Source of the Aare

This multi-day tour starts in Meiringen at the railway station and leads along the Aare Gorge to Innertkirchen. Along the old mule track you will pass artistic stone arch bridges, stairs carved out of the rock, wild streams and endless photo subjects. On the way, you can stop in Innertkirchen, Guttannen or Handeck for food and drink and to spend the night. Now follows the ascent to the Räterichsbodensee. Or you can take the adventurous Gelmerbahn up to the Gelmersee, from where the view sweeps over the granite landscape of the upper Aare Valley and the path first leads downwards. Past the Räterichsboden, the trail leads up to the historic Grimsel Hospiz Alpine Hotel on the Grimsel Nollen.

Here the two paths part. The lower source of the Aare lies behind the six-kilometre-long Grimselsee at the Lauteraar glacier and the Lauteraarhütte awaits above the valley. Far behind you can see the Finsteraarhorn, the highest point of the Aare and thus also of the Rhine catchment area!

You can reach the upper source of the Aare with the Sidelhorn cable car or on foot via Trüebtensee and Oberaarsee to the Oberaar glacier. The hike ends at Berghaus Oberaar with a view over the lake to the spring, before you glide back to the hospice on the Oberaar cable car.