This is part two of my post on Switzerland. Find part one here on Lucerne.
Jungfaru, one of the most touristy mountain areas. There are plenty of spots to stay here, with the most popular being Interlaken. Interlaken in itself is a town so you get the benefits of restaurants and shops at your convenience. But it can look a bit dull in this season, as the mists hang low and the sun isn’t strong (dropped by once at night and it was sad). It’s the main station to go everywhere else, but if Alps is your destination, you’re only heading upwards so you can afford to stay further up. I chose the valleys of Lauterbrunnen as cable cars / trains to popular peaks start there.
Accommodation in Lauterbrunnen (2 nights)
Valley Hostel
Address: Fuhren, 3822 Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (about 5 min walk from train station, cable car station and COOP supermarket)
Price: SGD$45/night for a bed in 6-bed room, breakfast available at a price, kitchen available for guest use
Getting to Lauterbrunnen is super easy as it’s a straight train ride from Interlaken. Lauterbrunnen was super beautiful and quaint despite the famous waterfall being half frozen in the weather. Yes there is no dramatic mountain views, but given I spend most of the day trying to find those views outside, it’s nice to stay in Lauterbrunnen that offers a different atmosphere.
Super majestic Lauterbrunnen with the sun rays shining over the cliffs. Sigh.
Valley Hostel itself was great. I was also lucky on the first night no one stayed in my hostel room so I had the room to myself! Hostel hosts were super friendly and helpful. The bathroom with its multiple cubicles in the basement felt a tad bit creepy, probably because i bathed really late at night. But otherwise, clean, comfy and with a nice view out.
Forgot to take a pic of the room but i did take the view:
Beautiful view of the (frozen) falls from my room
Things to do in Jungfrau
Hmm let’s see. There are three major activities the way I see it.
- Touristy spots i.e. all the top of Europe, top of mountain, panoramic views.
- All the snow sports and activities
- Trekking
I did 1 and 3, regretfully I didn’t manage to have time to do 2 but I did do like a kids’ version of 2 hahaha which i will talk about later.
Murren Hiking Trail
Getting to the start of the hiking trail
The trail to Murren starts at Grütschalp which is accessible from Lauterbrunnen by cable car. The cable car station is right opposite the Lauterbrunnen train station so it’s difficult to miss. The cable cars run every hour so be sure not to miss the one you’re aiming for.
Once at Grütschalp, the trail is not hard at all. It’s mostly flat and has some of the prettiest sceneries i’ve ever seen. Think mountain faces, woods, and soft sunlight.
The beautiful trail
Imagine living here!
Look at all that whiteness
I swear I just keep stopping every 10 steps to take a photo
Some wooded areas
One of my favorite pics that made it to my Insta feed, taken from my camera sitting on a bench lodged on a little hill. I feel so happy looking at this pic because it’s such a soft and pretty scenery. That mountain face with sunlight bathing it, those trees, all the abundant snow and even the little poles to indicate the trekking path. It’s all perfect. I read a blog about Switzerland that said in Swiss you gotta find your own view. I love that because it was true, many of the most magnificent views were found by accident. In fact, I’d easily say all these views beat the top-of-the-world panoramic views that are much more touristy.
Just making a fool of myself having fun in the quieter spots. If people came by I’d rush to my GoPro propped on a pole and pretend to be seriously adjusting it.
Even made a temporary memo #darmasolo to commemorate my first official solo trip.
The walk should be super quick but with all of my shameless photoshooting it did take me maybe a good 3 hours to reach Murren at last.
Upon reaching Murren, what really stood out would be the car-free roads and the fact that it directly faces a mountain face (cannot rmbr which mountain it is..)
Many of the hotels directly face the mountains like this
Car-free Murren
Schilthorn
Getting there
Once you are in Murren, Schilthorn is a 15-min walk away from the main station. I made the silly mistake of spending a tad too long at Murren and hence missing the Schilthorn last cable car that day. Then I made another silly mistake of having a serious FOMO about not visiting Schilthorn, hence returning to Murren again the next day to visit the Schilthorn (skipped the hike and took the train up). If you’re able to plan properly, highly recommend combining the Murren hike and Schilthorn in one day. Anyways, you change cable cars once at Birg.
Price
Half price with the Swiss pass: CHF 41.10. Price differs based on route (there’s another way in via Stechelberg) and the different passes.
Was Schilthorn worth it? Honestly no for me. At the top, the peaks look the same and not nearly as stunning as the many landscapes I see whilst within the mountains. It’s also super touristy. Of course it depends on each person’s traveling preferences, and since I went anyway, worth talking about it a bit.
Cable car ticket
At the mid-point where you have to change cable car. Some people stopped her and immediately skiied down!
Reaching the Schilthorn, you could instantly see the commercialization. Lots of 007 stuff around, TV replaying the scene they shot at Schilthorn, 007 music, and stuff. I headed up the lift towards the top where there’s an indoors observation deck + cafe that leads out to the outdoors deck.
The mountains! Beautiful all the same, but that’s really all you see here.
You can take a flight of stairs down to this little path
Little path
The building from the little path
You see all 3 mountains when you’re here
I was done with Schilthorn close to about noon, and that’s when things kinda went downhill. First I had this desire to go sledding or something but i had no idea where and i was running out of time. So on impulse and after seeing an attractive ad on the train, I got down at this stop OTW down called Winteregg where there’s…. snow tubing…
Snow Tubing @ Winteregg (LOL)
Getting there
From Lauterbrunnen, take a cable car to Grutschalp and hop on the tram towards Murren. Winteregg is one of the stops.
I was wandering around this tiny village that consisted of like one restaurant and the train stop, and finally asked the restaurant waiters where the snow tubing was. They pointed to an area outside the restaurant near the outdoors tables.
The outdoors seating. A little to the right is where you’ll find the snow tubing spot
The cable car where you can buy tickets and leave your belongings
The dude there looks a bit bored i don’t think anyone comes here HAHA. It looked like a kids kinda thing. i was a bit embarrassed but I was determined because i had a bad feeling I won’t be able to go sledding etc and i wanted to experience at least 1 thrilling activity here. Snow tubing is cheap, if I”m not wrong it’s like 6 francs for 3 ride? Or smth like that. I tried one ride first and liked it, so I paid for full 3 rides, and because the dude saw how happy I was everytime i slid down he gave me a free ride. What a good man.
Yayyyyyyyy
From the top
I had a lot of fun actually, tho most people eating were just looking at me strangely because it does look like a kids’ sports, but WTV man, i was trying to make the best use of my limited time in this country haha.
After my little detour, I jumped back onto the tram to head back to Lauterbrunnen and find something else to do. It’s a lot of poor management on my end because I left my portable charger at home and had to head back to hostel to get it. I was at my wits’ end after that as the snow tubing made m want to go sledding even more, but when I asked the tourist information center it was too late already as it’s about 2pm and most places have their last cable car ride around 4-5pm. Damn.
That killed my mood a little, but no fret as I headed on my second alternative, the Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike, which was really what I had planned for the day before the naggy thought of Schilthorn crept into my head.
Männlichen
Getting there
From Wengen, take a cable car towards Männlichen. This is half price with Swiss pass.
So… I failed to go on to the Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike, which according to reviews, were super panoramic and beautiful. Shucks. It’s partly because cable cars run so infrequently i’m left waiting around a lot, and because it gets dark like 5-6pm.
By the time I reached Männlichen I headed straight to tourist info and they told me I can’t do anything much. In fact, they told me the last cable car down is at 4.30pm and I should hang around to catch that (it was about 4pm).
Damn, paying that money upwards only to go back down.
But the most beautiful and strange thing is that Mannlichen turned out to be one of my favorite viewing spots and I took away the most beautiful picture from all of my trip.
Lots of time spent editing and retouching this picture into my idea of perfect.
Just. Look. At. That. VIEW. It’s surreal, it’s breathtaking, everything about the picture is perfect. For this pic, I propped my camera on a flat and wide metal post, put timer to 30 seconds, and RAAAAAAAAAN towards the edge. The snow was so deep it started to get into my boots and I remember feeling super chilly cold. But the thrill of making it to the edge, and seeing my camera blink from a distance made it worthwhile. And going back to check on the pictures and letting out squeals of excitement seeing the shots… simply irreplaceable.
My favorite BTS shot.
Seriously this is why I love traveling so much. It opens you to so many new things and throws you into unpredictable situations, sometimes you don’t know when a plan will turn out to be a good idea or not. The most important thing to me is that we carve out our own memories from these travel spots, find our own view, and have a connection with the place that’s solely our own. That’s probably why nowadays I object to following a tour trail because you don’t get to truly connect with the places.
That wraps up my little Switzerland retro. It’s a beautiful country that has scenic views in every turn. Definitely recommend, my only caveat is this: don’t follow the commercial tourist spots, ignore the top-of-the-world view hypes, go out there and find your own view. There’s plenty to go around.
darmawanders 