Rigi Scheidegg, Mountain summit in Gersau District, Switzerland

Rigi Scheidegg is a mountain summit at 1,656 meters (5,430 feet) accessible via cable car systems from two directions. The hilltop holds a restaurant and observation point where visitors can stand and see mountains stretching from nearby ranges to distant alpine peaks.

A grand hotel was built on this summit starting in the 1830s and operated for more than a century. The structure was demolished in 1943 as mountain tourism shifted and interest in remote alpine hotels declined.

The name Rigi comes from a Swiss German word for the horizontal bands of rock and grass that ring the massif; it was first recorded around 1350 in a description of the Küssnacht court. The plural form Rigenen gave way to the singular Rigi in a 1439 document. The summit's cable car station, 160 m east of the top, is called Rigi Scheidegg.

You can reach the summit by taking one of two cable car lines, either from the Goldau direction or from Obergschwand. Weather conditions change rapidly at this elevation, so bring warmer clothing even on clear days in the valley below.

The summit once hosted a large hotel built in 1830; falling tourism after World War I and the shift from overnight stays to day trips closed it, and it was demolished in 1943/4. The Cinema Museum in London holds rare home movie footage of the town filmed in 1946.