shubha_r

Hi kwren ,
I was reading your trip report. We are headed to Switzerland and Rome in August.
We are also staying in Grindelwald for 5 nights. We are a family of 4 (kids 10 & 6).

I wanted your help in drawing up our itinerary..

We would like to do a simple hike, jungfrau trip.. That's all we have as of now we are also doing a glacier express and staying a night at St.Mortiz before heading to Rome for 4 days.

Any suggestions on what we can do during our stay in Grindelwald ? Any nice restaurants ?


Thanks in advance
Shubha

kwren

Hi Shubha...hard to believe but I got a new phone last night and while trying to reinstall fodors, came across your message. I'm so sorry i dudnt see it when you wrote. I assume you got to switzerland by now and I hope you had a great time and everything worked out.

Dukey1

Too bad the OP didn't ask anyone else. I'm sure we would have been glad to help.

kwren

I agree, but I bet they didn't put all their eggs in one basket.

PalenQ

We would like to do a simple hike, jungfrau trip.. That's all we have as of now we are also doing a Glacier Express and staying a night at St.Mortiz before heading to Rome for 4 days.>

Are you taking the Bernina Pass rail route to Italy - hope so because IMO of taking trains all over Europe it is the most awesomely scenic train line in Europe - if doing the Glacier Express, going to Grindelwald and St Mortiz then by all means look at a Swiss Pass or Swiss Card or Half-Fare Card and check out these IMO fantastic sites for lots of great info on Swiss trains, passes, etc - www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; www.ricksteves.com.

PalenQ

Here's some things you can easily do from a Grindelwald base:

The Jungfraujoch train - highest train station in Europe and where there is a sea of ice - glaciers to walk to - ice grottoes to explore

The Schilthorn - another remote icy outpost - and to get there you can see Murren - awesomely perched on a cliff edge with fantastic views of the glacier-girdled Jungfrau Massif - Gimmelwald is on this route - a remote farming hamlet out in the middle of nowhere - thrilling aerial cable ways permeate this excursion - one up to Grutschalp and then what I heard was the longest aerial cable way in the Alps - to the Schilthorn and Piz Gloria, the revolving restaurant made famous in James Bond's On Her Majesty's Service which was in part filmed here when the restaurant was under construction

Boat trips on either lake that bookend Interlaken

Lake Thun - get off at Oberhofen for the castle of your dreams and a neat old lakeside resort town - visit Thun, a really pretty city bisected by a roaring river - and Spiez - right by the boat dock is the veritable castle of your dreams hovering high above the lake

Lake Brienz - boat from Interlaken to Brienz, stopping at famous Geissbach Falls to take the antique funicular up to the famous Geissbach Hotel - from Brienz you can either take an old steam train up the Brienzer Rothorn summit (nice walk back down with the lake shimmering far below) - or take an iconic postal bus to the famous Ballenberg Open-Air Museum, set in a meadow lovingly overlooking the lake - old farm buildings and workshops have been moved here to showcase Traditional Swiss life.

Other possible day trips from an Interlaken area base:

Berne - vastly underated city - nice in the foul weather days that are all too common - as Bern has covered walways - check out the Bear Pit or perhaps do a kayak or tubing down the roaring river under the Bear Pits

Lucerne is an easy day trip - take the scenic Brunig Pass train to it from Interlaken (part of the fabled Golden Pass route).

Also: Meiringen - a neat old town on Lake Brienz where meringue got its birth - visit the Sherlock Holmes museum in a tiny chapel in the town center. Just outside of town is the famous Reichenbach Falls, a long cascade of roaring water - visit the middle balcony (an old funicular takes you up there if not wanting to hoof it up) - this is where Sherlock Holmes tangled with arch-enemy Prof Moriarity - to the supposed but nor sure evil doctor's death.

Or from Meiringen take the old tram-like train to the Glacier Gorge - a deep gorge that you walk thru on catwalks.

Or from any base do the popular Three Passes bus tour that take you corksrewing up and over three famous Alpine passes - in a circular loop - an awesome experience.

Or from Grindelwald take the postal bus to Grosse Sheidegg and then down a lush valley to Meiringen.

Or go to Shynige Plate on that famous mountain railway and see the fmaous Alpine Garden (and Teddy Bear land for a little tourist Schlock.

The truly bucolic gorgeous Kandersteg Valley is another easy day trip.

And don't forget Trummelbach Falls, a water cascade that is said to be the sole drain of the Jungfrau Massif's northern face that is inside a cliff - catwalks lead you thru it.

And hiking of all types is available - the famous Ridge Walk from the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg - one of the most famous walks in Switzerland - a ridge walk that lets you see both the Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys at the same time - the Mannlichen itself is known as one of the premier view points in Switzerland - not only of the Jungfrau Massif but also over Interlaken, nestled between the two lakes bookending it far below.

Or you can do an easy hike to a glacier from Grindelwald - and all kinds of hikes - no place in Switzerland offers such a panoplu of great hikes - some easy some hard - something for everyone.

And last but not least, Interlaken itself - one of the loveliest cities in Switzerland if you get off the yes tacky tourist-shop lined main drag to see a really dream town with Lucerne-like covered wooden bridge and a roaring river you can walk along for a few miles and think you're out in the boondocks.

Interlaken offers a classy historic casino with night entertainment and the William Tell Theatre for live plays about Tell and other Swiss-related plays.

So I do disagree with swandav on the Montreux area for the average tourist having more lures than the Jungfrau Region - what the average tourist is expecting and this is not to say that all the places swandav mentions are not great places they just are not as awesome as those in the Berner Oberland IMO.

PalenQ

We would like to do a simple hike, jungfrau trip.>

A snap to do both of these the same day - take the train via a change of trains at Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch - spend a few hours there - about the max for most and then come back to Kl Scheidegg and instead of taking the train back to Grindelwald the same way you came do the most popular walk - walk not hike - over the famous Ridge Walk between Kleine Schiedegg and the Mannlichen - this ridge walk lets you see both the Luaterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys at once and the Mannlichen is one of the most renown vistas/look out points in the Alps - giving you an eagle-euyed view over not only Interlaken far below, lovingly wedged between the two lakes lovingly bookending it but also a 360 degree panorama for miles around - not only of the Jungfrau Massif but over the rugged Alps the form the spine of central Switzerland.

From the Mannlichen take an aerial cable way back down to Grindelwald (or do a longish but downhill walk back to Grindelwald.

PalenQ

What is your whole itinerary involving the Glacier Express? If doing just to take the GE to me it is the most over hyped scenic train in Europe - I would not go out of my way to do it - the Bernina Express is way way more scenic and you will use this to get to Italy.

What is your whole routing involving the GE?

kja

PalenQ -- the original post was from more than a year ago.

PalenQ

Oops! Should look more carefully. Thanks for the reality check!

kwren

<the original post was from more than a year ago.>

That's why I said I was sorry I missed the original post, but I really liked your info Pal! It reminded me of my trips there!

Newbie00

thanks though Palenq - helps me plan for my trip to Switzerland

Huggy

Hr