Aare Gorge (Aareschlucht)

On our day off this week, we planned to go to Lake Lucern. It wasn't until that morning that we realized it was a holiday in certain cantons of Switzerland, including Lucern. So our plans weren't going to work, so I went back to my list of local things I wanted to see.

That's when I remembered seeing these pictures of this amazing looking hike. When I looked further, we realized that it was the last day it was going to be open for the season, so we knew that it was meant to be.

Near Meiringen, it was about a two hour drive from Weinfelden, and the views on the drive were gorgeous. I really should have taken the time to pull over and take some pictures of the views from the mountain roads we took. Once we got there, it was less than CHF 10 per person, so we figured it was going to be a pretty short walk, but it was about a mile long and it was as incredible as it looks.

The Aare Gorge is a section of the Aare river that goes through a limestone ridge. The gorge was a result of glaciation about 10,000 years ago. As the ice age was ending, the glaciers melted and the runoff of water eroded the deep path through the limestone.

For over 100 years, there have been pathways that allowed us to walk through and experience the cliffs. The red and blue lights you see in the pictures above are simply lights to light up the pathway, but it creates a super cool effect on the pictures.

For the majority of the (easy) hike/walk, the path is a wooden path built on the side of the rock, with some sections a tunnel through the walk like below.

Unfortunately, it closed on November 1st, so we won't be back here this year. I am so glad we made it here before the closing date, it was so cool to see and would definitely recommend it to anyone. The drive there alone would have been worth the afternoon.

+Kahli