Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls: the walkway, the funicular, and Sherlock Holmes

The Aare Gorge sits just outside Meiringen, a workaday town at the foot of the Brünig Pass that most travellers only pass through on the train between Lucerne and Interlaken. Few of them get off. That is the town’s loss and the gorge’s gain, because 1.4 kilometres of walkway bolted into a limestone canyon, a funicular railway climbing to a waterfall tied to Sherlock Holmes, and a sunny plateau called the Hasliberg add up to one of the better half-days you can build from Lucerne without a car.

None of this is dramatic in the way Jungfraujoch or the Rigi are dramatic. There is no summit, no glacier, no panoramic restaurant with a view stretching across four cantons. What the Aare Gorge offers instead is a close, slightly claustrophobic look at what a glacier does to rock over ten thousand years: a slot canyon up to 200 metres deep and, in places, barely wide enough for the river to fit through. It photographs well but it reads even better in person, with the walkway close enough to the water that the noise and spray follow you the whole way.

Where Meiringen sits and how to get there

Meiringen is on the Brünig line, the same scenic railway that carries the Luzern-Interlaken Express between Lucerne and Interlaken Ost. From Lucerne it is a direct train with no changes, and it is one of the more attractive stretches of track in the region in its own right, climbing over the Brünig Pass with views down into the Sarneraatal before descending to Meiringen.

From	Journey time	Changes
Lucerne	About 1 hour 35 minutes	Direct (Luzern-Interlaken Express)
Interlaken Ost	About 20 minutes	Direct
Zurich	About 2 hours	1 change, usually at Lucerne or Interlaken
Bern	About 1 hour 20 minutes	1 change, usually at Interlaken Ost

Meiringen railway station is a short walk from the town centre, and both the Aare Gorge and the Reichenbach Falls funicular are reachable on foot or by a short local bus ride from there. Anyone doing this as a day trip from Lucerne should count on the best part of a day once travel time at both ends is factored in; it is not a quick detour.

The Luzern-Interlaken Express guide covers the train itself in more detail, and the wider day trips from Lucerne guide sets this excursion alongside the other realistic options from the city.

Walking the Aare Gorge

The gorge, known locally as the Aareschlucht, has two entrances: one on the Meiringen side, one near Innertkirchen. Both charge separately, so decide in advance whether you want to walk through from one end to the other (better if you can arrange transport back, since the bus between the two entrances is infrequent) or walk in and out from a single entrance, which is simpler and what most visitors do.

The walkway itself is a mix of wooden platforms and steel bridges fixed directly to the rock face, engineered in 1888 and rebuilt and reinforced several times since. It runs close enough to the water that you feel the temperature drop and hear the river long before you can see much of it, since the canyon narrows to only a few metres wide in places while the walls rise up to 200 metres overhead. There are a handful of side paths and viewing platforms, one or two damp and slightly slippery sections, and a general sense of being somewhere the tourist infrastructure had to work hard to make accessible at all.

A few practical points that matter more here than at most attractions:

• Season: the gorge is typically open from early April to early November. It closes over winter because ice on the walkways and rockfall risk make it unsafe, and heavy rain can force a temporary closure even in high season, since water levels rise fast in a channel this narrow.
• Cost: expect around CHF 8 for an adult and roughly CHF 4 for a child. This is a local attraction fee rather than a Swiss Travel System product, so it changes independently and modestly year to year.
• Time: walking the full 1.4 kilometres one way takes 45-60 minutes at an unhurried pace with stops for photos. Doing it there and back from one entrance takes about 1.5 hours.
• Footwear: the surface is uneven in places and can be wet from spray even on a dry day. Trainers are fine; sandals are not a good idea.
• Accessibility: there is no wheelchair access, and pushchairs struggle on the narrower, steeper sections. This is a walk, not a stroll.

Anyone weighing this against Switzerland’s other gorge walks, most obviously the Rhine Falls further north or the waterfall-heavy walks around Lauterbrunnen, should know the Aare Gorge is narrower and more enclosed than either. It is less about a single big view and more about the walk through the rock itself.

The Reichenbach Falls funicular and the Sherlock Holmes connection

Reichenbach Falls sits on the other side of Meiringen from the gorge, close enough that a taxi or short bus ride covers the gap in ten minutes. The falls themselves drop in several tiers down a wooded hillside, with a total height of roughly 120 metres on the main drop, more across the full sequence of cascades. They are handsome but not exceptional by Swiss standards; what makes them worth the detour is the funicular and the story attached to them.

The Reichenbachfall-Bahn opened in 1899, one of the older mountain railways still running in Switzerland, and it hauls visitors up a short but steep track to a viewing platform partway up the falls in around seven minutes. It typically operates from May to October, broadly in line with the summer tourist season, and closes outside those months along with much of the gorge-and-waterfall circuit in this area. From the top station a short path leads to the platform itself, with the falls close enough to feel the spray on a breezy day.

The reason any of this made it into English literature is Arthur Conan Doyle, who sent Sherlock Holmes here to apparently die in the 1893 story “The Final Problem”, locked in a struggle with Professor Moriarty on a ledge above the water. Conan Doyle had visited the falls a year earlier and clearly found them dramatic enough to serve as a fictional grave, though public pressure eventually forced him to bring Holmes back in later stories.

Meiringen has built a small but genuine tourism identity around the connection: a plaque near the viewing platform marks the “site” of the struggle, a statue of Holmes sits outside the town’s English church, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, housed in that same church, recreates his Baker Street sitting room in more detail than the premise really requires.

None of this needs Holmes as a prerequisite to enjoy, but it explains why a modest Swiss waterfall gets more attention than its size alone would justify, and why walking tours built around the gorge often frame the day as much around the story as the scenery. A guided day trip from Zurich covering both the Aare Gorge and this waterfall valley is the simplest way to see everything in one outing without juggling local bus timetables, and it takes the route-planning off your hands entirely.

The Hasliberg plateau

Above Meiringen, a gondola climbs to the Hasliberg, a sunny shelf of pasture and forest looking across the valley to the Wetterhorn and the jagged Engelhörner ridge. It is a genuinely different kind of place from the gorge below: open, bright, and quiet, with a network of hiking trails that range from easy valley walks to longer routes toward Planplatten and the Meiringen-Hasliberg ski area’s summer trails. In winter the same infrastructure runs as a modest ski and sledging area, well below the scale of the big resorts around Interlaken but popular locally.

Adding the Hasliberg to a gorge-and-falls day is realistic only if you start early. Between the gondola ride, an hour or two of walking, and the return, it adds two to three hours on top of everything else, which turns a half-day into a full one. It suits hikers more than sightseers, and anyone short on time is better off treating the gorge and the falls as the core of the day and leaving the Hasliberg for a different visit, perhaps paired with the trails covered in the best hikes near Lucerne guide.

Building the day from Lucerne

A comfortable version of this day looks something like: an early train from Lucerne to Meiringen, the Aare Gorge walk first while the light is good and the walkways are quieter, then a short hop across town to the Reichenbach Falls funicular and, for anyone interested, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, before the train back. That fits into a single day without feeling rushed, provided you catch a train that has you in Meiringen by mid-morning.

For a fuller circuit, some visitors combine Meiringen with a stop in Interlaken or push on toward Grindelwald and the base of the Jungfrau region on the same line, since the Brünig-line trains continue that direction. That turns the day into something closer to the routes in the best mountain excursions from Lucerne guide, and it is worth checking train times both ways before committing, since the return connections from smaller stations along this line thin out in the evening.

Anyone who prefers not to manage the connections themselves has a few organised options that bundle the gorge with other stops in the region. A day trip from Zurich pairing the Aare Gorge with lakes and Grindelwald covers a wider loop in one booking, while a e-bike tour through the Rosenlaui valley from Interlaken approaches the same area from the Interlaken side and adds a more active, self-paced element to the day.

For a slower, higher-comfort version, a luxury day trip from Zurich through the Jungfrau region with a stop at the Aare Gorge takes the whole loop, including the gorge, off the timetable entirely.

What it costs

Item	Approximate cost (CHF)	Notes
Train, Lucerne to Meiringen return	60-70 (half fare: 30-35)	Covered by Swiss Travel Pass
Aare Gorge entry, adult	8	Roughly 50% discount with Swiss Travel Pass
Aare Gorge entry, child	4
Reichenbach Falls funicular, adult return	14	Roughly 50% discount with Swiss Travel Pass
Sherlock Holmes Museum entry	8	Small, self-guided
Hasliberg gondola, adult return	30	Separate from the funicular and gorge tickets

These figures move a little from year to year and are meant as a planning guide rather than a quote; check current prices before you travel, particularly if you are relying on a specific discount from the Swiss Travel Pass.

Frequently asked questions about the Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls

Is the Aare Gorge open all year?

No. The gorge typically opens from early April to early November, weather and water levels permitting. It closes over winter because ice and rockfall make the narrow walkways unsafe, and it can close temporarily after heavy rain even in season.

How much does the Aare Gorge cost to enter?

Expect around CHF 8 for an adult and roughly CHF 4 for a child, payable at either the Meiringen or Innertkirchen entrance. Prices are set locally and change slightly year to year, so treat these as a guide rather than a guarantee.

Does the Swiss Travel Pass cover the Aare Gorge or the Reichenbach Falls funicular?

Neither is included outright, though the Swiss Travel Pass usually gives a discount of around 50 percent on both. The train journey to Meiringen itself is fully covered by the pass.

Why is Reichenbach Falls linked to Sherlock Holmes?

Arthur Conan Doyle set the fictional death of Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls in the 1893 story “The Final Problem”, where Holmes and Professor Moriarty struggle on a ledge above the water. Meiringen has leaned into the connection ever since, with a Sherlock Holmes Museum and a statue in the town.

Can you visit the Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls without a car?

Yes. Both are reachable on foot or by local bus from Meiringen railway station, which sits on the Lucerne-Interlaken line. Neither site requires a rental car.

Is the Aare Gorge suitable for children or people who dislike heights?

Children generally manage the walkways fine, since the path is fenced and mostly flat with a few steps, but it runs directly along a rock face with drops to the water below, which can unsettle anyone uneasy with exposure. There is no wheelchair access and pushchairs are difficult on the narrower sections.

What is the Hasliberg and is it worth adding to the day?

The Hasliberg is the sunny plateau above Meiringen, reached by gondola, with hiking trails and views to the Wetterhorn and Engelhörner peaks. It adds two to three hours and is worth it mainly for hikers rather than anyone trying to keep the day short.