St Gallen’s 140 stairways connect the city’s hills
Wednesday 2nd September 2026 on 06:00 in
Switzerland
St Gallen is home to around 140 stairways with a combined total of about 13,000 steps, making them one of the Swiss city’s lesser-known landmarks, SRF reports.
The stairways link the old town in the valley basin with residential districts higher up the hills. They also lead to Drei Weihern, a recreational destination, and to the University of St Gallen.
The Stägestadt project group has worked for about nine years to draw more attention to the city’s stairways. “We are fans of all these stairs and want to infect others with our enthusiasm,” said project leader Patrick Fust. The group holds Stägestadt Day at the beginning of September, when the steps are used as stages or spectator stands.
Anyone completing all the official stairways would have to climb around 13,000 steps. In 2018, hobby runner Markus Piasente ran up all 140 stairways, covering almost 3,000 metres in elevation and spending more than 12 hours on the challenge.
The longest is the stairway to Falkenburg, with 526 steps. The Gesstreppe is popular with runners as the starting and finishing point of a jogging route. Running up the stairs is also a popular challenge in school sports.
Fust encourages people to use the stairs in everyday life. “It is free fitness,” he said.
Built as the city expanded
St Gallen’s many stairways date back to the end of the 19th century, when the city’s population doubled within a few years during the embroidery boom. As the city expanded along the hills and new housing was needed, stairways were built to connect the new residential districts.
Many of the 140 stairways share a distinctive design. Traditional St Gallen stairs have larchwood steps secured with long nails, while the space beneath them is filled first with gravel and later with asphalt. They also have a firwood handrail.
The city’s roads department maintains the stairways, including clearing ice during wet and cold winters. This is particularly important because the wooden steps can become very slippery.
Other Swiss cities, including Fribourg, Bern and Zurich, also have numerous stairways. But Fust believes St Gallen probably has the most. He estimates that if six people stood on every step, the entire city population could fit on them.