Two Short Hikes in the Lauterbrunnen Valley near Interlaken

Monday August 26th -- Our original plan for this hiking vacation was to continue from Lenk/Zweisimmen in the Berner Highlands, to further South in Canton Valais where there are so many hikes we still want to do. But the weather forecast showed for worsening weather there, and actually better weather in the Northeast, so we figured, let's head back home and do our day trips, which usually work out well for us.

But since we were already in the Bernese Oberland and the weather here still great, we decided on a trip to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, which is another North/South dead end valley (accessed from Interlaken) like the Zweisimmen/Lenk one we had just spent two days at. Lauterbrunnen is popular for wing-suit flying, base jumping, skiing in winter, and the Jungfrau Railway which takes Asian Tourists to the "Top of Europe" (Jungfrau Joch) 

There were two short hikes we had been looking to do for a while, although not worth coming all the way here for, so it seemed like a logical plan for on the way home. We popped our backpack into a locker in Lauterbrunnen, and walked the valley bottom southwards, and the upper trail northwards, then we picked up the backpack again and headed home. 


Hike Number 1: Two-hour Hike on the "Valley of the 72 Waterfalls" Trail

The Lauterbrunnen Valley is called the "Valley of the 72 Waterfalls" and there is a special two-hour trail at the valley bottom dedicated to this theme. This sounded good, but it turned out that after the spectacular falls in Lenk, the few we saw in the Lauterbrunnen Valley left much to be desired (wrong time of year maybe, not enough water?). The one worth seeing, the Trümmelbach Falls (Europe's largest subterranean waterfalls, consisting of ten waterfalls which drain the glacial waters of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau) cost 11 SFr. for a walk along the gallery, and even at this time of year practically standing room only. So we forewent this one and didn't actually even finish the hike (we left out a part in the middle)

Town of Lauterbrunnen with the renowned Staubbach Falls. There was barely any water coming down. You can just see it to the left of the building. These are, by the way, the highest free-falling waterfalls in Switzerland. 

I have to admit though, the view is picturesque

Pretty buildings in Lauterbrunnen

After walking through the village, we headed down to the river for the 2-hour walk to the back of the valley toward Stechelberg and the cable car to Mürren. 

The Staubbach Falls from below. This is the highest free-falling waterfall in Switzerland.

What I did not know is that there is a trail cut into the rock face, where you can go up and stand behind the falling water. An outing for another time maybe

At 10 a.m. there is still a lot of shade in this valley because the mountains are so steep and high, but on this hot day it was quite refreshing. 

We heard a loud "Whoosh" and just caught this wing-suit flyer as he deployed his parachute. They cut it pretty close with opening the chutes. 

VIDEO: Wing-Suit Flyer opening his Chute

Stunning and beautiful, even though I prefer to be up high. The famous Trümmelbach Falls are so deep within the mountain (on the left) that you cannot see them from outside

A closer look at the back of the valley

A photo of the advertisement for the Trümmelbach Falls, which we decided not to go see because it was too much to pay to be crowded in with all the tourists. 

Instead we admired the Sefinen Falls from across the valley, and then headed by bus to the very back of the valley, and returned on foot to the cable car station in Stechelberg

These falls are pretty nice, they are called the Mürrenbach Falls, at 417m officially the highest waterfalls in Switzerland (not the highest free-falling ones, though. Those are the Staubbach Falls)

Altogether we saw about 10 waterfalls, and we know there are another 10 inside the mountain at Trümmelbach Falls, so I wonder where the other 50 waterfalls are?

We started in Lauterbrunnen and walked toward Stechelberg. But walking flat stretches is not our Forte, so after 5km (at the Trümmelbach Falls which we did not see), we hopped a bus to the back of the valley, then walked forward again (2km) to the Mürren/Schilthorn cable car in Stechelberg. After two crowded cable cars we made it to Mürren, and from there took the Allmendhubel funicular to walk the "Mountain View Trail" (5 km), and descended again to Lauterbrunnen via cable car. So total 12 km of walking... 

Hike Number 2: Five-Kilometer Hike along the "Mountain View Trail"

Instead of the crowds at the Trümmelbach Falls, we traded for the CROWDS at the Stechelberg cable car to Mürren, where we embarked on our second hike: "Mountain View Trail" which, except for my almost dying of claustrophobia and overheating in the large-capacity cable car (always so many people here) was a successful although too-short high trail hike. Interesting observation: the only people we encountered here were English-speaking. The Swiss go elsewhere....  Nevertheless, I think it was a well-laid-out trail for foreigners visiting this area and wanting to do a not-too-strenuous mountain hike.

Waiting in Stechelberg for the large-capacity cable car to Gimmelwald (then change to the one to Mürren)

I managed to get a photo of the valley bottom through the cable-car window, above the heads of some Asian people

In Mürren we had to walk about five minutes to the Allmendhubel funicular station

This time there were only a handful of people riding the 5 minutes to Allmendhubel. Another funicular ride to check off my list!

Heading up from Mürren to the hill called Allmendhubel. Below is the town of Mürren, and 800m below that the valley bottom at Stechelberg

Allmendhubel: A fun place for kids and what a fantastic backdrop for a playground. This was basically the same view we had on the entire hike, from left to right: Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau. 

Mount Jungfrau and its glaciers up close. 4158m above sea level. 

In the saddle between Mount Jungfrau on the right, and Mount Mönch on the left (this saddle is called Jungfrau Joch), you can just make out the observatory building

Observatory building at Jungfrau Joch, zoomed view. This is called "Top of Europe" and the Jungfrau Railway takes visitors all the way up here, in tunnels through the rock. It is a favourite tourist destination at all times of the year. 

The "Mountain View Trail" is a well-laid out trail and comfortable to walk, although good shoes are still recommended, especially for the descent to the Grütschalp cable car. 

So much better walking up in the mountains than in the valley below....

A last view of the Eiger North Face on the left, Mönch and Jungfrau, before the 300m (altitude) descent through the forest. 

Grütschalp cable car. As usual we made it with about 5 minutes to spare before the scheduled descent to Lauterbrunnen. 

This also is a large-capacity cable car that connects Lauterbrunnen to the mountain above (900 altitude meters). 

On the way down we could see the Staubbach Falls much better. Probably the sunlight on the water in the morning made it hard to see the waterfall. 

At Lauterbrunnen we got our backpack which we had put into a locker in the early morning, and are now making our way back home to Zug. This part is out of the Lauterbrunnen Valley along the Weisse Lutschine River in the direction of Interlaken. 

The full "Valley of 72 Waterfalls" hike is 9 km long, we did 7 km of it. After going up to Mürren by cable car, and taking the funicular to Allmendhubel, we walked another 5 km along the "Mountain View Trail", which was so much better.