Seealpsee

An hour's climb from the railway terminus at Wasserauen brings you to a lake at about 1,143 metres, some 13.6 hectares and a couple of hundred metres across, held in a hollow with the limestone of the Alpstein standing straight up behind it. Two alpine farms sit by the water and make cheese through the summer, cattle graze the meadow, and on a still morning the whole wall of rock is repeated in the surface. From here paths continue up to Ebenalp, passing the Wildkirchli, a set of caves in the cliff used by hermits and, far earlier, by ice age hunters, with a small chapel built into the rock. A cable car from Wasserauen to Ebenalp offers a way up or down without the climb. The lake also supplies Appenzell with water and power.

What's there

• The lake and the wall behind it - limestone rising straight out of the far shore.
• The reflections - the cliffs repeated in still water early and late in the day.
• The alpine farms - cheese made beside the water through the summer months.
• The Wildkirchli caves - caves and a rock chapel on the path up to Ebenalp.

When to go

June to October, once snow has gone from the path and the farms are up on the alp. Early morning gives the best reflections and the fewest people; by ten on a summer weekend the track is a steady line of walkers. Autumn is quieter, with the farms closed for the season and the light lower.

Things to know

The walk up is short but steep and on hard surfaced track that is punishing on the knees coming down. The lake is small and can be walked round in twenty minutes, so the visit is mostly the approach. Summer weekends are very busy, parking at Wasserauen fills early, and the water is cold enough to make swimming brief.

Nearby

Appenzell village below, Ebenalp on the cliff above, and Säntis across the Alpstein.

Key facts