Two Days in the Jungfrau Region

We left Lucerne early in the morning and headed to the Jungfrau Region. It is a region of the Bernese Oberland, at the foot of the Bernese Alps. It consists of two valleys south of Interlaken: that of Grindelwald and that of Lauterbrunnen. The Jungfrau Region is named after the highest mountain in the area, the Jungfrau. 

As I have said and will say many more times.. the Swiss transportation system is amazing. The whole process is so smooth. We once again took our free bus to the train station and then got on our free train, all thanks to the Swiss Travel Pass to Interlaken. With the pass you don't need to make any seat reservations or buy tickets.. you just get on, find a seat and sit down. It was an early morning so we sat in the dining car so we could have some breakfast.

This was by far the most scenic train ride. The water so jaw droppingly blue. It was a two hour journey that just flew by. From Interlaken OST we hopped onto another train to Lauterbrunnen which was quick 20 min ride and then another 15 min train to Wengen where we were staying. 

I know it seems like a lot but once you figure it out it was all very simple. We stayed at the Alpine Hotel in Wengen. 

Why we stayed in Wengen when we could have stayed in Interlaken and saved ourselves the trouble of two extra trains? Well, Interlaken looked just like any other metropolitan city.. just on a smaller scale. We wanted to get a more truer Swiss experience and opted to stay in a smaller village. 

Wengen is a car free village and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells to 5,000 during summer and to 10,000 in the winter. 

We initially had two and a half days planned in the Jungfrau Region but ended up spending only two days there.. 

DAY ONE  - We quickly dropped off our bags and headed out to start the adventure. Just a few minutes from our hotel was the Mannlichen Gondola. All tickets were once again 50% off. 

This is a view of Wengen beneath us. You can check out my reel about it here. Once on Mannlichen we headed first towards the Royal Walk. It is a short but steep climb.. took my breath away.. literally. But once at the top you are Rewarded with phenomenal views of the iconic Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks. Plus they have create a large crown at the summit for pictures.

Next we headed back down and in the opposite direction to walk the Panorama Trail. This was a longer walk but less steep inclines. 

Along the way came a playground.. so we stopped for the kids to play a bit. 

It was a 3 mile trail and ended in Kleine Scheidegg where we stopped to have lunch. There was only one restaurant, Restaurant Grindelwaldblick and it was perfect. Excellent food and a gorgeous view. 

The coulds were beginning to gather as we finished our meal and by the time we got on the train back to Wengen it had started to drizzle. We had planned to go on further to Lauterbrunnen but didn't think it wise as the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour. We got out at the Wengen station and had to make a run for it towards to hotel. There was a bakery on the way we ducked into and grabbed some coffee. 

We sat outside our hotel.. watching the rain.. warm cups of coffee in hand. 

The hotel had an indoor pool were the kids swam until the weather cleared.. which did not take long. We headed out again.. grabbing a train to Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen is home to 72 waterfalls. The most famous being the Staubbach Falls. Plunging almost 300 metres from an overhanging rock face, it is one of the highest free-falling waterfalls in Europe. 

It's a striking waterfall seen from Wengen up above and from the train.. it is right in the middle of the small village. There was a hike and a large number of stairs that took your behind the falls. Stunning. 

We made our way back to Wengen and settled down for dinner at Mira's. Dinner was delicious and our waiter was a hoot. 

A note - most of Europe as we experienced in both France and Greece and now in Switzerland, air conditioning is not common. Most shops and restaurants have none. Most of the trains had none and this time our hotel had none. 

Now while our first day went exactly as planned. We initially had one and a half more days left in the region. Day two being dedicated to Jungfrau to mountain and the half day for Grindelwald before heading back to Zurich (M had a conference he needed to attend). But M's sister had just visited Switzerland earlier and said Jungfrau was overhyped. M has a friend living in Zurich at said it was not as good as Zermatt (which we were going to be going to) and so now we were of two minds. Every blog I read said you had to go even though they too mentioned the overhype and the high ticket cost. Now we don't feel we need to see something just for the sake of it. Plus if we skipped Jungfrau we could get to Zurich at a decent time. But what if it really was worth it and we were so close and missed it. 

Well we'll never know will we?

The next day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and got on a train headed to Grindelwald. We took the train from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen then to Interlaken and then another to Grindelwald (all free with the swiss travel pass) then walked to the cable car to get to the top. This we paid for an got a discount with our travel pass.

The first thing we did was the First Walk. The First Walk is right at the summit of the First mountain, 2200m above sea level, the platform extending 147 feet into nowhere.

It's a nice walk, nothing strenuous. And the views.. I could've looked at that view for hours. 

Just like in any touristy area we had to wait in line to get our turn for a photo. Nothing too crazy though.. twenty mins or so. 

It was so beautiful we just sat.. read, ate our snacks and marveled at the beauty that surrounded us.

On the First Mountain there were many extra activities like ziplines, scooters etc but the lines were all insane and we discovered that H was not tall enough to do anything so we took the cable car back down and took the train to Interlaken. 

It was a hot day. We walked around. There were many many people paragliding all over Switzerland and one of the large ground in Interlaken was a landing spot.. we stood in awe as so many people floated down. Have you - would you paraglide? 

We stopped for Italian for lunch at Vacanze Romane and then gelato at Azzurra Gelato.

We walked along the water.. the color so blue.

We took a cable car up to Interlaken's very own mountain, Harder Klum. We bought a discounted ticket and headed up. The tram was boring.. no view. Once the cable car stopped and we got out a large droplet hit our faces.. and then another.. soon it was a full storm... rain pummeling us all. 

We dashed along the way, no view visible from among the fog and clouds and took shelter under the umbrellas of the restaurant. We waited until the rain slowed down and the tram was working again before heading back. 

We made our way back to our little village and had a lovely meal at the hotel restaurant. And wrapped up our two day adventure in the Jungfrau Region. 

 

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