Have you ever visited any place that you immediately fell in love with, within a few seconds of entering there?? If you haven't, then Lauterbrunnen is the place you are looking for, one of the most fascinating, awe inspiring villages I visited in Switzerland. If you are heading to Jungfrau, you must first make a stop in this beautiful village. Wondering what makes it so damn beautiful?
The village sits at the bottom of a U shaped alpine valley which is one of the deepest, surrounded by tall rocky cliffs and thunderous waterfalls descending from the mountains, sounds dramatic ya? 😍 One can see green meadows, snow capped mountains and beautiful chocolate chalets all around, nothing short of a fairy tale. 🧡🧡 It is like something out of the “Lord of the rings”.
As you walk along, you will find quite a few fountains pouring out the cleanest and purest water. You can always drink or fill your bottles from these fountains, that's what they are for. I had literally no idea what glacier water felt like but believe me after drinking water from these fountains, you will know how exactly it feels like, pure bliss!! 😊 No bottled water in this world is as good and refreshing as this, I can bet on this!!
Things to do in Lauterbrunnen
There are so many places to visit in and around Lauterbrunnen but I will share about a few which we could do in our day trip.
Staubbach Fall and Trümmelbach Falls
Lauterbrunnen has gorgeous and magnificent waterfalls, 72 in number to be precise and most of them are so high that they are almost lost in spray before they reach the level of the valley. I am so jealous of the people living there, getting lulled to sleep every night by the soothing sound of the waterfalls and then waking up to the same, just imagine!! 🙂
The two most famous waterfalls are Trümmelbach Falls and Staubbach Fall. The very first view as you enter the village is of the Staubbach Fall, one of the most photographed waterfalls in Europe. It's height is between 240 and 270 m, making it one of the highest single unbroken falls in Europe and it's sound and force can be felt from quite a distance. You can also climb(very steep and narrow) up to the base of this fall to have a view of the valley and of course to feel the gush.
Explore the village
You can walk on foot or take a Post Bus from the main train station to get to your desired location and the bus is absolutely free if you have a Swiss Travel Pass.
I and Vinay decided to walk our way along the valley for sometime before heading to Mürren( details on that later) and we were so happy we did that!! It felt as if the whole village belonged to us with almost no one on the road. We saw a bunch of cute houses, the ones we generally see in movies or some fairy tale.💖
It's actually hard to describe in words how much we were taken aback by the incredible topography of the village and believe me no pictures are comparable to what you actually see and feel standing in the valley surrounded by all those majestic mountains.
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous place to experience the Swiss Alps in a peaceful setting this place is definitely not to be missed.
After strolling around we took a bus to Stechelberg to take the cable car to Mürren and to our surprise we found out that the cable car to The Schilthorn-James Bond's glorious peak was absolutely free for us with our Swiss Pass which is otherwise quite an expensive trip (105 CHF return trip). It was a no-brainer for us to include that too in our plan for the day but before that we stopped at Mürren.
Visit Mürren
After a quick ascent in two rather packed cable cars we reached Mürren. It is a small car free village which sits on a plateau 850 m above Lauterbrunnen and at the foot of The Schilthorn. You can take a Post bus, travel by car or even hike from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg and from there you hop on to the cable car to Mürren. It is only accessible by cable car and not by public road, that's quite interesting for a inhabited village to have no access by road.🤔. How often do you get to visit such places where you can walk freely without worrying about bumping into a vehicle, rarely I guess, so I was super excited about it.
We just strolled around in the village for quite sometime, amazed by the breathtaking views of the mountains and the most beautiful chalets with hanging flowers. I was lost in my own thoughts of how it would feel like to wake up everyday to such arresting views of snow capped mountains and slow murmur of the birds with no nearby village or busy roads. In this busy world and cities full of crowds, this is the kind of place most of us crave for and I felt lucky I could be in such a place even it was for a few hours.
Just don't miss this lovely village if you happen to be in Lauterbrunnen.
Just after a few minutes of walking I found myself rubbing my eyes when I saw a COOP store because that was something I was totally not expecting in Mürren. For people who don't already know, it is one of the Switzerland's largest retail and wholesale companies and you can find everything from grocery to basic clothing in the store. And, I think it's the right time to tell that I developed a soft corner for COOP as it was my go-to-store for quick snacks and drinks whenever we were short of time.😄
And here I was grabbing my favorite Vanilla Strange from the bakery section. Try it, it's so so delicious 😋😋
The Schilthorn-James Bond's glorious peak
After soaking in all the spectacular views Mürren had to offer, we returned to the cable car station to make our way further up to the The Schilthorn. The webcams at Mürren cable car station showed Schilthorn was covered with thick layer of clouds but anyways we decided to go, partly because it was absolutely free 😁 and also being just two gondola rides away, we didn't want to miss the opportunity. We had our fingers crossed hoping the sky would clear gradually but as it turned out, that didn't happen.
After waiting in the queue for quite a while, we hopped on quickly to the gondola to Brig and I glued myself to the front glass window to get a birds eye view of Mürren. It was mind blowing!! You can also experience the Thrill Walk at Brig before taking the final cable car to The Schilthorn but only if you don't have fear of heights, yes it's that thrilling!! We decided to skip that for the moment and immediately took the next gondola but as we made our ascent, clouds started rolling in and visibility almost became zero until we finally reached The Schilthorn.
The Schilthorn(2970 m) as many of you might already know is famous for being home to Piz Gloria, the panoramic 360 degrees revolving restaurant which was featured in the 1969 James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. There are many James Bond 007 "behind the scenes" and other exhibits to keep everyone interested once you reach the top.
On a clear sunny day, one can have breathtaking views of over 200 mountains including the snow capped Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger- the Swiss skyline but since the sky was completely taken by clouds we could not see anything but moving clouds.
I was so disappointed at first but finally tried to find my peace by at least getting a pic with the James Bond cutout on the outside viewing deck, ya call me childish but I was super excited.😁
We lingered around for quite sometime hoping the sun hiding behind the clouds would outshine soon but again that didn't happen. This is a classic example of what I told you in my previous post "A day in Jungfrau" about always checking the weather conditions before going to any mountain top in Switzerland. However, in our case even after checking we did it since it was free for us and a short ride away from Mürren. It was now time to return to Stechelberg to make our way to another car free village of Wengen.
Wengen
Wengen is another car free mountain village and it can be reached only by cogwheel train or by hiking. If you are coming by car, there is a parking garage(paid) next to the Lauterbrunnen train station where you park your car and then hike or take the train. The hike from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen is a great walk if you are looking to get your heart beating fast as it ascends most of the way and is quite tough. We decided to take the train which is a short and beautiful 15 min ride.
Wengen is a popular stop for people hiking or heading to Jungfrau and the village is filled with everything you need, supermarket,pharmacy, bakery and sports good stores. It is easy to relax in a place with all facilities, no cars and stunning scenery. We strolled around the beautiful village for almost an hour.
After appreciating everything Wengen had to offer, it was time to return to Lauterbrunnen to take the train to our final destination in time. We thought about hiking down to Lauterbrunnen but I was a bit skeptical about it, what else do you expect from a girl in skirt and fancy shoes!! But deep down I knew I will be missing on something if I didn't do that, so with very little energy left and no hiking shoes, I was like "Bring it on, let's do it".🚶♀️ And, I can't even tell you how happy I was that I took that decision.
When hiking in the Jungfrau region, anywhere you turn, you will find perfectly signposted routes. Just follow the yellow signs and you will find your way. Well, in a world of google maps, it's quite awesome if you can do without using one!!
The hike from Wengen begins along a wide & well paved path with beautiful wooden cottages around and it takes about 1 hour or so depending on how fit you are. The views are so stunning that I was almost dancing on the empty path with my arms wide open as if I was in some kind of a fairy tale.😍 After about 10 minutes of walk, the hiking path winds steeply down around many hairpin bends in a shady mountain forest with pine trees as tall as 500 meters.
It did get a little painful for my knees since the complete hike is downhill with lot of stones and the terrain is quite steep in places and to add to that I was not wearing my hiking shoes. But, well all of that was worth the experience. It was a little surprising, though good for us that we didn't see anyone else on the hike except for one climbing up when we were almost close to Lauterbrunnen.
As we moved along our way, I saw a lonely hut and nearby were few Chamois, which are mountain goats with short hooked horns, found in the mountainous areas of Europe. They looked quite happy in their own world, playing around and relaxing with no one to mess around with their peace.🙂 Although, I think I scared them a little when I started photographing them but it was such a delight to watch this cute little party of four enjoying on an otherwise lonely hike.
If you feel like having something refreshing while hiking, there is also a fountain along the way, which continuously pours out chilled and pure water. So, take a break, catch your breath, drink the water and enjoy the view. Even if you are carrying bottled water, drink this and you will feel the difference. The water is real SWEET!!
Finally, we reached Lauterbrunnen and straightaway headed to the station to catch the next train to reach our hotel in Zurich.
All in all it was an incredible day and the complete experience was a treat to the eyes.😍 But we felt a little rushed filling in so many things in one day, so, I would highly suggest you to stay in Lauterbrunnen for atleast 2-3 days. If you have time for only one place to visit in Switzerland, choose Lauterbrunnen. It has so much to offer that you would only be all happy and amazed and nothing else, you can thank me later for that.😉
Here is a short video of all the fun we had in Switzerland 🙂
How to get to Lauterbrunnen ??
It is an easy train connection from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen and the train runs every 30 minutes. You can also drive to Lauterbrunnen from Interlaken or Bern if you plan to rent a car. If you are coming by train, just after you exit the station, you will see signposts for various hiking trails along with the time duration for each trail which is really helpful. 🚶♂️🚶♀️
Insider Tips
If you plan to hike to Stechelberg from Lauterbrunnen, consider at least 2.5 hrs doing the loop or take bus 141 to Stechelberg.
You can get discounted rates on tickets to Schilthorn if you are willing to go up very early in the morning or last for the day. Best is to get a Swiss Travel Pass and use the heck out of it, highly recommended.
Check the weather before going to the summit. You can check it here "Live Webcam"
In summers, the cable cars on this route are very much packed and there are long wait lines for up to 30 minutes, so plan accordingly.
Sit on the right side in the direction of train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen to get the best views.
Are you looking for the best places to visit in Switzerland?? How about a visit to the folllowing places
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