Way Off the Beaten Path in Switzerland’s Stunning Canton of Glarus

Deep into the Alps

We are rounding out our 20th Canton of the year next week(!), so it seems only fitting, with our goal so close at hand, that we share another one of our Canton visits with you. This time we head deep into the Alps to the small but stunning Canton of Glarus!

The scenery in Glarus is like something out of a storybook. Huge mountains, incredible waterfalls, and a river cutting straight through a giant glacially carved valley. It’s liable to knock your socks off.

That said, our trip today is a bit off the wall. We skip most of Glarus’ unbelievable hiking for a trip deep underground, most literally into the Alps, where we visit the world’s most powerful funicular and the fascinating Limmern Pumped storage plant.

Of course, if you are planning to go all the way to Glarus, which, let me tell you, is a bit of a journey by public transit from the Berner Oberland, you have to at least take a bit of a wander... Between the tour, taxis, and trains we were even able to sneak in a short walk to the beautiful Linthschlucht with epic mountain views and an incredible stacked bridge.

If you are looking for your next day trip from Zurich or something completely different from your typical Swiss experience, this trip may just hit the mark. We had an excellent time, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Thanks for joining!

An Epic Journey to Glarus

Getting to Glarus on the train from the Berner Oberland is easy enough, if a bit slow. At Zurich Main Station you connect to the S-Bahn, the regional train, and then make your way to the end of the line at Linthal. In all, it takes about 3.5 to 4 hours from the Berner Oberland or about 1 hour 40 minutes from Zurich.

The train ride itself is lovely nearly all the way. You start off along the shores of Lake Zurich and eventually make your way to the foot of the Alps as you enter the Canton of Glarus. Turning the corner at Ziegelbrücke, the train heads straight up the large glacial valley that makes up most of the Canton. Linthal is almost all the way at the end.

Traveling up valley, you parallel the Linth River and pass dozens of old 18th and 19th-century textile mills that once took advantage of the steady flow of the glacially fed river. These factories were part of global trade which saw raw cotton grown in the America’s shipped to the continent, processed here, sent elsewhere to be made into clothing, and subsequently shipped again all around the world. At that time, made in Switzerland might have been as common as made in Vietnam or made in Bangladesh is today.

18th and 19th Century Factories along the Linth River in Glarus

Along the way, the train passes straight through the Canton’s namesake city and Capital, Glarus. We didn’t make a stop on this latest trip, but I am keen to get back some time soon, if only to visit the Anna Göldi museum. For the uninitiated, Glarus was the site of Europe’s last official witch hunt in 1782. A snap trial saw Anna Göldi wrongfully executed for her supposed mystical crimes. In a symbolic gesture in 2008, over 200 years after her conviction, the Canton of Glarus officially declared Göldi innocent.

If the stunning mountain views and witch hunts weren’t enough of a reminder that we were deep in rural Switzerland, the ‘World of Dinosaurs’ just outside of Linthal was an instant confirmation. The site hosts life-size representations of dinosaurs, sabretooth tigers, and other generic farm animals randomly distributed around a gravel lot all being hunted by spear bearing Neanderthals.

The properly kitsch Linthal 'World of Dinosaurs'

The picture I am painting is probably not doing justice to Glarus. The reality is, Linthal is unquestionably gorgeous and only represents the beginning of our journey. In a bit of a departure from our normal reliance on public transit, from Linthal, we took a taxi to get up to Tierfed, our final destination. The only other real option is to walk, not necessarily a bad choice given the excellent scenery, but it will take you about two hours longer.

Keeping the Lights on Across Switzerland

After a brief stop for a snack at the historic Hotel Tödi we were quickly ushered into a shipping container nearby where we picked up a high-vis vest and an earpiece.

From there, a short walk past a pond brought us to a massive cliff and one of the lowest portions of the multi-tiered Limmern Pumped Storage plant. This massive facility serves to regulate Switzerland’s High Voltage power grid. When demand for power is low, the plant consumes excess energy from sources like wind and solar by pumping water uphill. When demand for energy is high, the plant can reverse the course of water and produce electricity from the water flowing back downhill. In effect, the plant serves as a giant battery.

Up until 2010, the site hosted a modest hydropower and pump storage scheme served by small turbines in the buildings just up against the cliff face. With new alternative energy sources coming on line each day, the demand for power storage was (and still is) increasing exponentially in Switzerland. Axpo, the power authority serving much of eastern Switzerland and owners of the Limmern Pumped Storage plant, embarked on a bold plan to convert the Limmern station into a one of its kind facility.

Some of the older facilities at Limmern getting renovated after being hit by rockfall last year

With limited space high in the mountains, along with some pretty serious rock fall hazard beneath the cliff face, the only option was to carve the new facility straight out of the rock deep deep underground. So, that is where we are headed.

Into the Alps

Stepping up to the entrance of the Limmern Pumped Storage plant

Limmern was completed in 2014 and consists of two expanded dams high up in the Alps which serve as upper reservoirs (the highest in Europe), the world’s most powerful funicular rated to carry 215 tonnes (237 tons), and a massive complex of tunnels and man-made caverns which house pumps, turbines, and transformers 200 m (650 ft) underground and 880 m (nearly 3000 ft) above the valley bottom.

Past the valley bottom storage ponds, we headed for the cliff and two massive doors that swung open to reveal a truly gigantic tunnel. This massive access tunnel, and the funicular connected to it, were used to transport some of the largest and heaviest components into the plant. Outside, a cable car rated at 40 tonnes (40 tons) carried smaller components and vehicles up the mountain. Today that original cable has been replaced with a smaller gondola which provides ready access to hiking high up above the valley.

Our group all piled into a cabin strapped to the platform of one of the massive funicular cars for the 12-minute ride up through the mountain. While most of the facilities were blasted and excavated using heavy machinery, the 3.8 km (2.5 mile) 24% grade of the funicular had to be precisely excavated by a specially built 8 m (25 ft) diameter tunnel boring machine.

The worlds most powerful funicular at Limmern Pumped Storage plant

Along the way, the tunnel boring machine encountered several natural caverns and even an underground lake in the karstic limestone bedrock which made for a challenging construction. While the lighting is poor, the sound of rushing water gives away the location of these natural chambers today.

At the top of the funicular, we arrived into a maze of tunnels connecting the various underground facilities. While the tour guides were incredibly informative, I am afraid I would not do justice by trying to recreate their explanation of the technical workings here. Even if you aren’t an engineering buff, the scale of the facility is still quite fascinating.

Over the course of an hour or so, we were led through all the different portions of the facility. Beyond the funicular, some of my highlights were the cat walks high above the pump room, the gigantic transformers that necessitated the building of the funicular, and one of the incredibly loud spinning turbines (I would bring along a pair of ear plugs if you are sensitive to noise).

Deep underground in the Limmern Pumped Storage plant

The hydro-politics of Switzerland

On our way back down to the valley bottom on the funicular, our tour guide discussed some of the political aspects of the Limmern plant construction and the future of Switzerland’s power grid. While the conversation was quite engaging, I will spare you the gory details (as I am positive that is not what you are here for) and only highlight what I thought was one of the more interesting points.

Unsurprisingly, large and expensive infrastructure projects like Limmern (with a total price tag of about 2.1 billion Francs) tend to draw a lot of attention, both good and bad. While many of Switzerland’s big ticket hydro projects have been mired in controversy and delays, Limmern faced many fewer roadblocks and was completed in relatively short fashion, about 10 years from the outset of planning to completion. This easier path than most was, in large part, a byproduct of a constructive stakeholder bargaining prior to construction.

In exchange for their cooperation, significant concessions were made to the environmental, agricultural, recreation, and tourism sectors. For example, leases of farmers were purchased to make way for dam construction and to enhance native plant growth around the reservoirs. Minimum stream flows were agreed on in advance to maintain riparian and fish habitats. In one of the more comical concessions, the power company even agreed to ‘turn on the waterfalls’ during the summer tourist season to promote visitation to Glarus… If you followed along with our visit to Interlaken’s Victorian era tourist trap at Kleiner Rugen, you know that some things really never change!

Site of the construction gondola station turned toursit gondola partially paid for by axpo

Back into the light of day

Pantenbrugg in the Linthschlucht

After leaving the power plant we bid farewell to our tour guides and made our way back to the Hotel Tödi for a lovely lunch. From there, we headed up the gravel road behind the hotel bound for the Linthschluct or Linth Gorge at the end of the valley.

The path rises quickly offering exceptionally good views back down on the valley before turning the corner and passing through a short (and pretty sketchy looking) tunnel straight onto the historic Pantenbrugg or Panten bridge across the narrow gorge of the Linth River carved deep into the bedrock.

The Pantenbrugg, the only crossing of the Linth Gorge, was built in 1901 and is stacked right on top of its 19th Century predecessor. In actuality, the bridge is the 5th in this location, the first built in 1457 to provide once important access to Kisten and Sandpass crossing over into the Canton of Graubünden. Today the path and bridge simply provide access to upper reservoirs and exceptional hiking.

Looking back down on the Limmern valley bottom reservoirs from the path to the Linthschlucht

A quick jog further up the path brings you to a viewing platform which gives a nice perspective on the bridge and the gorge it crosses. Unfortunately, with our timing running out before catching a taxi and train, we turned back from here but, if you have more time, the hiking possibilities are pretty much endless!

The start of the Linthschlucht just up stream of Pantenbrugg

In the spirit of transparency, my visit to the Canton of Glarus was part of an organized work retreat (thanks Sandro for all your great planning!). While you can easily do this entire trip on your own, it may take a bit more coordination than some of our other outings.

Tours of the Limmern plant are regularly open to the public by online reservation but may have to be specially booked to ensure an English-speaking tour guide, assuming you need one. For more details check out the axpo website.

We hope you enjoyed our visit to the wonderful and wild Canton of Glarus. With all the excellent scenery, I anticipate that we will be back relatively soon. If you enjoyed this week’s visit, check out the other articles in our One Year: 26 Cantons series where we visit all 26 of Switzerland’s Cantons in 2024, and our Into the Alps series where we head above the tree line to examine the human and physical geography of Switzerland.

Stay tuned for additional articles on our Swiss travels every week and, until next time, gute Reise!

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