Gemmipass is located high in the Swiss Alps at 2270 m altitude and offers perfect hiking conditions to everyone who comes up there: it is very easily reachable by cable car, but you can even hike up there if you feel like conquering a huge mountain wall in front of you. Gemmipass has it all: huge beautifull Swiss Alps lake, restaurants, mountain hotel and very well kept hiking paths. Come and see 🙂
Gemmipass as well has a lot of historical and cultural value: it was even used by Romans to travel from the Valais region to Bern region; so welcome now and touch the history right there, up at 2270 meters altitude 🙂
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How to get to Gemmipass
Gemmipass is located in Valais canton in Switzerland and is very close to Leukerbad city. Gemmipass is reachable from two locations: Leukerbad and Sunnbüel (Kandersteg) by cable cars, but you can even actually hike up there.
But first, let’s concentrate how to get to Leukerbad.
Leukerbad is a small Swiss village/town with population over 1500 people. It is sitting at over 1400 meters elevation, so even as a starting position it is quite high. Leukerbad is facing this beautiful, huge, enormous mountain wall – and up there is Gemmipass. Once you see this wall, it looks that it’s completely impossible to hike there, but once I hoped into a cable car and got higher, I saw a beautiful hiking path leading up there.
It’s steep, very steep, but looks very tempting. I filmed it, so you can see it in my video in the end of this post 🙂
Ok, so you can reach Leukerbad with train/bus combination. Leukerbad doesn’t have a train connection, but you can get there easily by the bus. You should check all the time schedules and latest prices here: Swiss train/bus connections. With a bus you will have to do just last 20 minutes of your trip, most likely (depending on from where you come), your bus trip will start at Leuk. But do not worry, all the swiss train and bus connections work just fine, so you won’t be in trouble at any point in your trip.
If you decide to come to Gemmipass by car, simply put Leukerbad on your GPS and start driving. Leukerbad is not that far from the highway, so just the last 15 kilometers will be via windy alpine roads, but usually it’s the highlight of the trip with a car. These Alpine roads are a lot of fun.
There are a lot of place to park your car in Leukerbad, so don’t worry. You can park in Parking Rathaus in Kantonstrasse if you wish, as it is not that far from cable car station (Buses stop there as well). Once you are parked, head to Leukerbad (Talstation Gemmi), it is just 1 km from Leukerbad city center. I should mention, that there’s parking right next to cable car station, but it’s pretty small, so you may risk not getting a place there and will have to go back to the city.
In the cable car station I bought the full price ticket with return, but if you would wish to hike back to Leukerbad, it’s totally possible (just check weather conditions as in rainy weather I wouldn’t suggest to hike down that steep path). This way you will save up some money and will have a very picturesque hike down. The full price of cable car ticket with return was 36 CHF, but always check the latest prices here: Gemmipass ticket. Check the working hours of your visiting dates as well. They vary a bit in summer and autumn. Always most important time is closing time, because if you miss it, you will have to walk back no matter the weather conditions.
The cable cars go every 30 minutes, if it’s a super busy, they make it every 10 minutes, so waiting time shouldn’t be very long.
I would say that the ride is pretty fascinating and you see a lot around: forests, valley, the city, the wall, the mountains, it’s a sweet ride up. It takes you about 10 minutes to go up there.
Sunnbüel Kandersteg – Gemmipass
As I mentioned before, there is as well an option to get to Gemmipass from Kandersteg. Kandersteg is actually a very great Swiss alps location as well and has an amazing Oeschinensee lake right next to it (you can hike up there or take a cable). If you happen to be in Kandersteg, do not miss a chance to visit it, it’s one of the best Swiss Alps lakes in Switzerland.
So the cable car up to Gemmipass in Kandersteg starts in Sunnbüel. Prices are pretty much the same as from Leukerbad and working times are pretty similar as well, but please check out all the latest time schedules and prices right here: Sunnbüel cable car.
Once you get up there from Sunnbüel, you will get to Gemmipass from a totally different direction and will have to hike up to the lake (from Leukerbad direction lake is downwards). But the elevation gain is not that big, around 500 meters in 8 kilometers, so you shouldn’t get that tired.
What to do and where to hike in Gemmipass
Once you are up there (from Leukerbad side), you will immediately spot the big beautiful Swiss Alps lake called : Daubensee. Keeping in mind that it is quite high – the lake is big. I was there in the mid July and it was still very cold, so I think it never offers great summer swimming experience 🙂
Gemmipass has a very beautiful restaurant, which we visited and as well a hotel which is called Berghotel Wildstrubel and you can spend a night up there if you wish. But let’s talk about hiking possibilities up there.
What I did personally: I hiked till the end of the lake and checked out what is further away. It was a pretty short, not demanding hike with almost unnoticeable elevation gain. It was a very easy walk. In the end I saw couple more very nice ponds and many goats – it’s always awesome to meet the Swiss Alps fauna. In the end of the lake the other valley opens up and it leads to Hotel Schwarenbach and in the end to the cable cars which comes from Sunnbüel.
So this is what I did (I hiked to the end of the lake and back, as well spend some time in the restaurant which offered great bakery goods), but for the complete Gemmipass experience I would suggest you to hike to the mountain hut called: Lämmerenhütte. The hut is sitting at 2502 meters elevation, so from Gemmipass it is just a bit over 200 meters elevation gain and in distance it is around 5 kilometers. Not that hard at all. The hut has even 96 places, but I would still make a reservation, as weekends can be pretty busy. The hut is not open during all winter, so the best time as always is summer time. You can reach the hut even from Adelboden which is a very cool village on the other side of the mountain.
The price for a night there is 38 CHF (with no food included), if you want all the service then it is 79 CHF. If you are a member of SAC (highly recommended to have it if you plan to do a lot of hut hiking in Switzerland), price is just 26 CHF per night.
Check out all the information about this hut right here: Lämmerenhütte info. You can even start your hut to hut hiking in Switzerland adventure right in Gemmipass 🙂
If you want a bit more comfortable hike and sleep, the second option I would recommend in Gemmipass is: hiking to Hotel Schwarenbach. It is 5 kilometers fromo Gemmipass cable car station and it’s always going down, so even easier, very pleasant walk. It is a very beautiful looking mountain hotel made from stone (at least the facade). The hotel is pricier than the mountain hut: it can cost up to 115 CHF per night, but you sleep in your own room. Be aware that he hotel is not open all year round, check out all the information about the hotel here: Hotel Schwarenbach information.
There are possibilities in Gemmipass to hike even higher and see much more (peaks like Rinderhorn, Steghorn), but these two hospitality options offer a pretty good overnight possibilities.
Check out all of the possible hiking trails right here: Gemmipass hiking trails. Be aware that not all of them are easy breezy and may require to be in a very good physical condition and even some mountaineering equipment is required. At least a helmet. But if the destination is on a very steep cliff or over 3000 meters altitude, I would be very careful doing such hikes. Always be smart up there.
Gemmipass video
Once I was in Gemmipass I made a video. I hope you like it 🙂 I show the cable car drive, remember that from the cable car you can see that beautiful hiking path up to Gemmipass; you will see my hike by the lake, some goats and as well the restaurant 🙂 Actually restaurant doesn’t look that nice from the outside, but inside it is very modern with big windows which opens up a stunning view to the mountains. If you have a chance, have a dinner by the windows to enjoy the Swiss Alps.
The weather was pretty cloudy on the day I was there, but it still shows all the perks of going there 🙂
The video is below:
Conclusion
I can say that Gemmipass is a great weekend destination. You can have a really great hike up there or even hike to it, no need to take a cable car. If you wish to spend more time there, just check in into the mountain hut and spend a night while enjoying the Swiss Alps air. If you want a more comfortable sleep, check out the hotels.
Come to Gemmipass as early as you can, so you can enjoy it more, hike longer/slower, have a lunch/dinner up there and just then head back. Take your time in the mountains, you will never regret it.
If you have any questions about Gemmipass in Switzerland, please let me know, I will try to answer it all.
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