In Switzerland · By 4×4 · August 2026
Primeval Switzerland, from a rooftop tent
A Magic Pass, a rooftop tent and the freedom to follow the weather. Four days around Lake Lucerne, from Schwyz to the Urnerboden, to discover what we knew so little: our own country.
- Duration
- 4 days · August
- Hike
- Klewenalp · 15 km · 800 m ascent
- Passes
- Brünig · Klausen · Furka
- Vehicle
- Jeep Wrangler Rubicon · rooftop tent
Day 1
Over the Brünig
Along the lakes of Thun and Brienz, then over the Brünig pass, and the magic begins. Lake Lungern, a postcard green, chalets full of flowers, meadows mown like carpets: three hours from home, the change of scenery is complete.
A break by the water, a drink as blue as the lake, and this first, almost embarrassed observation: sometimes we know so little about our own country.
Days 1 and 2
A meadow above the lake
The campsites are full; we have booked two nights with farmers who open their meadows to travellers. The Jeep settles on a secluded knoll, the tent unfolds, and Lake Lucerne spreads out at our feet, its arms reaching into every valley.
The sun sets in an orange blaze. In the morning, we open the canvas and the landscape is right there, within reach, before the coffee. Some five-star hotel rooms will never offer that.
Day 2
Klewenalp on foot, the lake below
The purpose of the trip: to walk. From our meadow, we hike up to Klewenalp, then the cable car drops us in Beckenried for an Aperol by the water before we go back up. On to Stockhütte, another return trip by gondola to Emmetten, a little shopping for a dinner with a view.
Fifteen kilometres, eight hundred metres of ascent, gentians on the banks and the lake always there below, its blue changing with every cloud. The canton of Nidwalden, which we had never really looked at, won us over in a single day.
On foot · The hikeKlewenalp and Stockhütte, the lake below15.8 km · 890 m ascentMap, figures and photos →
Day 3
The ferry, Schwyz and the house from 1287
To reach the other shore, the car ferry. Twenty minutes of crossing, the Jeep on deck, the flag snapping in the wind, and the clear water of a lake still largely spared by urban sprawl.
Schwyz, the tiny capital of a canton that gave the country its name. The town hall displays magnificent painted façades, and a little further on stands the Bethlehem house, built of local timber in 1287, older than the Rütli oath. Seven and a half centuries upright, without major damage. Wood has a memory.
Day 3
Sattel, then Einsiedeln
In Sattel, the heat of the lowlands is overwhelming. Only one idea: gain height. The gondola turns slowly on itself while the landscape opens onto the lakes. Up top, the Skywalk, one of the longest suspension footbridges in Europe, a little adrenaline above the void, then a loop on foot.
We cancel the campsite, far too hot, and get ahead of schedule. Einsiedeln and its thousand-year-old abbey: the fountain on the great square, then, inside, a baroque that literally lifts your gaze. The Swiss Germans know how to decorate, and we love it.
Day 3, evening
Urnerboden, the five-star bivouac
Glarus on a Saturday at 6 pm: deserted streets, and a Landsgemeinde square that looks like a car park. No campsite available. We drive up towards the Klausen to find some cool air, and the Urnerboden opens before us: eight kilometres of pasture, one of the largest in Switzerland, ringed by limestone walls.
We find a spot, the tent unfolds. A few leftovers in the boot make a picnic, and the view does the rest. One more curiosity: this pasture belongs to the people of Uri, although it lies geographically on the Glarus side. A haven of peace, and a breath of fresh air.
Day 4
Altdorf, the Furka and the Rhône
Down the Klausen with our eyes wide open, to the end of the lake and Altdorf, where William Tell still watches over the square. Then Andermatt, a nod to the Gotthard traffic jams, which are not for us, and the climb to the Furka, wrapped in cloud.
The Hotel Belvédère, set in its bend like a film set, and below it the Rhône glacier, slowly dying. We watch for the steam train on its climb, then the long Rhône valley all the way home. Shower, bed, paradise. You really do not need to go far to feel far away.
