From Lucerne rather than take the main road we used route 2 and then route 2b to follow the shore line as close as possible to Brunnen. Brunnen is where Lake Lucerne and Lake Uri meet so there is a fantastic view across both lakes. We parked slightly out of the main town by the marina on Fohnhafen, where your first hour was free and then one franc per hour thereafter. From there you can walk along the lake into the town square. There are plenty of opportunities for doggie swims along the way and Finn found a friend to play with.
Just off the main square is the Swiss Knife Valley Visitors Centre. The shop is upstairs and you go down to an amazing free interactive museum downstairs which shows the history of knives and the Victorinox company. You can even build your own knife for about £25. The shop and museum welcomes your four-legged friends, even when slightly soggy after a swim! I would definitely recommend a visit.
We have decided that of everywhere we have visited so far in Switzerland if we won the lottery we would buy a place in Brunnen. It has the lake for summer activities, amazing views, mountains for winter skiing, small enough not to be crowded but big enough (population of about 9,000) to have great restaurants and shops.
From Brunnen we continued to follow the shoreline of Lake Uri until the top of the lake where we headed off towards Andermatt. Here, on route 19 we started to climb again until we stopped at the highest point (elevation of 6718ft) at a car park near the Piz Calmot restaurant and the lighthouse for a spot of lunch. We were joined in the car park by about 20 sports cars.
After lunch it was back down the Oberalpass to our camping spot for the night, Camping Trin. The prize for the most unusual campsite so far goes to Trin. It feels like we have stepped into the Flintstones / a hippy commune. It had unusual mosaic showers inside the ‘mud house’ where the kitchen, restaurant and laundry were also housed. At the top of the campsite there was a campfire where the permanent residents were building some kind of rug structure, there was also a wild swimming lake. Everyone was friendly and it had a very relaxed attitude, I don’t think this campsite has any rules. Location wise there were great walks directly from the site which were through the woods mostly, which was great for us as it was very hot.
Weather – hot, sunny with cloudy spells
Miles driven – 102
Miles walked – 5.8
Overnight – Camping Trin 46.828182 9.347178
Leave a Reply