Hi All...

A friend and I will be staying in Interlaken for two days next month on a stop between Paris and Florence. I'm looking for some advice from you seasoned swiss travelers concerning the trip up to Jungfrau. The thing is, we would like to do both the Jungfrau and Schilthorn but really only have one full day to do it. Is it possible to do both in one day? Could we leave the Top of Europe in the early afternoon and then do the Schilthorn on our way back down to Interlaken (perhaps for dinner at the Piz Gloria restaurant)?

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks

In terms of time, I think it's possible to do both in one day. Catch the earliest train to the Jungfraujoch, have lunch, then tackle the Schilthorn in the afternoon. The only snag might be that usually skies are clearest in the morning rather than afternoon, so you might not have good weather for your second mountain. Of course, if the weather is simply crummy, then forget doing either.

I wouldn't do both in one day. Part of the joy of the region is the vistas you get from hiking, so I would spend the morning doing one mountain and the afternoon hiking. For example, if you want to do the Jungfrau, take the train to Maennlichen, hike downhill to Kleine Schiedig, then catch the train to the Jungfraujoch. When you return to Kleine Schiedig, hike downhill to Wengen where you catch the train to Interlaken.

Or to do the Schilthorn, take the lift all the way to Piz Gloria. On the way back down hop off at Birg and hike downhill to Murren.

Good ideas from Edward. But unless something big has happened in the last couple of years, there is no train to Manlichen. You get there by lift from either Wengen or Grindelwald. Another nice hike is the one at the base of the Eiger, from Kleine Scheidegg down to Alpiglen, where there is a nice little restaurant. Alpiglen is on the train line, so you can ride from there to either Grindelwald or Wengen and on down to Lauterbrunnen.

Yes! Lift to Maennlichen, not train.

I agree that doing both in one day is not advisable. Most folks here would recommend that the Junfraujoch is the one to choose if you're choosing only one. I won't disagree, but I would point out one thing in favor of the Shilthorn...you can <b>see</b> the Jungfrau from there! Afterward you can take the ride down to Murren for lunch, then take the easy and breathtakingly beautiful hike to Grutschalp. Stunning views!

I would go for it. You can head out on the Good Morning special at 6:30 and be at the Jungfraujoch by 9 am. Spend a couple of hours there unless you want to see the best part of it all, which is a walk out to the M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte along the snow trail. But that takes a couple of hours.

You could leave the Joch at 11:45 and be on top of the Schilthorn by 14:42.

After an hour there, you will have time to hurry to Grindelwald and ride the gondola to First and get the Holy Trilogy in one day.

The tickets, not including dinner will run about $275 each for all 3 rides. I think it is worth it, if you really want to see all this. If you take lots of pictures you should have quite a collection to look at when you get home.

Thank you all for the suggestions. Assuming that the weather cooperates(mid-April is probably not the most predictable) I think we will try to do the early-morning ride up to the Jungfraujoch and then the Schilthorn on our way back if we feel up to it. Who knows, Bob? Maybe First too! Hopefully our Eurail passes will help keep the cost down! Thanks again.

You got me! I know the Eurail Pass is valid as far as Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, but I do NOT know about using the Eurail pass for discounts on tickets for travel higher up.

I know the Swiss Pass yields 25% off and the Swiss Card yields 50% off, but that the the Jungfraubahn Pass did NOT include the Schilthorn last year. And I doubt if you can amortize the cost of a Berner Oberland Regional Pass in 1 day, particularly if the Jungfraujoch and the Schilthorn are in your game plan.

The first ride I took in '98 was to First. My eyes nearly gave out me from so much looking. I still like that trip after a couple of repeats because it is fascinating and scenic.

If you have a cloudy day, and decide that the trip up to the heights is not worth it, the open air museum at Ballenberg is a possibility. You can get there via an easy train/bus connection from Interlaken Ost via Brienz. Limited visibility would not be much of a factor even though it is an out of door museum.

We did the Ballenberg Museum last year and it was most interesting. Buildings from the old Swiss way of life have been brought in from all over Switzerland, re-assembled and restored faithfully. In some cases, the farm buildings are fully functional, such as the bakery and the saw mill.

The homes in many cases have been furnished accurately and you can go inside and see what life was like in the mountain Switzerland of yesteryear.

You can spend as little as an hour there and see interesting sights. Or, you could spend 3 hours there and not see it all. It is almost one of those open ended places. I stayed until my surgical leg called a halt. I wanted to go, but it didn't.

I read independently that the Jungfraujoch trip was $110 with the Eurail Pass. I cannot reconstruct this price exactly, but I can come close.

The normal price of the Jungfraujoch excurion from Interlaken Ost is 172.60 chf. At the rate of exchange last year, the Swiss frank was about 78¢ to 80¢ for 1 chf. So at a discount of 25%,the figures come out fairly closely.

If the discount rate for Eurail holders is 25%, the pass will help a great deal.
I hope this is the case and that your rail pass is honored on a par with the Swiss Pass.

OOPS left out the calculations
regular price Interlaken Ost to the Jungfraujoch: 172.60 dhr.
LESS 25%: = 129.45.
The rate exchante was about 80 chf for $1.00. So 80%of 129.45 =$103.36. If bank charged 3% convesion cost could have been very close to $110.

this year the rate will be higher right now because the dollar is lower.

No problem. Just so long as it's a beautiful and sunny spring day!!!

Bear in mind that many hotels and restauranats are closed in April in Wengen and Murren and other areas in the valley. This is the in-between season, as skiing is over and it is not warm enough for summer hiking. You might want to pack a lunch or plan to have a meal at one of the train or gondola stations. There will most liekly still be snow, and it is very likely that it will be well below freezing on top of the Jungfrau and other places. Take a look at worldclimate.com and weatherbase.com for historical average temps, and subtract a few degrees for higher elevations.

IMO the views from the Jungfrau and the Schiltorn are quite similar (although Jungfrau is higher and you can see further if it is clear), so I am not sure if trying to do both will gain you anything. I think the little train ride Lauterbrunnen to Murren is a great ride (first an incline railway, then a train) and has great views. I would do that and then either go on to the Shciltorn from there, or do this in the afternoon after you have done the Jungfrau rail trip. If it is cloudy, I would not pay for either, but would stick to Murren and Wengen. There are also several easy walks and short walks from Wengen that offer great views, ask at the Tourist Info office for details, or get the book on walking in the BO by Philip and Loretta Alspach.

Due to snow and conditions, the longer walks like the “downhill” walk from Maennlichen to Kleine Schiedig is probably not a good idea in April, but you could ask at the Wengen Tourist Office.

Plus side is there won’t be the hords of people you would have in the summer or fall.

For the record, there are in summer 2 mechanical ways of reaching the crest of the M&auml;nnlichen. One way is to take the Luftseilbahn from Wengen. The WAG line from Lauterbrunnen makes the ascent to Wengen if you don't care to walk it.

A second way is to take the gondola from Grindelwald Grund station. It is a long, long gondola ride tht enables you to get a good look at the pastures, the houses and the north face of the Eiger.

Also in summer, you can hike up from the Kleine Scheidegg rail station. It is a fairly easy ascent, if you have the legs for it.

Or you can descend to Kleine Scheidegg and take the train down to either Lauterbrunnen via Wengen or to Grindelwald.

I have done combinations of all of them in years past.

SirHilly, I too have full day trip to Jungfraujoch and one more place. I think I'd pick Grindelwald, but still don't know much about other places.

I think I recall that the earliest train to Jungfrau has a discounted price, so you should look into that.

When you get to Lauterbrunnen, you can go in the ticket office and they have closed circuit television showing what the weather is at the top, so I would look at that before commiting to the trip. I like the inclined rail up from Lauterbrunnen, then the walk to Murren, the cable car to Schilthorn, then back down to Murren, then down to the valley floor and a walk (or bus if you are tired) back to Lauterbrunnen, but that might be too much after the Jungfrau excursion.

We didn't eat at Piz Gloria, just enjoyed the view. I wonder if anyone with experience could comment on the food there?

Yes. The early train is the Good Morning Special. If you tootle down to Interlaken Ost and leave on the 6:36 train you can save a little. The normal price is 172.60 chf; the good Morning price is 148.60 chf.
So you save 24 chf or about $20.00

You can get there before the hoards arrive and have a nice visit.

I myself don't mind the early bird stuff because it takes over 2 hours to get up there. The new equipment on the final part of the trip from Kleine Scheidegg to the top makes the trip more comfortable than it was 3 or 4 years ago.

Once you leave the Eigergletscher station, there will be two stops so you can look out the window cut in the rock. Those stops serve two purposes: views and adjustment.

When you first get up to the top remember that you have gone up from near seal level to more than 11,000 feet of altitude about as fast as you safely can.

So don't jump off the train and sprint to the elevator.

There is also a Good am ticket to the Schilthorn as well. Or was a few years ago when I last rode up there.

I know people rave about the Schilthorn,but I rank it 3 or 4th on my list. The view from the Faulhorn is second, if not first in that area. But most people cannot make it up to the top of the Faulhorn -- they have to walk it and it is too taxing.

At the Jungfraujoch, unless you walk the snow path (groomed) to the M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte, I think you miss the best part of the visit. You can get food at the hut, which is a climbers' shelter. I like the term hut; the building is 3 floors and sleeps 125 people plus the staff.

At one point you walk out from behind the protecting ridge, and on some days the wind is fierce enough that you better have your hat tied on. The sun is scortching up there because of the snow.

Navigator Bob,

I always enjoy the wealth of your knowledge of the Swiss Alps - thanks!

How far is the M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte from the train stop? Is it visually obvious which way to walk? Any help you can provide will be appreciated.

I agree with DeeDee. You sure know the Alps, Bob. Is the path to Monchsjochutte able to be walked in April? Will it be too cold or is it pretty much always freezing up there?

The official M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte home page says the shelter is open in April.

I don't know what the trail/track will be like in April! I have never gone there that early in the spring. It could be windy and cold or, in the sun, relatively pleasant.

The avalanche danger would be minimal because the track is along a level area at the top of the glacier with almost vertical walls rising above it. Very little snow can accumulate on those spires. But lower down, it is a different question entirely. The groomed track, however, is between the steep slope of the glacier itself and the almost vertical ridge behind it.

Even if that walk is not advisable because of the conditions of the moment, I am sure there will be short tracks outside for you to walk.

The perception of warmth is totally dependent on the cloud cover. I was up there in early September the last time, and even though the air temperature in the shade was near freezing, the sun was so strong that people were hiking in short sleeves. I hope they had sun screen on in liberal amounts!! (I sure did because I cook easily.)

It was a strange sensation, walking on snow and perspiring freely from the slight exertion!! I am sure skiers do that all the time, but all I was doing was taking a near level walk.

One website says to walk it at half pace. Well, I was 70 years old when I last did it and I was not walking at half pace. Of course, it depends on a person's overall situation. ALSO, you must have the right footgear. I would NOT advise anyone to try it in jogging shoes!! It might be fine, but I want lug soles and something to protect my ankles from the snow.

Here is a quote directly from the home page of the shelter on the M&ouml;nch.

In English it says, It would please us very much to be permitted to greet you at our accommodation (house). The Monk's Pass Shelter is open continually from March 18 until October 9, 2005.

Or, a little more idiomatically, &quot;We are open from March 18 until October 9, 2005. Come see us.&quot;

(For those of you not familiar with those Swiss mountain &quot;huts&quot;, this one is 3 floors, sleeps 120 or so plus the staff, and usually has meals and snacks available for purchase. I would not call it a hut in the sense that hut means something crude and makeshift. This building is bolted to the rock, supported with structural steel beams, and is hardly crude or makeshift in its construction.)

In German, for those of you who want to second guess my translation, the quote says:

Es freut uns sehr, Sie in unserem Hause begr&uuml;ssen zu d&uuml;rfen!

Die M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte ist vom 18.M&auml;rz bis 9.Oktober 2005 durchgehend f&uuml;r Sie offen.

PS. Even though the site for the M&ouml;nchsjochh&uuml;tte is in German, the pictures are not!! The site is at:
http://www.moenchsjoch.ch/

And even if you don't know word one of German, the sign that says
Food &amp; Trinke
should be fairly clear.

And shock of shocks, when I ordered lunch at the counter, I tried my German.
The response was in fluent English well conditioned by several years of residency in Baltimore!

No joke, the Fotogallerie is well presented. Just click on the picture to see an enlargement. And on the first page, you get a good idea that this is not a crude hut.

I think the pictures do justice to the environment, as much as any picture can do justice to that awesome environment.