Engelberg and Titlis

Engelberg sits at 1,000 m in a closed valley south of Lucerne, and it has two quite separate reasons to exist: a Benedictine abbey founded in 1120, and a glacier at the top of the valley reached by cable car.

The name means mountain of angels, from the legend that angels were heard singing on the ridge above where the monastery was to be built.

For most visitors it is the easiest glacier in Switzerland to reach — under two hours from Zurich, and the whole thing works as a day trip.

Titlis

Mount Titlis is 3,238 m; the station on it is at 3,020 m, and it is the highest point in central Switzerland you can reach without walking.

The final section is the Rotair — a cable car whose cabin rotates through 360° during the ascent, so everyone gets the whole view without moving. It was the first of its kind in the world when it opened in 1992, and it remains a good trick.

At the top:

• The glacier cave — a tunnel cut 150 m into the ice, lit blue, several degrees below zero
• The Titlis Cliff Walk — a suspension bridge along the rock face at around 3,000 m, the highest in Europe, with a 500 m drop under it
• The glacier park in summer, where you can sledge and tube on snow in July
• Restaurants, and a great many people

Dress for winter whatever the month, bring sunglasses, and go early: the mountain clouds over by afternoon far more often than not.

Trübsee

Halfway up, at 1,800 m, is Trübsee — a lake that reflects the surrounding peaks on a still morning and is the reason to break the journey rather than riding straight through.

A flat path circles it in about an hour, there are rowing boats in summer, and it is the start of several good walks. If the summit is in cloud, this is where to stop instead: the view is most of what you came for and the ticket is a fraction of the price.

The abbey

Engelberg Abbey has been continuously occupied by Benedictines since 1120, and the valley was an independent monastic state until 1798 — the abbot was its ruler, and no secular lord had authority here.

The present buildings are eighteenth-century, and the church holds the largest organ in Switzerland. There are guided tours on most weekday afternoons, and the monastery’s own cheese dairy — the Schaukäserei — is open daily and shows the whole process, with a shop at the end.

It costs nothing to walk into the courtyard, and the contrast with the cable car queues a kilometre away is the pleasure of the place.

Walking and skiing

In summer the marked paths run in every direction from Trübsee and Fürenalp; the Four Lakes Walk from Trübsee is the popular one, about three hours.

In winter Engelberg is a serious ski area, with the Laub — a famously steep 1,000 m off-piste descent — and a long season on the glacier.

Getting there

• By train — Lucerne to Engelberg in 45 minutes on a rack railway through a tunnel; Zurich in about two hours with the change at Lucerne.
• The whole day from Zurich works comfortably: train to Lucerne, train to Engelberg, cable car up, and back the same evening.
• Passes cover the railway; the cable car is discounted rather than included by a Swiss Travel Pass. See tickets and passes.

When to go

June to October for walking, December to April for skiing, and the glacier operates all year.

The rule is the same as everywhere in the high mountains — see the Jungfraujoch — only go up in clear weather, check the summit webcam before buying the ticket, and go in the morning.