Refreshing hike for hot days 🥵 Reichenbach Falls - Aare Gorge

A beautiful and refreshing hike from the Reichenbach Falls to the Aare Gorge. The Reichenbach Falls are also known in Sherlock Holmes stories "The Last Problem" from 1893 when Sherlock Holmes fought with his nemesis Professor Moriarty and after a fierce battle falls down the waterfall. A memorial plaque commemorates this fictional incident. The Aare Gorge is the second highlight of the hike, where you walk through a 1400 meter long gorge and at the highest point the rocks rise 180 meters into the air. The river Aare flows into the Grimsel Pass and runs through the whole of Switzerland to Bad Zurzach in Schaffhausen.

• Start and End: Start is at the Reichenbachbahn in Willigen; End is at the Aareschlucht West

• Time: pure hiking time is 2 hours, with many photo stops and breaks should be planned 3-4 hours.

• Difficulty: Easy T1, At the Reichenbach Falls there are a few stairs going up but after that only down. Not suitable for strollers

• Ascent and Descent: Ascent is 200 meters - Descent is 450 meters

• Arrival: possible by car, but at the valley station of the Reichenbachbahn (Willigen) there are very few parking spaces (parking fee). In the village of Meiringen-Alpbach there are more parking spaces (parking fee). However, this hike is not a circular hike and ends at the Aareschlucht West.

• Tips: This hike I recommend on really oppressively hot days to make because at the Reichenbach Falls and the Aare Gorge splashes the water and drips from the rocks. A real refreshment in my opinion.

• Restaurants: It has several restaurants during the hike. After the ascent from the Reichenbach waterfall, there is the Zwirgi Inn. The next one would be at the entrance to the Aareschlucht Ost. You can't miss these restaurants.

• Highlights: The Reichenbach Falls is very impressive but my highlight was the Aare Gorge with its 180 meter high walls. Where you hike through caves.

The start of the hike is at the valley station Willigen - Reichenbach. One way up costs 8 Swiss francs. If you only want to go up and down the ticket costs 12 Swiss francs.

If you have bought the ticket you can choose a seat and just enjoy the ride. It goes about 10 minutes up and we always surprised with breathtaking views.

Once you reach the top, you can hear the Reichnbach Falls from far away. The waterfall is located directly at the station. You get splashed wet with small water particles. Very refreshing.

If one has made enough pictures and videos it goes up with stairs. These steps have it in itself because we have to go over the waterfall there is the hiking trail towards the Aare gorge.

In between, you can see again and again the waterfall thunders down.

The Reichenbach has more small waterfalls above and the view from the very top is magnificent.

Once you have made your way up to the signs, you can either hike to Rosenlaui (a beautiful and famous place on social media) on the right or left in the direction of Geissholz/Aareschlucht. This is exactly our goal for this hike.

From here the hike continues in the forest and on fresh green meadows until you reach the village of Geissholz where you can see the Reichenbach Falls from afar, and proudly say up there I started. You walk for about 1 hour in the forest.

Once you have reached the village, the path goes through the small beautiful village of Geissholz (see hiking map below), after which the hiking trail leads into a forest again and you are already very close to the Aare gorge.

When you reach the Aare Gorge, you can see the restaurant and the many parking spaces from afar. You can hike further down here and first look at the suspension bridge Aareschlucht or you go directly into the mystical Aareschlucht. The entrance fee is 10 Swiss francs, children up to 6 years are even free. 6.50 Swiss francs costs a child from 6 years. If you have a guest card from the vacation region you get a 20% discount.

The Aareschlucht is hiked on a narrow wooden platform that is fixed to the wall. A very adventurous hike with over 180 meters high rock walls.

This section is the highlight of the hike for me, because I arrived really sweaty and it was a real refreshment.

The different colors of the river depending on the sunlight is very special and mystical from poison green to emerald blue. It was all there. Already special the thought that the river flows from here almost to Germany.

The hike is mostly in shady and dark canyon along, my camera I had to set ISO very high so that the image was exposed approximately enough. A monopod is highly recommended here if you want to take good and sharp pictures. The end of the hike is at the entrance to the Aareschlucht West. From here you can walk comfortably to the train station Aareschluch West.

Details and altitude profile