Walk the amazing ridge line from Klingenstock to Fronalpstock

We completed this beautiful walk with our kids aged 5 and 7. This has got to be one of our very favourite views and walks in Switzerland. Read on to find out how we got on when walking this classic trail over Lake Lucerne.

If you are looking for something with spectacular views, but your kids aren’t ready to do this ridge walk just yet, as an alternative, check out the Fronalpstock Panorama Walk in our walking guide of 7 easy hikes for kids.

Essential Info

Distance: 4.5 k / 2.7 miles

Time: The sign says 2 hours, but we took 3 hours 20 mins with our kids, including stops for snacks and rest.

Route: Klingenstock to Fronalpstock. You can walk the other way, but starting in Klingenstock is the most popular for the way the views open up as you walk the ridge.

It is also great with kids as you can use the playground and cafe at the end as motivation for completing the walk! There is nothing at the Klingenstock end apart from the chair lift. 

Terrain: The path is in good condition. Stone and dirt, and lots of steps. There are steep inclines and declines all the way along the ridge, and steep drop-offs at many points – nearly the whole route.

Our kids are used to hiking in the Cotswolds, but they have not done anything like this before, yet they managed really well. Our youngest son is 5, he has just finished reception, and I wouldn’t have done this with him any younger.

Both the boys followed instructions really well and held our hands pretty much the whole way. The path was wide enough for two. Obviously, use your own judgement on your kids’ abilities with this – it could be dangerous if children ran/ didn’t heed adult instruction reliably or did not have steady footing when hiking.

Two brilliant blog posts with maps and detailed instructions are this one from full suitcase, and this one from Swiss Family Fun.

Our hike

We started the day early to drive to Schwyz – it was 1 hour 45 minute drive from Interlaken where we are staying so we had to be up before dawn

We wanted to make sure we got an early train to Stoos (a car free village). We rode the funicular train to Stoos ( the steepest in the world!) Which was a fun experience for the boys.

Stoos is a quiet car free village with a chair lift to Klingenstock at on end, and a chair lift to Fronalpstock at the other. We took a 15-minute, uphill walk to the Klingenstock chairlift. We got there for the chair lift opening at 9 am for the first ride of the day.

The chairlift to Klingenstock was another fun experience for us and the kids, we all thought it was amazing – serene and relaxing with beautiful views.

When we arrived at Klingenstock, we started the walk straight away. The walk is immediately jaw-dropping and remains that way from start to finish! You can see the whole ridgeline path stretch out in front of you and the Fronalpstock station in the distance.

The path meandered along the ridge, around, up, up, then down then up then down again. The inclines are steep, but the steps and path are manageable, and we didn’t find them slippy at all.

Some sections are rather narrow, but mostly, the path was wide enough for two. We held the kids the whole way – they were steady footed, but the drop offs on both sides are so steep we didn’t want to take any chances.

There were lots of other walkers on the ridge, and we often had to stop to let faster hikers overtake us. This was one of the reasons we started as early as possible, because as the day went on, the trail became even busier. I would recommend getting up there the same time we did.

There are beaches at viewpoints along the way and we had plenty of stops with the kids for rest, snacks, and drinks.

We saw amazing, beautiful views that look out of this world. We were speechless at the scene in front of us – just spectacular, and the pictures do not do its real-life beauty justice.

The kids did really well – they were tired out and thirsty as we ran out of water before the end. They couldn’t wait to get to Fronalstock, and once they had rehydrated and had an ice cream, they spent ages enjoying the excellent playground.

Fronalstock station, playground, and cafe was busy as there were lots of families that come for the playground and viewpoint and shorter panorama walk ( 1k from Fronalpstock station part way along the ridge)

It was an incredible experience and one I’m so happy to have shared with James and the kids. I was so impressed with the kids hiking – it feels crazy that they have got to an age where we can do activity’s like this with them.

Soon it was time to get the chair lift back down from Fronalpstock, and then the train from Stoos back to the car at Schwyz.

It’s really great that you can get chair lifts from Stoos from either end of the trail, so you only have to go one way. We brought it all on one ticket at Schwyz station.

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