Wasserauen - Säntis
I did this hike together with a friend on the 20th of September, 2025. I had been wanting to hike up to Säntis for some time, and my friend suggested the route below, which we did. There are many trails up to Säntis, and I am sure I will be back to do one or more of the others later on.
Full route: Swisstopo
We went from Zürich to Wasserauen by train and started the hike right from the train station. It was a very nice and warm September day as we made our way up to Seealpsee. The trail to the lake follows a road which is quite steep at times, but flattens out once you get closer to the lake.
The trail we had planned did not go to Seealpsee, but we decided to make a small detour to the lake. The views were really great, and it was cool to see Säntis, the goal of the day, high up in the background. After a short break by the lake, we walked back to our planned trail and started the ascent.
The first part of the ascent was through forest, and we quickly made our way up, and had beautiful views into the valley and the mountains on the opposite side. Coming out of the forest, we entered a part of the trail with lose material and a more narrow trail, but nothing we found difficult.
We continued on the trail up towards the Schäefler peak. Here, there started to be more people on the trail, coming from the Ebenalp cable car. Up at Schäefler, we decided to have our lunch break, while enjoying the great views over the famous Schäefler ridge, which we would soon walk below.
It was really nice to walk along the ridge, first on the side within the valley after which we followed the trail up and over to the other side. There were some really great rock formations along this part of the trail, and we soon got closer views of Säntis. The last part of the trail, before the ascent to Säntis, was more flat following a dirt path.
We were by now quite high up and could for the first time see some of the mountain peaks in Graubünden in the far distance. There is quite some climbing for the last ascent up to Säntis, but it was fun. It is for most of the part relatively easy, but some places you need to hold on to chains in the rock wall and be careful about where you place your feet.
After climbing the ladders leading up to Säntis from this side (which can be very cramped on busy days), we finally made it to the top, where we were rewarded with stunning views. It was a very clear day with only few clouds, and we had perfect panoramic views to all sides.
We took some time to enjoy the views from up here. There are different platforms facing in different directions, so you can easily see everywhere. As we wanted to spend more time up here, we decided to have some food and a beer to celebrate that we made it to the top.
Going home, we took the cable car down to Schwägalp, from where we made it back home to Zürich by bus and train.
