Trains, Hiking, and Cheese: A Swiss Alpine Adventure
We’re back with more European adventures! If you didn’t catch part 1 of my parents and my adventures in Europe, read it here. We had some seriously delicious fun in Strasbourg, France.
Buckle up because the next stop on our European adventure is Switzerland, and we spent 3 incredible days traversing the Swiss Alps. The length of this blog post is about as long as the train journey from Strasbourg to Wengen (long). But sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the sites, sounds, and eats of this incredible region.
From Strasbourg, it took us 5 different trains to get to our next destination, which gave us an incredible overview of the efficiency of train travel in Europe. We went from Strasbourg, France to Mulhouse, France to Basel, Switzerland, where we took a quick bathroom break and got some lunch at one of the markets in the train station. Basel is a major train station and had tons of food options which was very nice. Then we went from Basel to Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and finally to our intended destination, Wengen, Switzerland.
Wengen is an idyllic alpine village in the Swiss Alps. It’s at the foot of the Jungfrau (a very famous mountain) and offers a great starting point to explore this region of the Alps. The town is mostly car-free, which allows for a very peaceful stay.
We stayed at Hotel Edelweiss, a classic Swiss chalet. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, chatting with us at breakfast and dinner, offering different walks, hikes, and sites to see, and always making sure we were taken care of, no matter the time of day.
I stayed in a single room, which kind of reminded me of a college dorm room. Just a single bed, a small desk and TV, and a small bathroom. No frills but efficiently organized and super clean, like the Swiss do so well.
Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what we actually DID in the alps…
HIKING!
The Swiss Alps in the summer (and early fall ) is a hiking mecca. My dad grew up in the mountains and worked abroad in Switzerland in his younger days. So he really took the lead when it came to planning our time in Switzerland, and one of his favorite activities is hiking. So we hiked.
Day 1 was spent in the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Lauterbrunnen Valley is also known as, “The Valley of 72 Waterfalls,” because of the many waterfalls flowing from the towering cliffs down into the valley. Staubbach falls is one of famous ones.
Amongst all the waterfalls, you might also notice the sheer cliffs and verdant grass fields surrounding Lauterbrunnen. Lots of little farms and cows with their iconic ringing bells dot the green valley.
There is a paved walkway throughout most of the valley that offers an amazingly scenic walk. Perfect for an introduction to this new location.
About 2 miles down the path from Staubbach falls, we ventured over to Trümmelbach falls - a series of ten waterfalls hidden inside a mountain. You can take a funicular most of the way up (to level 6 of 10), which I definitely recommend unless your thighs are made of steel.
You then get to traverse up and down 380 feet of stairways to access different viewing points to see ten different waterfalls, which are lit up inside the mountain. The sheer power of these glacial falls is tremendous! They drain up to 20,000 liters of water per second and you can feel their power up close and personal.
By the end, our quads were quaking from walking up and down all those stairs. Well worth it, though, and the leg workout was just a bonus! We grabbed a quick snack at the cafe right outside the falls before continuing our walk up to the Stechelberg cable car station, which would take us up to Mürren, another adorable mountain town with insane views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains.
The cable car ride from Stechelberg to Mürren is not for the faint of heart. This new route opened in December of 2024 and is officially the steepest cable car in the world (source). With a gradient of 159.4%, this cable car travels 775 meters (2,543 ft.) over a track length of nearly 1,194 meters (about ¾ of a mile).
Honestly, the ride was a little disorienting. Once we took off, I gripped the hand rails hard. And at a certain point, I had to stop looking down because we were climbing so quickly! My brain could not compute the pace of travel! But it was thrilling and truly a site to see. Just be warned if you have any fear of heights, you might want to stay towards the inside of the car or avoid this ride altogether. Luckily, there are multiple paths to get to Mürren, this is just one of the more thrilling.
I’m so glad we made our way up to Mürren because it offered stunning views of the surrounding mountains. Since Mürren has an elevation of 5,374 feet, your midway up the mountains, offering a different view from the valley below.
Mürren is a small town, so we walked from the cable car station on one end to the train station on the other end and caught a train back down to Wengen.
That night, we caught an EPIC sunrise on my parents balcony before a lovely dinner at our hotel’s restaurant.
While Day 1 was all about the valley, on Day 2, we went for peaks!
Day 2 started with a cable car ride up to Männlichen (way less steep than yesterday’s cable car ride, btw). Although we didn’t partake, the Wengen to Männlichen cable car offers an upgraded “Royal Ride,” where you can stand on the rooftop balcony of the cable car for an open air ride up the mountain.
Once we made it up to the Männlichen station, we decided to take the short but steep “Royal Walk” up to the summit.
Unassumingly short (2km up and back, or about 1.2 miles), I wouldn’t categorize this hike as easy. You climb 400 feet over .6 miles up to the viewpoint, but when you’re already starting at 7200 ft. above sea level, it can be quite the workout.
Luckily there are many places to stop along the path and if you take it easy, you shouldn’t need to do too much huffing and puffing. Coming from LA, I could definitely feel the elevation. But the view from the top on a nice sunny morning made the workout well worth it.
We also met a fellow photographer and his wife at the top who was gracious enough to take our photo. We talked shop a little bit and swapped cameras! Always fun to meet other photographers out in the wild.
After a much easier jaunt down the Royal Walk, we decided to do the 4.5 km (2.8 miles) Panorama Trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. This was a much easier hike than the Royal Walk with minimal elevation gain. There were also porta potties about half way along the path at one of the viewpoints. Although we were there in mid-September, we lucked out with incredible weather during our stay. This was probably the hottest day during our vacation, with temperatures hitting the high 70s while we were out hiking. The Panorama Trail had minimal shade, and at that elevation, the sun can be scorching. So definitely bring water and sun protection if the weather is nice.
With views of the Eiger mountain right in front of you and Grindelwald down below, this was a must see hike.
After a morning of exertion, what really caught my eye was Berghaus Grindelwaldblick when we rounded the corner into Kleine Scheidegg. I was low on energy and needed a hearty Swiss meal to gas me back up!
After lunch, we popped into Kleine Scheidegg, saw the iconic Hotel Bellevue des Alpes (featured in numerous movies including The Eiger Sanction and Phantom Thread), and then caught the train back to Wengen for a relaxing afternoon at the hotel.
That night, we had an incredible meal at the hotel next door to ours, Hotel Bären. Their restaurant, Alpenkräuter Restaurant Bären, is insanely good, with all the ingredients coming from the local flora and fauna. I started with the alpine herb soup which was amazing. And my main course was freshly made pasta with local mushrooms. The food was incredible and they have 4.9 stars on Google reviews, so safe to say it’s worth a visit!
On day 3, our final full day in Wengen, my mom and I decided we were a little tired of hiking and convinced my dad (who is never tired of hiking) that we should go down into Interlaken and explore the city and lakes a bit.
We hopped on a boat and toured Lake Brienz, which is a vibrant turquoise color and an incredible site to see.
The boat tour takes you to various villages around the lake but we sat all the way to the end and got off in the city of Brienz for a walk around town.
In Brienz, we meandered along the lakeside about as far as we could go before stopping at a restaurant for a sweet treat (I had apple donuts and ice cream). We walked up to the church and got some more incredible views of the lake and this picturesque town. Then we sauntered back to the boat dock and sailed back to Interlaken.
This leisurely boat tour took up most of our afternoon. That night, our last night in Switzerland, we made sure to center a Swiss staple for our final dinner - cheese!
I’d never had proper Swiss fondue before and my dad was on a mission to get some raclette, one of his favorite cheeses, so we found one of the only places in town that served raclette the right way - melted under a heat lamp and scraped onto bread, potatoes, or whatever else you might like. Goldlöckchen Restaurant was our spot (and they have a cute).
My dad got the charcuterie plate to start (meat and cheese), my mom and I shared a pot of fondue (cheese) with bread, potatoes, and pickles, and my dad got the raclette (cheese) with bread, potatoes, and pickles.
Our waitress warned us that our order had a LOT of cheese. She was genuinely worried for us 😂 But believe it or not, we cleared most of it.
A full belly of cheese and the calming sounds of nature lulled me to sleep that night. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel in the morning and then it was another day of train travel to get to our next destination. But after train and cable car hopping for the last few days, we were turning into real pros. Stay tuned for our next destination!