Less than ten minutes after starting from Einsiedeln railway station, you are on the monastery square, with the Frauenbrunnen fountain in front of the striking monastery complex. It is Switzerland's most important Marian pilgrimage site. The foundation for the Benedictine monastery was laid in 934. There is still a lively monastic community today with much to offer to pilgrims and those interested.

Passing a residential neighbourhood and the industrial area, you soon cross the Alp, an almost twenty-kilometre-long tributary of the Sihl. After a few pastures, you follow the stream to Alpthal. At the end of the valley, you can see the Grosse Mythen; a little later, the Kleine Mythen are also visible. In Alpthal, after about two and a half hours of hiking, the trail branches off to the right. From here, it's a strenuous 45-minute uphill walk. A little above Bogenfang, fantastic views of the Mythen, the valley and the opposite mountain peaks open up.

A short while later, Haggenegg invites you to take a break. The views of Lake Lauerz and Lake Lucerne are breathtaking, as is the sight of Mount Rigi and the much higher Alpine peaks in the distance.

For the next hour and a half, the trail leads, at times steeply, down to Schwyz. After a section on a forest path, the route soon continues on a paved road. It ends on Schwyz's town square after a five-and-a-half-hour hike with plenty of spectacular views.

Between Lake Lucerne and the small Lake Lauerz lies the lively little town of Schwyz. Switzerland owes its name and also its coat of arms to this place. In 1291, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden joined forces to form a confederation and drove out the Habsburgs in 1315 with a victory in the Battle of Morgarten.

Schwyz, the capital of the canton of the same name, is home to the Forum of Swiss History, which is part of the Swiss National Museum, and the Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation, where the most important covenants of the Old Swiss Confederation are on display.