Lake Lucerne (LU/SZ) · One way
Rigi-Panoramaweg
Rigi Kaltbad to Rigi Scheidegg
Rigi Kaltbad to Rigi Scheidegg, along an old railway line
The way home is the small cable car from Rigi Scheidegg down to Kräbel, and its last cabin goes at 18:05. Kräbel is a request stop on the Arth-Goldau railway, so signal the train there too.
Seven almost level kilometres along the trackbed of the Rigi Kaltbad–Scheidegg railway, which ran from 1874 until 1931 and was lifted in the war. You walk its cuttings, its tunnel and its viaduct, with Lake Lucerne a thousand metres below on one side and the Mythen opposite. One short climb at the end, and a cable car down from Scheidegg.
Getting there and back
The lifts and stops this walk depends on
Up to Rigi Kaltbad
Rack railway from Vitznau or Arth-Goldau, or cable car from Weggis · Rigi Bahnen
- Season
- All year; no overhaul is planned for the Vitznau railway in 2026
- First up
- Vitznau 06:35; Weggis cable car 07:00 on weekdays
- Last down
- Vitznau railway to 20:00, with late trains after that
- Fare
- CHF 52 single, 84 return to Rigi Kulm; a Rigi day pass is CHF 84
A GA, a Swiss Travel Pass and the Lucerne Travel Pass all travel free on the Rigi railways — unusual, and worth knowing.
Rigi Bahnen timetables and faresRead 20 September 2026
Rigi Scheidegg down to Kräbel
Cable car, 6 minutes · Rigi Bahnen
- Season
- 25 April – 12 December 2026; closed 2–6 and 9–13 November
- First up
- 07:45
- Last down
- 18:05, and 18:35, 19:05 and 19:35 on Friday to Sunday
- Fare
- CHF 24 single, 39 return
Kräbel is a request stop on the Arth-Goldau line, eight minutes from Arth-Goldau.
Rigi Bahnen timetablesRead 20 September 2026
At the start
- Rigi Kaltbad-First bus stop, 18 m away
- Rigi Kaltbad-First station, 26 m away
- Rigi Kaltbad bus stop, 169 m away
At the finish
- Rigi Scheidegg bus stop, 16 m away
- Burggeist station, 308 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.
On the way
Where you can stop
Berggasthaus Rigi Scheidegg
Mountain guesthouse, at the finish · 1,656 m
- Open
- Wednesday to Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday, and 2–20 November 2026
- Food
- Restaurant 09:00–16:00, to 17:00 at weekends; rooms, dormitory and two apartments
- Phone
- +41 41 828 14 75
Read 20 September 2026
Berggasthaus Unterstetten
Mountain inn, on the path
- Food
- Daily 09:00–18:00; rest day Wednesday
- Phone
- +41 41 855 01 27
Read 20 September 2026
Hotel Restaurant Alpina
Hotel restaurant, at the start · 1,450 m
- Open
- All year, daily 10:00–22:30; closed 9–29 November 2026
- Phone
- +41 41 397 11 52
Read 20 September 2026
How hard it is
Grade, and how long it takes
“SchweizMobil grades this route "difficult", but that is the wheelchair scale, not the hiking one: the Schwyz hiking association rates the walking T2.” — Schwyzer Wanderwege, Rigi-Panoramaweg
| The operator's time | 1 h 50 | Schwyz Tourismus |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss signpost time | 2 h 08 | The official hiking-time method, on our line |
| At a running pace | 1 h 10 | Our estimate; the grade does not change because you run |
The official line is 7 km with 220 m of climb, and ours measures the same 7 km. Sources differ on where it starts — SchweizMobil says Rigi Kaltbad, the Schwyz hiking association says Rigi First, which is a few minutes further along.
Conditions
What it is like right now, and month by month
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (1,422 m) and high point (1,642 m)…
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (1,422 m) and high point (1,642 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather Rigi-Panoramaweg: at the lowest point (1,422 m) and the highest point (1,642 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Poor | Poor | Poor | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Poor |
| High point, day / night | 0°/-5° | 1°/-6° | 4°/-3° | 8°/0° | 12°/4° | 15°/8° | 17°/9° | 17°/9° | 12°/6° | 9°/3° | 4°/-2° | 1°/-4° |
| Low point, day / night | 0°/-5° | 1°/-5° | 5°/-2° | 9°/1° | 13°/5° | 16°/8° | 18°/10° | 18°/10° | 13°/7° | 9°/3° | 4°/-1° | 1°/-4° |
| Rain, mm | 98 | 95 | 104 | 106 | 143 | 166 | 179 | 174 | 136 | 123 | 125 | 118 |
| Snow at high point | Likely | Likely | Likely | Possible | – | – | – | – | – | – | Possible | Possible |
| Daylight | 8 h 54 | 10 h 16 | 11 h 49 | 13 h 33 | 15 h 01 | 15 h 52 | 15 h 34 | 14 h 18 | 12 h 39 | 10 h 59 | 9 h 25 | 8 h 33 |
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
One official description is out of date
SchweizMobil still sends walkers on the neighbouring Chänzeli loop to the Bärenstube at Rigi First. That house is closed until further notice while it changes hands.
Rigi BärenstubeRead 20 September 2026
The Felsenweg is not the Panoramaweg
At First a rock path secured with railings branches off and returns to Kaltbad. It is the way to make a circle of the day, and it asks for more care than the old railway line does.
Erlebnisregion MythenRead 20 September 2026
Season: Schwyz Tourismus calls it a year-round walk, and there is a winter hiking route on the same line; the Schwyz hiking association gives May to October. The difference is whether the snow is cleared, so check before going in winter.
Make it your day
Shorter, longer, or at a run
A loop instead: the Chänzeli-Weg
SchweizMobil route 558 is a short circle from Rigi Kaltbad to the Chänzeli viewpoint and back — two to four kilometres depending on whose figures you take, on gravel, with one 12% pitch. It is a stroll rather than a day, but it starts and finishes at the same station.
Come back on the Felsenweg
From behind the Würzenstock the Felsenweg returns to Rigi Kaltbad-First, which turns the walk into a circle and saves the Scheidegg cable car.
In winter, the same line
SchweizMobil publishes a winter hiking route on exactly this line, Kaltbad to Scheidegg, with the same seven kilometres and 220 m of climb.
For runners
Level, wide and fast for most of its length, on an old railway bed. No race uses it: the Rigi mountain race climbs the other flank, from Arth to the Kulm.
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: Rigi-Panoramaweg (Rigi Kaltbad - Rigi Scheidegg) (SchweizMobil route 848). We publish our own line on OpenStreetMap, matched onto the official one and checked against it.
- Official line 7.04 km · ours 7.04 km (0%)
- 95% of the official line is within 1.7 m of ours; the furthest point is 3.4 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 848, the official line read 20 September 2026
- Schwyzer Wanderwege: the walk and its T2 grade read 20 September 2026
- Rigi Bahnen: timetables, fares and operating information read 20 September 2026
- Schwyz Tourismus: the route description read 20 September 2026
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) the paths our line follows
- Bundesamt für Strassen, Kanton, Stiftung SchweizMobilthe official route line