Switzerland Day 3: The Grueling Stoos Ridge Mountain Hike

Yesterday was INSANE! 🇨🇭🏔️

Jenny and I took a train from Lucerne to Stoos for one of Switzerland's most famous mountain hikes, and WOW... this one kicked our asses!

We started the day surrounded by thick fog after a rainy night, with absolutely no idea if we'd see anything from the famous Stoos Ridge.

Getting there was an adventure itself. The Stoosbahn is the steepest funicular railway in the world, climbing at a crazy 110% gradient and gaining about 744 metres in just a few minutes.

Once in the mountain village, we took a ski lift even higher to the start of the ridge.

And that's where the fun began.

The hike is supposedly only 4 kilometres, but my Fitbit strongly disagrees. 😂

After more than 20,000 steps, roughly 13 kilometres and over 3 hours of hiking, we finally made our way across the ridge.

The best part? The fog FINALLY started lifting around 12:30pm.

What followed was absolutely spectacular.

On one side, the mountains disappeared into the fog. On the other, we had huge panoramic views across the Swiss Alps and Lake Lucerne.

And throughout the entire hike, the sound of cowbells echoed through the mountains. 🐄🔔

Then came the final challenge.

We could see the ski lift where the hike ended, but it was still about another hour and a half away!

The final climb was a massive mountain that looked almost impossible from the bottom. People a quarter of the way up looked like tiny ants.

But Jenny and I powered our way to the top.

And the reward?

360-degree views of the Alps and those incredible turquoise waters of Lake Lucerne.

One of the toughest hikes we've ever done, but absolutely one of the most spectacular.

And this is only the beginning of our Swiss hiking adventures!

Here's a short video with some highlights from the Stoos Ridge Hike. 🇨🇭❤️

Today we're trading the mountains for a full-day boat cruise from Lugano to Morcote near the Italy/Switzerland border. 🚢🇨🇭🇮🇹