Engstlenalp - Melchsee-Frutt
I did this hike on the 14th of September, 2025. One of my friends was hiking the Via Alpina, and myself and another friend came along for two days. This stage originally goes down to Meiringen, but since my knees did not feel like the long descent, I followed along to Planblatten cable car and then did the below hike ending at Melchsee-Frutt. The day before, we had hiked from Engelberg to Engstlenalp.
Full route: Swisstopo
After a good nights sleep at Engstlenalp Hotel, we started hiking at 8.30 am. It was a slightly grey day and cold starting in the morning, but we got warm as we made our way up over the hiking trail towards Melchsee-Frutt.
We quickly got up higher, and despite it becoming more grey, we could see back towards Jochpass and our hotel where we had started the hike. On this part, we also came by a salamander on the rock wall, which is only the second one I have seen in Switzerland so far.
Up around Melchsee-Frutt, we really got a sense of the approaching autumn, reflected in the brown and slightly golden colors in the landscape. Autumn is my facourite season, so I was very happy about this scenery.
From the ridge running above Melchsee-Frutt, we had absolutely stunning views to Trifftgletscher. It looked really amazing with the clouds partly covering the ice. From here, we also got the first views of the mountain peaks between Meiringen and Grindelwald.
The clouds kept on rolling in, and the constantly changing scenery reminding me of Iceland or the Farao Islands. I love this kind of weather, when everything looks mysterious, and it was really nice to walk in.
As we approached Planblatten cable car station, the weather cleared up a lot and we had amazing views to the moutain peaks around Wetterhorn. After a nice long lunch break by the cable car station, I said goodbye to my friends, and continued by myself in direction Melchsee-Frutt.
Walking across the landscape, the views just got better and better, and I couldn’t believe how lucky we had been with the weather. I would love to hike from Meiringen to Grindelwald at one point, and come closer to the glaciers lying around the mountain peaks.
I had decided to hike up to Hochstollen and from there make my way down to Melchsee-Frutt. The last part of the trail up was with more lose material and a few sections to climb, but nothing problematic. From the top of Hochstollen, I could see down to Brienzersee and also over the whole area around Melchsee-Frutt.
I continued from Hochstollen down to Melchesee-Frutt on the hiking trail, which turned into a gravel road for the last kilometers. I was tired, but very happy after an amazing weekend in the mountains, when I reached the cable car. From Melchsee-Frutt, I took the cable car down and continued back to Zürich by bus and train.
