The Stoosbahn climbs 744 metres at a gradient of 110%
The steepest funicular in the world is the reason to come, and it's fully covered by your Swiss Travel Pass. The ride from Schwyz takes 4 to 7 minutes, and the cabins tilt as the track steepens so you stay upright while the mountain tips over sideways around you. Departures are every 30 minutes at xx:10 and xx:40, daily, all year. Nothing sells out, nothing needs reserving, you just walk on.
The waste heat from the funicular's engine is piped into three buildings in Stoos. The steepest railway in the world also does the heating.
Getting to Stoos from Lucerne takes about 1h 30mins
- Train from Lucerne to Schwyz.
- Bus from Schwyz station to the funicular's valley station.
- Funicular up to Stoos village, 4 to 7 minutes.
There's a second way up, a cable car from Morschach, and it's covered in full too at the same fare. Coming up one side and down the other makes a decent loop if you're not in a hurry, though the Schwyz funicular is the one you actually came for.
Without a pass the funicular is CHF 23.30 return, and the full excursion from Lucerne including train and bus is CHF 70.80. That CHF 70.80 is transport only. It does not include a single metre of chairlift.
What the Swiss Travel Pass covers at Stoos
Everything as far as the village, and nothing above it.
| Ride | With the Swiss Travel Pass |
|---|---|
| Train and bus from Lucerne | Free |
| Stoosbahn funicular, both directions | Free |
| Morschach cable car | Free |
| Fronalpstock chairlift | Not included, discount applies |
| Klingenstock chairlift | Not included, discount applies |
So the pass gets you to a car-free village with restaurants and easy paths, and then stops at the bottom of the two lifts that take you to the views. If you want the mountains where absolutely everything is included, the mountain coverage guide sorts them by tier, and the no-discount list covers the ones where the pass does nothing at all.
The Peak Experience ticket covers both chairlifts
The Peak Experience day ticket gives you unlimited rides on the Fronalpstock and Klingenstock chairlifts plus the funicular and the Morschach cable car. It's CHF 58 on site, CHF 56 booked online, and it's discounted with a Swiss Travel Pass. Sources disagree on exactly how much that reduction is, and one quotes summer 2026 at CHF 60 for adults, CHF 20 for children 6 to 15 and free under 6. Ask at the counter with your pass in hand rather than trusting a number you read in advance.
Winter is clearer: the Gipfel Erlebnis ticket to Fronalpstock and back is CHF 46 full price and CHF 25 with a Swiss Travel Pass. That's a 46% cut and it's the best value moment on this mountain.
Klingenstock to Fronalpstock is 4.4km along a ridge above ten lakes
This is the walk, and it's why you'd pay for the chairlifts. It's 4.4km with about 400m of climbing and 400m of descent, on a narrow rocky alpine trail with stairs and some genuinely steep drop-offs. Not a stroll, and not one for anyone who dislikes exposure.
Walk it from Klingenstock to Fronalpstock, not the other way. The views build as you go, and you finish at Fronalpstock where there's a hotel. Klingenstock has toilets and picnic tables and that's your lot. From the ridge you'll count ten lakes, the Mythen, and the Muotatal peaks, and Fronalpstock looks straight down on Lake Lucerne and the Rütli meadow.
You can do it without buying any chairlift ticket. From the village it's a 13km loop with 1,057m of ascent and about five hours of walking. Only you know whether CHF 56 to CHF 60 is worth 1,057m of your legs.
The car-free village is worth two hours without going higher
Allow two hours in Stoos if you're staying at the funicular's altitude. There's no traffic, and four things to fill them with.
- Easy paths that work all year.
- The Moor Theme Trail, with games and puzzles that will keep children going far longer than a view will.
- Restaurants in the village, including Sternegg right by the funicular station.
- Hotels, if you fancy staying the night up here.
Indoors, you have village restaurants and the hotel at Fronalpstock. That's it. If the weather turns, there's nothing else to duck into.
Stoos in winter: 35km of pistes and free funicular rides
The funicular is free with your pass in winter too. There's sledging, 35km of pistes, and the chairlifts run as ski lifts. If you don't ski, the day is the village, the sledging and the view from Fronalpstock for CHF 25 with your pass.
Lucerne Travel Pass vs Swiss Travel Pass at Stoos
The two passes part company at the chairlifts.
| Swiss Travel Pass | Lucerne Travel Pass | |
|---|---|---|
| Funicular and Morschach cable car | Free | Free |
| Fronalpstock and Klingenstock chairlifts | Discounted | Free |
| Ridge walk with no extra ticket | No | Yes |
The Lucerne Travel Pass covers Stoos and both chairlifts outright, which is unusual and genuinely useful if the ridge is your main reason for coming. Whether that's enough to change which pass you buy depends on the rest of your trip, and the full comparison works through it.
The other mountains near Lucerne on the pass
Rigi and Stanserhorn are the other two within reach of Lucerne. What the pass is worth on each of them, and on every other summit in the country, is on the mountain coverage guide.
