Vacation home owner annoyed "Stoos is completely overrun - almost like the Aescher"
This summer, Stoos is more crowded than ever, complains a blue News reader who owns a vacation home in the Schwyz recreation area. She also says that international tourists don't get much information.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Stoos, a car-free village and ski resort in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, is becoming increasingly popular with day-trippers.
- One reader tells blue News how big the rush of tourists is this year.
- Tourists are now arriving from all over the world and are often not well equipped for hiking.
- This leads to long waiting times at the cable car stations and the parking situation has also worsened.
You've been looking forward to your weekend trip for a long time and then you get a rude awakening at the cable car station: What felt like a thousand other day trippers had the same idea and wanted to take advantage of the good weather for a trip into the beautiful Swiss mountains.
Simone P.* can tell you a thing or two about that. For the Zurich resident, the car-free Stoos has always been a "retreat" where she and her family could simply leave the stress of the city behind and relax. For this reason, and because of its proximity to Zurich, Simone decided to buy a vacation home in the Schwyz recreation area in 2007.
While Stoos used to mean pure relaxation for Simone, this has changed significantly today: "There has been a real rush in recent years, with people coming from all over the world." In particular, she has recently noticed an increase in tourists from Asia.
So the peace and quiet on Stoos has been over for a while now. "If we want to go up at the weekend, we now always have to plan well - either arrive super early or really late - because otherwise you simply have to queue for far too long at the valley station."
The parking situation has also worsened. "Sometimes we have to park much further away, but then shuttle buses are organized." The vacation home owner is only used to this in winter, when it's high season. Simone adds: "This has never really been an issue in summer. But now people really do come to Stoos all year round."
"The funicular is simply spectacular"
According to the Zurich native, the newly built Stoos Lodge right next to the mountain railway station and the impressive Stoos funicular itself could be partly to blame for the hype surrounding Stoos: a ride on the world's steepest funicular is a popular attraction and draws a large number of day visitors.
According to the Stoos-Muota Valley Tourism annual report, 13.4 percent more day tourists traveled to Stoos in 2023 compared to the previous year. While 566,233 day visitors were recorded in 2022, this figure rose to 642,155 in the following year.
Around 60,000 posts can now be found on Instagram under the hashtag #Stoos, and the famous funicular can often be seen in the posts. "It could very well be that social media has made Stoos even more famous internationally. But the funicular is also simply spectacular."
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Stoos was more likely to attract only Swiss or European visitors, but today the public has become much more international. Simone finds this "steep": Many of the tourists don't get enough information before they arrive and go hiking on Stoos in simple summer clothes.
The rush is not quite as bad as on the Aescher, but it is heading in that direction. Simone says: "The many visitors are certainly great for the Stoos itself, they certainly bring in huge amounts of revenue, but the place itself loses a lot of its authenticity as a result."
Migration of people on the hiking trails
What will it take for the situation to improve? "Unfortunately, you can't make Stoos any bigger, so maybe it's just a new reality that we have to accept from now on," says Simone.
However, the Zurich resident has no regrets about buying a vacation home on the Stoos all those years ago: "I still think it's beautiful, the Stoos is so close to Zurich and the perfect place for family vacations because it's car-free." The Schwyz recreation area is simply "a different world".
Fortunately, Simone is spared the hustle and bustle, as it is mainly in the town center. The family still has peace and quiet at their little house.
The Zurich native is already curious to see how big the rush will be this winter. Simone says: "Sometimes it feels like a mass migration on the hiking trails. We'll see what it's like on the ski slopes in high season."
* Name changed.
