Wandering the Lauterbrunnen Valley

Switzerland // October 15 2020 // 5 Minutes

By Adam Malek

I decided to spend my 24th birthday exploring the nature around the magical village of Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss Alps. An inspiration to fantasy author J.R.R. Tolken, Lauterbrunnen town is located in a valley surrounded by 300-meter high vertical cliffs, with glacial snowmelt being the source of the 72 waterfalls that encompass the periphery of the valley. The 2.5-hour train ride from my home Zurich, and the several lodges and hotels in the town as well as in the neighboring city of Interlaken, makes this a perfect weekend destination.

We were warmly greeted by the local farmers who were leading their cows down the mountains for the winter; as they wandered straight through the village during their descent. This was by no means an Alpabfahrt (Swiss parade where the farmers and their cows leave their alpine pastures), but it nonetheless really helped remind us that we really were in Switzerland; as if the many chalets, fondue-restaurants, and cheese shops in the village weren’t enough.

We started off out first hike by making our way up to Grütschalp via cable car, then followed a 1.5-hour trail through snowy paths along the crest of the cliffs to the town of Mürren, which is also accessible by a mountain rail train. A cozy little café awaited us with their dirty Chai lattes and hot chocolates at the end in Mürren: @cafe_liv_muerren.

The snow from the winding trails began to clear as we descended down into the valley floor, passing by the village of Gimmelwald; a farming village inhabited by many cows, horses, and sheep. We made sure to go into the Honesty Shop; Europe’s first unattended self-service village shop.

We continued our journey onwards to the Eastern side of the valley’s outer rim; a cogwheel train took us from Lauterbrunnen to the village of Wengen. During our next hike, we stopped by at @allmend_restaurant for a savory Rösti, the Swiss version of a hashbrown. As our surroundings changed from green landscapes and autumn-coloured maple trees to snow-covered evergreens in less than two hours, we found ourselves at our end-point in Klein Scheidegg, a train station at an elevation of 2,061 m. With an option to stay at the beautiful hotel of Hotel Bellevue des Alpes, we decided instead to take a train back down to Lauterbrunnen and find our way back to Zurich.

Check out the photos below from the our short adventure from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg!