Duration: Approximately 3 to 3.5 hours of narrated hiking Distance: 9.7 km (one way, including chairlift sections) Elevation Gain: 490 m ascent / 1,190 m descent Starting Elevation: 2,222 m (Pizolhuette, upper station) Ending Elevation: 1,523 m (Gaffia, lower station) Difficulty: T2+ (moderate mountain hiking, some T3 sections) Best Season: Late June to mid-October GPS Start: 46.9585N, 9.4295E (Pizolhuette) GPS End: 46.9482N, 9.4028E (Gaffia)
Introduction
Welcome to one of the most celebrated day hikes in eastern Switzerland: the Five Lakes Walk on Pizol. Over the next three to three and a half hours, you will traverse a landscape of extraordinary beauty, visiting five mountain lakes, each with its own character, nestled beneath the glaciated peak of Pizol at 2,844 metres.
You are in the heart of the Heidiland region, named after Johanna Spyri's beloved novel "Heidi," which was set in the mountains near Maienfeld, just a few valleys to the south. While Heidi may be fiction, the landscape that inspired the story is very real, and today you will walk through some of its most spectacular scenery.
The Five Lakes Walk begins at the Pizolhuette, reached by gondola from Wangs to Furt and then by chairlift to the Pizolhuette at 2,222 metres. The route visits Wangsersee, Wildsee, Schottensee, Schwarzsee, and Baschalvasee before descending to the Gaffia middle station. Each lake sits at a different elevation and has a distinct colour, ranging from milky turquoise to deep emerald to near-black.
Some practical notes before we begin. The trail is rated T2 to T3 in the Swiss system. The section between Wangsersee and Wildsee involves some steeper terrain and may have snow patches into July. Wear sturdy hiking boots, carry rain gear, water, and sun protection. The trail is well-marked with white-red-white blazes throughout. There is no water available for purchase between the start and the Gaffia station, so carry at least one litre.
Let us set off. Follow the signs toward "Wangsersee" and "5-Seen-Wanderung."
Waypoint 1: Pizolhuette (2,222 m)
GPS: 46.9585N, 9.4295E
From the Pizolhuette terrace, you have a commanding view to the north and east. On clear days, you can see across the Rhine Valley to the mountains of Vorarlberg in Austria and even into Liechtenstein. The Rhine Valley below is one of the major fault lines in the Alps, a deep trough carved by ancient glaciers and now filled with the flat, fertile plain of the Rheintal.
Pizol itself is a complex mountain with a small glacier, the Pizolgletscher, clinging to its north face. This glacier is one of the smallest monitored glaciers in Switzerland and has been the subject of intense scientific study. In September 2019, a funeral ceremony was held for a portion of the glacier that had effectively died, losing so much mass that it could no longer be classified as a glacier. Swiss scientists and mourners hiked to the site in a poignant act of remembrance for what climate change has taken.
The rock beneath your feet is primarily flysch and limestone of the Helvetic nappes, geological sheets that were thrust northward during the Alpine collision. The term "nappe" comes from the French word for tablecloth, describing how these vast rock sheets were pushed over one another like cloth being dragged across a table.
Begin walking south along the well-marked trail. The path climbs gently through alpine meadow.
Next waypoint: 800 metres, approximately 15 minutes.
Waypoint 2: Wangsersee, First Lake (2,309 m)
GPS: 46.9540N, 9.4310E
Here is your first lake. Wangsersee sits in a shallow depression at 2,309 metres, the highest of the five lakes on the route. Its waters are a pale, milky blue-green, coloured by fine glacial sediment, called rock flour, suspended in the water. This sediment is ground from bedrock by the glacial ice above and washed into the lake by meltwater streams.
The lake is quite shallow and warms enough in summer to support a surprising amount of life. Look carefully at the water's edge and you may see tadpoles of the common frog, Rana temporaria, one of the few amphibian species tough enough to breed at this altitude. These tadpoles face a race against time: they must complete their metamorphosis into froglets before the lake freezes over in autumn, a window of sometimes just ten to twelve weeks.
The alpine meadows surrounding the lake are home to dozens of wildflower species. In July, look for the delicate pink blooms of the alpine rose, Rhododendron ferrugineum, which grows in dense thickets on acidic soils. You will also find the bright yellow globe flowers, Trollius europaeus, in damp areas near the lake shore, and the distinctive drumstick primrose, Primula integrifolia, in rocky crevices.
Take a few minutes to enjoy the view, then follow the trail as it continues south and begins to climb more steeply toward the second lake.
Next waypoint: 900 metres, approximately 20 minutes.
Waypoint 3: Wildsee, Second Lake (2,435 m)
GPS: 46.9505N, 9.4340E
Wildsee is often considered the most dramatic of the five lakes, and it is easy to see why. This deep glacial tarn sits at 2,435 metres in a rocky cirque directly beneath the remnants of the Pizol glacier. The water is a striking turquoise, and the setting, with near-vertical rock walls rising on three sides, feels wild and remote.
The colour of the water tells you something about its origin. The intense turquoise comes from glacial meltwater loaded with extremely fine rock flour. The suspended particles scatter sunlight in a way that preferentially reflects blue and green wavelengths. As the glacier continues to shrink, the sediment input will decrease, and the lake's colour will gradually shift toward a clearer, darker blue.
Look up at the rock walls surrounding the lake. The strata here are dramatically folded, evidence of the immense compressive forces that built the Alps. You can see layers of limestone and shale that were originally horizontal on the seabed now tilted nearly vertical. These folds formed over millions of years as the European and African plates converged, crumpling the sedimentary rocks between them like a rug pushed against a wall.
The descent from Wildsee to the third lake involves the steepest and most technically demanding section of the hike. There are some fixed chains and cables for support. Take your time, watch your footing, and use three points of contact on the steeper sections. If the rock is wet, be especially cautious.
Next waypoint: 700 metres, approximately 20 minutes.
Waypoint 4: Schottensee, Third Lake (2,333 m)
GPS: 46.9488N, 9.4305E
Welcome to Schottensee, which many hikers consider the most beautiful of the five. This lake is larger than the first two and occupies a gentler basin, giving it a serene, almost pastoral quality despite the rugged mountains above.
The water here is a deep emerald green, warmer than Wildsee and with less glacial sediment. On a calm day, the surface reflects the surrounding peaks and sky with mirror-like clarity. This is the lake most often seen on postcards and tourism brochures for the region.
The name Schottensee may derive from "Schotten," an old dialect word for a type of cheese made from whey, reflecting the area's long history of alpine dairy farming. For centuries, these high basins were summer grazing grounds for cattle and goats. The cheesemaking tradition in the region of Sarganserland and Werdenberg dates back to at least the Middle Ages, and local specialities like Pizolkaese are still produced using techniques that have changed little over the centuries.
If you are hiking in late June or July, the meadows around Schottensee are at their peak bloom. Among the flowers to look for is the edelweiss, Leontopodium alpinum, Switzerland's most famous alpine plant. Despite its fame, edelweiss is not particularly rare in its natural habitat. The woolly white bracts that surround the small yellow flowers are an adaptation to intense ultraviolet radiation at high altitude, acting as a natural sunscreen.
Find a comfortable rock and take a rest here if you wish. This is the ideal lunch spot, with flat grassy areas by the shore and a panoramic view.
Next waypoint: 600 metres, approximately 12 minutes.
Waypoint 5: Between Schottensee and Schwarzsee (2,250 m)
GPS: 46.9478N, 9.4270E
As you walk the gently descending trail between the third and fourth lakes, notice the change in vegetation. You are now below 2,300 metres, and the plant community is transitioning from the alpine to the subalpine zone. Dwarf shrubs like alpenrose, bilberry, and crowberry become more prominent, and you begin to see scattered larch trees.
This transition zone is one of the most sensitive to climate change. As temperatures rise, the treeline creeps upward, and plants that were restricted to lower elevations begin colonising higher ground. Researchers have documented an upward shift of the treeline in the Swiss Alps of roughly one to two metres per decade over the past century, with the rate accelerating in recent decades. This has profound implications for alpine ecosystems, as the unique, open habitats above the treeline gradually shrink.
Look to the west and you can see the broad Rhine Valley far below. The contrast between the lush green valley floor, barely 500 metres above sea level, and the rocky alpine landscape where you stand at 2,250 metres is striking. In the space of just a few kilometres horizontally, you pass through climate zones that, at sea level, would be separated by hundreds of kilometres of latitude.
Next waypoint: 500 metres, approximately 10 minutes.
Waypoint 6: Schwarzsee, Fourth Lake (2,190 m)
GPS: 46.9470N, 9.4240E
Schwarzsee, the Black Lake, lives up to its name. The water here is remarkably dark, almost black when seen from above, giving the lake a mysterious, slightly brooding character.
The dark colour has a simple explanation. Unlike Wildsee and Wangsersee, Schwarzsee receives little glacial meltwater. Instead, it is fed by rainwater and snowmelt that percolates through the surrounding peat and humus-rich soil. This organic material releases tannins and humic acids into the water, staining it dark brown, much like steeping tea leaves in a cup. When viewed from above, this dark water absorbs most light, appearing nearly black.
Despite the ominous colour, Schwarzsee is a healthy lake with a rich underwater ecology. The dark water actually supports a productive food web, as the dissolved organic matter feeds bacteria and algae at the base of the chain. Alpine newts, Ichthyosaura alpestris, are common here. If you watch the shallows patiently, you may spot one of these beautiful creatures, with their blue-grey backs and bright orange bellies.
The peat bogs around the lake's margins are important habitats. Peat forms extremely slowly, typically accumulating at a rate of about one millimetre per year. The bogs around Schwarzsee may have been forming for thousands of years since the glaciers retreated. They act as carbon sinks, trapping organic matter and preventing it from decomposing and releasing carbon dioxide, and they host specialised plant species including sundews and butterworts, carnivorous plants that supplement the nutrient-poor soil by catching insects.
Next waypoint: 800 metres, approximately 15 minutes.
Waypoint 7: Ridge Viewpoint (2,120 m)
GPS: 46.9468N, 9.4195E
Between Schwarzsee and the final lake, the trail traverses a broad ridge with expansive views in every direction. This is one of the best panoramic viewpoints on the hike.
To the south, you can see the peaks of the Sardona UNESCO World Heritage Site, a geological zone of global significance. The Sardona region was designated a UNESCO site in 2008 because it contains the world's best-exposed example of mountain-building processes. The Glarus Thrust, a geological boundary where older rocks were pushed over younger ones during the Alpine orogeny, is spectacularly visible as a sharp line across the mountainsides. Rocks that are 250 to 300 million years old sit on top of rocks that are only 35 to 50 million years old, a reversal of the normal geological sequence that puzzled early geologists for decades.
To the east, you can see into the Graubuenden Alps, and on very clear days, the peaks of the Silvretta group on the Austrian border are visible. To the north, the blue ribbon of the Walensee, Lake Walen, may be visible in the Rhine Valley below.
This ridge is also an excellent place to observe raptors. The bearded vulture, or Bartgeier, has been successfully reintroduced to the Swiss Alps after being hunted to extinction in the early twentieth century. With a wingspan of up to 2.8 metres, it is one of Europe's largest flying birds. Unlike other vultures, it feeds primarily on bones, dropping them from height onto rocks to shatter them and expose the marrow inside. If you see a very large bird soaring with narrow, pointed wings and a wedge-shaped tail, it may well be a bearded vulture.
Next waypoint: 600 metres, approximately 12 minutes.
Waypoint 8: Baschalvasee, Fifth Lake (2,074 m)
GPS: 46.9465N, 9.4150E
You have reached the fifth and final lake on the walk. Baschalvasee, also known as Baschlisee, sits at 2,074 metres in a wide, gentle basin, and it is the largest of the five lakes.
The colour here is a warm green, reflecting the grassy slopes that surround the lake on all sides. Compared to the dramatic settings of Wildsee and Schwarzsee, Baschalvasee has a more peaceful, accessible feel. It is often the warmest of the five lakes, and on hot summer days, brave hikers sometimes wade in for a swim, though the water rarely exceeds 15 degrees Celsius even at the peak of summer.
The name Baschalva likely derives from Romansh, the fourth national language of Switzerland, which is spoken in parts of Graubuenden. The Romansh language, a descendant of Latin, has been spoken in the Alpine valleys of eastern Switzerland for nearly two millennia and is now spoken by roughly 60,000 people. Its survival in an increasingly German-speaking region is a testament to the cultural resilience of mountain communities.
This lake marks the beginning of the final descent. Take a moment to look back at the route you have covered. From Wildsee's turquoise glacial tarn to Schwarzsee's dark, tannin-stained waters, you have seen five very different lakes, each coloured and shaped by distinct geological and ecological processes.
Next waypoint: 1,000 metres, approximately 20 minutes.
Waypoint 9: The Alpine Dairy Zone (1,900 m)
GPS: 46.9475N, 9.4110E
The trail now descends through a landscape that has been shaped by human hands for centuries. You are passing through traditional alpine grazing land, and you may see or hear cattle in the surrounding meadows.
The agricultural system here is typical of the region. Farmers in the valley below maintain small holdings and, in summer, send their cattle and goats up to the Alp under the care of a Senn, an alpine dairyman, who lives in a simple hut and makes cheese from the daily milk. This system, known as Alpwirtschaft, allows farmers to utilise pastures that would otherwise be inaccessible and produces cheese with distinctive flavours derived from the high-altitude grazing.
The region around Pizol is in the canton of St. Gallen, one of the historically most important textile and dairy centres of Switzerland. The abbey of St. Gallen, founded in the seventh century, was one of the great centres of learning in medieval Europe, and its library, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains manuscripts dating back to the eighth century. The monks were among the first to systematically document alpine agriculture and natural history in the region.
Next waypoint: 800 metres, approximately 15 minutes.
Waypoint 10: Forest Descent (1,750 m)
GPS: 46.9480N, 9.4078E
The trail now enters a beautiful subalpine forest dominated by Norway spruce and European larch. The canopy provides welcome shade on warm days, and the forest floor is carpeted with mosses, ferns, and bilberry bushes.
Norwegian spruce, Picea abies, is the most common tree species in the Swiss Alps and the traditional Christmas tree of German-speaking Europe. These trees can grow to over 50 metres tall and live for several hundred years. Their shallow root systems make them vulnerable to windthrow, and you may see some toppled giants along the trail, their root plates exposed. These fallen trees are not waste. They provide critical habitat for insects, fungi, and small mammals, and as they decompose over decades, they return nutrients to the soil and create nursery sites for new seedlings.
Listen for the calls of the Eurasian jay, a colourful corvid with a distinctive screeching call. Jays are important seed dispersers in the forest, particularly for oaks. They cache acorns in autumn, burying them in the soil, and the ones they forget germinate into new trees. This behaviour has helped oaks colonise new areas after each ice age.
The trail is straightforward through the forest. Continue following the yellow signs toward Gaffia.
Next waypoint: 700 metres, approximately 12 minutes.
Waypoint 11: Gaffia Middle Station (1,523 m)
GPS: 46.9482N, 9.4028E
You have arrived at the Gaffia middle station, the end of the Five Lakes Walk. The chairlift from here will take you down to Wangs in the valley.
Closing
Congratulations on completing the Five Lakes Walk on Pizol. Over the past three hours, you have hiked 9.7 kilometres, visited five mountain lakes, descended nearly 700 metres, and traversed some of the finest alpine scenery in eastern Switzerland.
You have also walked through a landscape of immense geological significance, a region where the forces that built the Alps are visible and tangible, from the folded strata at Wildsee to the thrust sheets of the nearby Sardona UNESCO site.
For your descent, the chairlift from Gaffia operates throughout the hiking season. Check the schedule for the last departure, as it varies by season. From Wangs, buses connect to the town of Bad Ragaz and the railway station, where you can catch trains to Zurich, Chur, or anywhere in Switzerland.
If you have energy remaining, the thermal baths of Bad Ragaz, fed by the famous Tamina Gorge hot springs, are just a short bus ride away and offer a perfect way to soak tired muscles after a day in the mountains.
Thank you for hiking with ch.tours. We hope the five lakes of Pizol have given you memories as vivid as their colours. Safe travels, and enjoy the rest of your time in Heidiland.