Layout of Grindelwald
 

Can't seem to locate a clear map of the town of Grindelwald to find out myself but perhaps someone reading this can tell me if the train station is in the center of town (looking for a centrally located hotel near restaurants etc.) It seems to me I may have read there were TWO train stations (maybe I'm getting this mixed up with another town)?? Maybe the train station is at one end of the town and the hotels etc. are at the opposite end of town. ??<BR>Ida

I'm too lazy to look up the specifics for you, but having stayed in Grindelwald a number of times I can tell you this. Yes the train station is in the center of town. There is a second small station down at the bottom of the hill where the train from the Jungfrau comes in. I think the smaller one is called Grund or something like that. The bulk of the town of Grindelwald stretches out about 3/4 of a mile along one major street and just short half streets off it. <BR>A really nice small hotel right near the train station, but on a short hill just above it is the Alpina. Nearly all rooms have big balconys that face the Eiger. It is a delightful family run place.

I don't agree with Patrick that the main Grindelwald train station is in the middle of the village. I suppose it depends on how you would define middle, but to me the station is at the west end of the main street. Once you are past the train station going west, you are soon out of the village and headed downstream on the road to Zweil&uuml;tschinen. From the main station to the First Gondola is a walk of about a mile past many, many shops on both sides of the street. If you walk a mile the other way, you are well away from the activity of the village.<BR> <BR>The second train station, Grindelwald Grund, is down hill and toward the southwest from the main station. <BR>The mountain train that goes to Kleine Scheidegg stops there to pick up passengers. The regular train that goes to Interlaken Ost via Zweil&uuml;tschinen and Wilderswil does not go to Grindelwald Grund. <BR><BR>There are several hotels relatively close to the main station, some in fact are right next to it. But much of the town is strung out along the main street that runs slightly uphill and east from the main station.<BR><BR>I know that walk back from the gondola station to the train station can seem extremely long when you are tired. I have walked it several times and each year it seems to get longer! <BR>(Wonder how long it will seem this year??)<BR>

Ida: you can find a map of the center at:<BR>http://grindelwald.city-info.ch/grindelwald.rci?&im=1&xo=3770&yo=1433&zo=1<BR><BR> The train station of Grindelwald (village) is more or less in the center. You can paste over the individual houses and then the names of the hotels show.

Sorry, guess I wasn't being as literal as I might have been regarding "middle" of the village. No, I suppose it isn't quite in the middle, but there are quite a few hotels to the West as you enter towards the train station, and even more to the East. But the main shops and the tourist office are all within about 2 blocks of the main train station.<BR>Funny story about our first trip to Grindelwald which I thought was going to be much bigger than it is. We were booked at the Alpina and I knew it was "near" the station but uphill. Because he had a couple of large bags we looked for a taxi and found one with a pleasant woman driver. We told her we were going to the Alpina and she said it wasn't very far that we could walk. I insisted that since we had luggage we'd really prefer to take a taxi. I was still picturing climbing up some mountain to get there. She smiled, helped us load up the taxi and proceeded to drive us the one short block to the hotel where she stopped. We were very embarrassed to think it was that close. She smiled and insisted on not taking any money. I think she was entertained by the whole idea.

Patrick is right. The RR station is about as centrally located as you can hope it to be. There's only one main street and 90% of the hotels are there. It's actually the main highway that goes into/out of Grindelwald, although in Grindelwald itself it is a tyypical small-town street.