishes a 3 h 30 walk down by the Sämtisersee and Alp Soll, and a six-and-a-half hour three-lake round — both starting from the summit and ending in Brülisau.
For runners
The Brülisau mountain race climbs the cable-car side each August: 8.3 km and 873 m to the summit, with gradients around 45%, and a short 3.1 km version. The new Staubera Run comes up the Rhine-valley side to Staubern. Neither crosses the Saxer Lücke — we found no race that runs this ridge.
Races on this ground: Berglauf Brülisau – Hoher Kasten.
Keep it on your phone
Offline maps
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
- Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
- Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
- Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route and sources
What we checked, and when
This walk is an official Swiss hiking route: Geologischer Wanderweg Alpstein (Hoher Kasten - Brülisau) (SchweizMobil route 988). We publish our own line on OpenStreetMap, matched onto the official one and checked against it.
- Official line 16.37 km · ours 16.16 km (-1.3%)
- 95% of the official line is within 2.2 m of ours; the furthest point is 9.6 m
- Climb read from a 30 m terrain model along our line, smoothed; an operator's figure will differ
- Built on 2026-09-20
- SchweizMobil route 988, the official line read 20 September 2026
- Hoher Kasten: cable-car times, fares and trail conditions read 20 September 2026
- Appenzellerland Tourismus: the geological trail and the mountain inns read 20 September 2026
- Berggasthaus Bollenwees and Berggasthaus Staubern read 20 September 2026
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) the paths our line follows
- Bundesamt für Strassen, Kanton, Stiftung SchweizMobilthe official route line