Lauterbrunnen and the Berner Oberland, Switzerland
June 1, 2009 – Lauterbrunnen is situated in the Berner Oberland, an area in Central Switzerland containing some of the country’s highest peaks. Lauterbrunnen itself is in a valley full of cascading waterfalls coming down from the surrounding mountains. It is a gorgeous location.
On our first full day we took a hike on Schilthorn side of the valley (Schilthorn is famous for the James Bond movie “On her Majesty’s Secret Service” which was shot here). We didn’t go far up because of iffy weather: cable car from Lauterbrunnen (806 m) to Grutschalp, hike from Grutshalp to Murren (1650 m) and Gimmelwald. It’s a flat walk of 2 hours and is supposed to be really beautiful – but we had a cloudy day and unfortunately didn’t see anything (the down side of being in the mountains).
The next day was beautiful and we went on the other side of the valley, first to Wengen (1350 m – very pretty small town with great views) and then further up (by train) to Kleine Schneidegg (2061 m) which was mostly covered by snow. From Kleine Schneidegg one can take the train further – up to the top of Jungfrau to the highest train station in Europe (3454 m). We didn’t see the need to do that though, first of all it’s really expensive, plus we didn’t really want to see more snow (we see enough in Montreal).
Lauterbrunnen was a great base, a pretty town with easy access to everything. On a cloudy day you can walk the valley floor, passing farms along the way (majority of locals are still farmers) and looking up at the waterfalls (there are 72 in the valley) and the snow covered mountains in the background. Was a really sweet spot.
We passed 2 1/2 days here and we both agree we would be back to this area. The only recommendation is that it’s maybe better to come after mid-June as many of the trails were still snow-bound when we came in late May.
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Hotel Staubbach was great. It’s an old hotel but they do everything right. Free coffee/tea, a large tv room with books/movies/games, cheap wifi. It was home away from home. I know one of the owners is American and you can see the influence – all the little perks that we havn’t seen anywhere else on our trip. Americans are the kings of that kind of stuff. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. It’s worth paying a little extra for the valley view. We give this hotel 4 1/2 out of 5 which is the best rating I’ve given any hotel on this trip.
So we felt a little sad leaving. Next stop: Lucerne
Tags: Europe 2009, PHOTOS, Switzerland
f_thomae
Hi again 🙂 Do you think April would be too early to visit this area? I had roughly planned to do Lauterbrunnen earlier in our trip, but could perhaps rearrange that. I don’t really mind if some trails are still snow-bound, I am more concerned about clear weather for views etc. We are keen to go up the valley a bit (Wengen, Murren, Gimmelwald etc) for views and to have a bit of a play around in snow (we are from Australia but ski every few years, so while snow is not new to us it’s still a bit of a novelty).
I think April is too early – I was surprised that even late May was early. Some lifts won’t be functioning, you won’t even be able to get up into the mountains…You might want to check if that train up to Jungfrau is open, at least that might be worth your while. But otherwise you’ll be stuck in the valley.
Bye
Frank