Eidgenössischen Schwing- und Älplerfest (ESAF) 2025

Aug 29, 2025 - Aug 31, 2025
Glarus, Switzerland

The ‘Eidgenössische Schwing- und Älplerfest’ (Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival) is the largest recurring sporting event and one of the largest folk festivals in Switzerland.

If you want to see and experience a Swiss national sport up close, you should travel to the ‘Eidgenössische’, as the festival is often abbreviated. This is where the best Swiss wrestlers, known as ‘Bösen’, fight in a sand circle for the title of ‘Schwingerkönig’ (wrestling king). And the winner receives a live ‘Muni’, which is Swiss German for a bull.

In addition to wrestling, the focus is also on hornussen and stone-throwing, which are also traditional Swiss sports. The spectacle is complemented by folk performances. Around the stadium, which seats 56,000 guests – tickets for which are in high demand – the sporting event is a huge folk festival that welcomes around 250,000 guests on the weekend of the event.

Experience Swiss traditions. Our traditional family-run Hotel Alexander is located in the old town of Zurich. The train station is a 5-minute walk away and you can take the train to Glarus, where the festival takes place, in about an hour.