Vierwaldstättersee - Western & southern shores (driving tour)

A combined funicular and cableway ascends in 25 minutes to the panoramic restaurant on the Stanserhorn-Kulm (1,849 m/6,067ft), five minutes below the summit of the Stanserhorn (1,901 m/6,237ft), from which there are superb views of the Uri, Unterwalden and Bernese Alps, the Vierwaldstätter See and the Alpine foreland.

At the near end of Beckenried, on the left, is the departure point of the car ferry to Gersau. Beckenried (440 m/1,444ft), a long straggling village at the end of the lakeside road, also popular as a quiet holiday resort. A cableway runs up to the Klewenalp (1,600/5,250ft) from which there is a beautiful view embracing the lake, the Rigi, the Mythen, the Glarus Alps and the Alpine foreland area with its lakes (good skiing; ski-lifts).

The next highway exit after Stans leads to Buochs (440 m/1,444ft), a village, beautifully situated on the bay of the same name, which attracts many summer visitors; it has a church prominently located on higher ground. From here, a good road runs north to Ennetbürgen, below the east side of the Bürgenstock (road only as far as the Kurhaus Honegg: beyond this point no through traffic). Beyond Buochs, the road to Seelisberg skirts the lake, with a beautiful view of the Rigi.

Beyond Beckenried, the road to Seelisberg leaves the lake and crosses the highway to Emmetten (762 m/2,500ft), a straggling village and summer holiday resort in a sheltered setting. The road continues uphill for a short distance before descending steeply near the church into a beautiful green Alpine valley and then climbing again on a moderate gradient to the Niederbauen (1,927 m/6,322ft: on right, a cableway from Emmetten) and the Stutzberg. From Emmetten there is a cableway to the Stockhütte (1,286 m/4,219ft).

From Stans, the road to Seelisberg (Treib) branches off on the left and rejoins the N2 highway, which crosses the fertile open valley of the Engelberger Aa and then the river. To the left is the Bürgenstock, to the right the Buochsehorn, ahead the Rigi.

Beyond the Seelisberger See a road branches off on the right to the Rütli meadow in the middle of the forest, where tradition has it that the Swiss Confederation was established. Here, in 1291, the three "forest cantons" of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden joined in an alliance which became the foundation of the "Perpetual League" against the Habsburgs. The Tell legend, which received its classical form in Schiller's drama "William Tell" (1804), was a later addition to the traditional story.

The Lucerne road runs to the health resort of Seelisberg (804-845 m/2,638-2,772ft), situated on a wooded terrace high above the Vierwaldstätter See. The road passes the pilgrimage chapel of Maria-Sonnenberg (1667) and the funicular to Treib, and then descends through the forest, after which there is a superb view of the Vierwaldstätter See and the Rigi.

In 3km/2mi from Emmetten, the road winds its way up through forest and then runs down and passes through a tunnel, beyond which there is a picturesque view of the Seelisberger See far below (736 m/2,415ft; beach).

Treib (440 m/1,444ft), picturesquely set on the tongue of land between the Vierwaldstätter See and the Urner See, was formerly a little trading town and a haven for shipping on the lake. A funicular goes up to the Seelisberg (1,149 m/3,770ft, eight minutes) where there is a charming inn, built in 1903 in imitation of the previous inn (1658). Treib, where the road ends, has a landing-stage for the lake ships. The highway southeast of Beckenried, opened in 1980, passes through the 9.3km/5.8mi long Seelisberg Tunnel to the south bank of Lake Uri and then to the St Gotthard road.