Altdorf Klausenpass Urnerboden Linthal (595 and Via Alpina Route 1)

Done in 5hrs 15 min moving time (*difference to total time due to high temperatures on 26.6.19 and a few drinking, shade-stops...).

Very good views throughout route as the higher areas are grassy and away from trees. Little shade.

Quite a few streams to refill water once you finish the big climb to Klausenpass.

The route starts in Altdorf train station. The first 4 km are asphalt and you can avoid that by taking bus to Brügg (Bürglen UR) and start at the base of the cable car. If you want to cut 600 metres of constant climb you can take cable car to Riedlig.

Riedlig Biel Cable car
Ruogig Cable Car


Once you get to the 1700 metre altitude the route is comparatively flat until Klausenpass

In Klausenpass you have a bus stop if you want to cut things short and a small parking.

From Klausenpass the path is quite well marked. Once you get to the river you will follow that along the valley.

The Urnerboden valley belongs to Kanton Uri even though it is only reachable from Uri when snow melts in the Klausenpass in the summer months (there is a probably apocryphal story behind it about settling that border dispute with two runners setting off from Altdorf and Linthal-Glarus to settle the cantonal border dispute where they met Urnerboden myth )

One bit I strongly recommend against is taking part of the road down to Linthal. It has essentially no hard shoulders and a few tight curves with limited visibility. It´s outright dangerous to run-walk.

This is a heavier route. You will gain 2148 metres and lose 1947 metres according to Schweizmobil (these are more accurate than wikiloc). SchweizMobil Route


Obviously if a route starts at 447 metres and finishes at 667 metres you have to have gone up more than gone down (here wikiloc´s algorithm, which supposedly brings the GPS points back to ground level and measures the distance, is not picking it up).