A steep hike up to the top of Niesen from Mülenen, and a trip with the funicular railway down. Niesen is known as the Swiss Pyramid – from a distance, it has a pyramid shape. From the summit you have views of lakes Thun & Brienz, the Eiger/Mönch/Jungfrau, Gantrisch, and more.
Startpoint: Mülenen train station / Niesen bahn
Endpoint: Niesen Kulm (via routes 3 & 5)
Details: Approx 8.5 km, + 1620 m elevation difference
Time: Around 4 hours
Date hiked: 6 October 2022. The Niesenbahn runs from April to November but at the beginning/end of that time there might be snow.
Map: Google Maps
mülenen start
Niesen is home to the world’s longest staircase, which runs along the Niesen bahn tracks. Once a year, they open it up for a race called the Niesen-Treppenlauf (Niesen Stair Run), where a few hundred people race to the top either alone or as a relay. I know someone who ran it last year in about 1hr 30 min, and the fastest time last year was just under an hour. Crazy. The train takes around a half an hour, and this hike takes about 4 hours.
Mülenen, the town where you begin this hike (or alternately take the train) is only 45 minutes from Bern and yet it took me nearly a year of living here before going. It’s now one of my new favorite places to go as it checks a lot of the boxes for a good training hike (1: uphill only option, 2: fairly steep incline, 3: public transport an hour or less from Bern, 4: beautiful views).
The trail starts through some forest but quickly opens up to views of the Sigriswiler Rothorn and Niederhorn. For the first part of the hike, you remain in the forest but every once in a while you have places where you can see out to Lake Thun and the Bernese alps.
The route up to Niesen is pretty direct and well sign-posted, at one point at the base of a support beam to the Niesen bahn you have the option of going to Schwandegg-Niesen via the “steiler weg” (steeper way, which I took) or another route but it all quickly ends up at the same place later at Schwandegg.
schwandegg station
Schwandegg is the stop on the Niesen bahn between Mülenen and the top of Niesen. It took me a little under two hours to get here – there’s bathrooms if you need and if you’re feeling tired you can also take the train up, but from here on out the views get even better. There are two trail options for going to Niesen from here, route 5 which is a little more direct, and route 6 which also goes to Niesenalp. I took route 5 as I wanted something steeper. There were quite a few more people here who took the train up and then continued with a hike. The hike from Mülenen was nice, but from here on out you start to get above the forest/trees so the views get better and better. If you want a less challenging hike I would start here instead. It’s about two hours or so from here to the top.
niesen kulm
After the last steep part up you make it to Niesen Kulm, where there’s a restaurant with an outdoor terrace, mountain lodge, some play places for kids, and a lot more people. It was an exceptionally clear day when I went, so you had amazing views of everything. Even when it’s cloudy down below you often have views from the Niesen summit, so I would check the weather/webcams before going (also I would not enjoy doing the last part of this hike while cloudy).
I took the Niesen funicular down – it’s not the largest so you may have to wait for the descent (reservations are only possible on the ascent), but it’s such a beautiful place it’s not a problem.
Also, something I found out more about after my hike that would have been good to know before… In autumn, sometime around 16:30-17:30, the sun passes Niesen in a way that it casts a pyramid-shaped shadow over Lake Thun. I’m definitely planning another trip back up soon to try to catch a view of that!