Beyond Beckenried, the main highway dips into a long tunnel beneath the cliffs and forests of the Seelisberg peninsula, emerging further south close to Flüelen. Buses from Stans, however, follow a minor road up onto the plateau itself, through the village of Emmetten, and on, with ever-more spectacular panoramas over the glittering lake, until you round a corner to be met with a sign reading “Welcome to the International Capital of the Age of Enlightenment”. This is little SEELISBERG, home to the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Centre, housed in a spectacularly sited Victorian hotel on the village outskirts (041/820 57 50), and offering everything from a one-day massage treatment for Fr.300, to a two-week residential cure for Fr.4000.

The village proper, a crow’s nest of a place with expansive lake views, is as peaceful as you could hope for. A funicular from the northern end of the main street shadows the steep path coiling down the cliff to the quaint old lakeside inn and boat station of Treib below, directly opposite Brunnen. Below the top funicular station, on the short path which ends up at the Rütli meadow (see box p.358), you’ll find an HI hostel (& fax 041/820 17 84; April–Oct), with simple dorms for Fr.21. Otherwise, Seelisberg has a handful of inexpensive hotels, including the comfortable, family-run Montana (041/820 12 68, fax 820 12 69; ), and Bellevue (041/820 16 26, fax 820 16 17; ), a rather plusher option with lake views. You can camp south of the village on the Seeli lakelet (041/820 35 96; May–Sept), or west of Beckenried near Buochs (041/620 34 74; April–Oct).