Free Walking Tour Andermatt: Churches and Schöllenen

Your Andermatt Walk Stop by Stop, from Gotthardstrasse to the Brückenteufel

1. 1

   Andermatt Village Market

   Start with the right expectation. The Andermatt Village Market is not a square with fixed stalls; it is the Gotthardstrasse, the public street that forms the heart of the village. Most days it looks exactly like that, a street with village life going on along it.

   The stalls do appear, but only on selected car-free days and on seasonal event days, when the street turns into the market its name promises. Catch one of those days and you see Andermatt at its most sociable. On any other day you are not missing the stop, you are standing on it.

   Take a look around, because this is also where the loop ends. The Schöllenen Gorge Overlook is right here at the start. The parish church is 100 m away, a two-minute walk.

   Location

   Andermatt Village Market on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Church of St. Peter and Paul

   

   The Katholische Kirche St. Peter und Paul is the church the village actually uses, and the calmest stop of the tour. The parish lives here now; services are held and published, and the rest of the time the door stays open. When a service is on, it comes first, so step in quietly or come back afterwards.

   Go in. It is free, and a main church still in parish use tells you more about a mountain village than any brochure. Keep the building in mind: its cemetery holds one of the chapels further along, and the old church it replaced comes later on the loop.

   The museum is only 120 m on, two minutes away.

   Local name

   Katholische Kirche St. Peter und Paul

   Hours

   Always open

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Church of St. Peter and Paul on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Ursern Valley Museum

   

   The Talmuseum Ursern is the only stop with a ticket and the only one with a short season, and its opening times are tight as well. Outside them you walk past a closed door, whatever your plans say.

   The ticket is the smaller hurdle, and a Swiss Museum Pass or Raiffeisen membership gets you in for free. A valley museum explains the ground the rest of the loop covers, so if you care about how the Ursern valley lived, it is worth an hour. If the timing does not fit, skip it without guilt, or loop back at the end, since the walk finishes just 220 m away.

   From here it is 340 m, about six minutes, to the first of the chapels.

   Local name

   Talmuseum Ursern

   Hours

   Wed–Sat 16:00–18:30 (summer season July 1 – October 17, 2026)

   Price

   9 CHF adults, 5 CHF children, 7 CHF guest card, free with Swiss Museum Pass / Raiffeisen

   Website

   museum-ursern.ch ↗

   Location

   Ursern Valley Museum on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Mariahilfkapelle

   

   The Maria-Hilf-Kapelle is a pilgrimage chapel built in 1735 and 1736, a place people came to with a request rather than for Sunday Mass. It costs nothing, so step inside for a few quiet minutes.

   This is where the loop starts counting backwards. Each of the next two church buildings is older than the one before, and the Mariahilfkapelle is the youngest of the three.

   Next is a six-minute walk of 440 m to the chapel of the dead.

   Local name

   Maria-Hilf-Kapelle

   Hours

   Daily 09:00–17:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Mariahilfkapelle on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Totenkapelle Sankt Michael

   

   The Totenkapelle St. Michael dates from 1640 and stands in the cemetery of the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Its other name is Beinhaus, bone house, and the name is meant literally: it was built for the parish's dead, not for its living congregation. Stepping inside is free.

   Nearly a century separates it from the Mariahilfkapelle, and the oldest layer is still to come. Andermatt's church history is not arranged neatly around the village; the route simply lines it up for you in reverse.

   This is also the point of decision. The next leg is 960 m, 13 minutes, and the one after that 17 more. If the full distance was never your plan, turn back into the village here.

   Hours

   Daily 09:00–17:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Totenkapelle Sankt Michael on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Kolumbankirche

   

   The Alte Kirche St. Kolumban is the oldest layer: a Romanesque church that is no longer used by the parish, which moved to St. Peter and Paul. Expect the door to be shut and treat it as an exterior stop.

   It earns that on its own. After 1735 and 1640, the architecture itself is the exhibit, the only Romanesque building on the route and the last church before the walk changes subject entirely.

   Then comes the longest stretch out of the village: 1020 m, 17 minutes, to the Suworow Monument and the gorge.

   Local name

   Alte Kirche St. Kolumban

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Kolumbankirche on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   Suworow Monument

   

   The Suworow-Denkmal is a memorial cross cut directly into the rock of the Schöllenen gorge. Since September 1898 it has honoured the Russian soldiers who fell here on 25 September 1799, in a battle of the War of the Second Coalition between Napoleonic troops under Claude-Jacques Lecourbe and the Tsar's army under General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.

   Stand in front of it for a while. A Russian monument carved into a Swiss gorge is a reminder that this narrow passage was once worth fighting over by armies from far away. It is open around the clock and free.

   The Devil's Bridge is 160 m on, two minutes away.

   Local name

   Suworow-Denkmal

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Suworow Monument on Google Maps ↗

8. 8

   Devil's Bridge (Teufelsbrücke)

   

   The Teufelsbrücke is the bridge that gives the gorge its legend and its most famous name. It is open 24/7 and free, and you cross or view it as part of the walk rather than visiting it.

   Look at how the crossing sits in the rock and you see why this was the key point of the whole passage. Keep the devil in mind: you meet him in person at the last stop.

   The gorge paths start just 20 m away.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Devil's Bridge (Teufelsbrücke) on Google Maps ↗

9. 9

   Schöllenen Gorge

   

   Now the gorge itself, the reason the route has such a long middle. The Schöllenenschlucht is a natural gorge with an open network of walking paths around it, a circular route among them, with no ticket and no gate.

   This is where the tour slows down on purpose. The village stops were about people, their church and their dead; here the mountain sets the terms. Give it half an hour if you can, there is no rush to the end.

   The last stop is only 30 m further.

   Local name

   Schöllenenschlucht

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Location

   Schöllenen Gorge on Google Maps ↗

10. 10

    Der Brückenteufel

    The devil, at last. Der Brückenteufel is a painting by Heinrich Danioth from 1950, applied straight onto the rock at the Devil's Bridge: public, always visible, free.

    Line up the dates and the gorge tells its own story: 1799, the battle; 1898, the memorial cross; 1950, the devil on the wall. You have now stood in front of all three.

    From here the loop closes with its longest leg, 1950 m and 31 minutes, back to the Gotthardstrasse where you started. If the Talmuseum is open when you get back, it is a short walk away.

    Hours

    Open 24/7

    Location

    Der Brückenteufel on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Andermatt

The loop splits naturally into a village half and a gorge half. The two longest legs out to the gorge begin after the Totenkapelle, so that is where you decide.

Village and chapels only

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

For a short morning or a rainy hour: the market street, the parish church, the museum from outside or inside, and two chapels from 1735 and 1640. About 16 minutes of walking from the Gotthardstrasse to the Totenkapelle, plus your stroll back into the village. The museum is the only entry fee, and only if its afternoon hours suit you.

Gorge only

Stops: 7, 8, 9, 10

For anyone who came for the Schöllenen and has little patience for church history. The Suworow Monument, the Devil's Bridge, the gorge paths and the Brückenteufel lie within 4 minutes of walking of each other; the leg from the Brückenteufel back to the Gotthardstrasse adds 31 minutes. Everything here is free and open around the clock.

The full loop

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

For a half day with good shoes: all ten stops, 5.2 km and 1 h 20 min of pure walking. The Ursern Valley Museum is the only ticket, and you can leave it for the end of the day if the timing works.

How Long the Andermatt Loop Takes, With and Without the Museum

The order follows the dates. From the parish church you go back in time chapel by chapel, 1735, then 1640, then the Romanesque Kolumbankirche, and only then does the route leave the village for the gorge, where the story jumps to 1799, 1898 and 1950. The legs in the village are short, two to six minutes each; the real distance sits in three legs: 13 minutes to the Kolumbankirche, 17 minutes on to the Suworow Monument and 31 minutes from the Brückenteufel back to the start.

A sample afternoon that puts the museum at the end: leave the Gotthardstrasse at 13:35, spend ten minutes in the Church of St. Peter and Paul and walk past the museum to the Mariahilfkapelle by 13:55. Ten minutes in each chapel brings you to the Kolumbankirche at 14:34 and, after a short look, to the Suworow Monument at 14:56. Allow ten minutes there, ten at the Devil's Bridge and half an hour in the gorge; you reach the Brückenteufel at 15:50 and are back on the Gotthardstrasse at 16:26. Church and museum are 220 m away, so on a day the museum is open you are inside the Talmuseum by about 16:30.

Skip the museum and the full loop takes close to three hours. The village half alone fits into about an hour with visits; the gorge half, including the walk back, into about an hour and a quarter.

Before You Set Off in Andermatt

• Start and finish: The recommended start is the Andermatt Village Market on the Gotthardstrasse, and the loop brings you back there. You can join at any stop, for example straight at the Suworow Monument if you only want the gorge.
• Best day and time: If you want the museum, come on a summer afternoon, since its season is short and its hours are limited. See the Mariahilfkapelle and the Totenkapelle Sankt Michael earlier in the day. The gorge paths are walked freely in the summer half of the year and close for weather in winter.
• Costs: Everything on the route is free except the Ursern Valley Museum, which charges admission and is free with a Swiss Museum Pass or Raiffeisen membership. The route, map and GPS navigation are free; the AI Tour Guide starts with 100 free credits, then costs €19.99 for this tour all-inclusive with no time limit, or €5 per hour.

Common Questions About Walking Andermatt