A Weekend in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

It was a Thursday in October when I had a craving to see the mountains and the changing colors of the leaves. I wanted dramatic snow peaked mountains. Spiked hot chocolate. Hiking on trails I can only dream of. Cable cars so high you feel like you’re flying. I wanted to breathe in nature in its purest form.

After a few hours of researching where to go, I booked train tickets for my husband and I to spend a weekend in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.

I can’t recommend this Lauterbrunnen itinerary enough for a weekend getaway. It was a dream, and I am already planning my trip back.

Day 1: Arrive in Lauterbrunnen

My husband and I took the train from Darmstadt to Lauterbrunnen.

The campsite is on the opposite side of town from the train station, which gave us the opportunity to walk through the town. We left at 1130 and arrived at 1800, so we only had about an hour of daylight to check it all out.

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We stayed at Camping Jungfrau, where we had a private cabin with views of the alps. The cabin was heated, so we might be back in the winter!

We had our first glimpses of cows and the famous waterfall, the Staubbach Falls.

Our plan for this evening was to walk the .4 mile hike to the Staubbach Falls. We opted to eat instead and do the hike in the morning, which we never ended up doing. It is supposed to be an easy hike to a beautiful viewpoint, so I would recommend checking it out!

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There is a very highly rated restaurant on the camp grounds, Weidstuebli, so we decided to eat and drink there before heading to bed after our travel day.

We ordered lentil soup, gnocchi, and a Swiss specialty, Rosti, which is bacon, onions, raclette cheese, and fried egg. I had my first mulled wine! It was necessary to have a hot drink because it was so cold outside. We reversed all of the warmth the hot drinks provided by ordering ice cream with hot berries for dessert.

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Day 2: Cable Car to Mürren, Hike the Alps, Edelweiss Restaurant, Walk to Gimmelwald, Dinner

Andrew and I woke up as early as we could to start our day. To our surprise, someone put gnocchi on our cabin window. Is it a coincidence I had gnocchi last night? (I asked the campsite’s receptionist if this means anything, to put gnocchi on windows, and she looked at me like I was crazy. I thought it could mean we were initiated into a made up Swiss cult. Based on her reaction, I am assuming it has nothing to do with Switzerland.)

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We find a nearby cafe and order coffee and a couple pastries for the hikes. Switzerland is notoriously expensive, which is even reflected in our breakfast order. 2 small coffees, a cinnamon roll, and a chocolate pastry was 20 francs. Which currently equals 22 US dollars.

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Since we were there in late October, the usual way to get to Mürren was closed for maintenance. (This would have been to take a cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp, then the BLM train from there to Mürren.)

Instead, we hopped on a bus in Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg. We took the cable car from there to Gimmelwald and transferred to a different cable car from Gimmelwald to Mürren.

We bought round trip tickets for the cable car in Stechelberg because they were valid for use for the rest of the day. It was 22 francs per person.

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Before stepping on the cable car, we started a hike next to the station called the Trummelbachfalle, since it would take you to waterfalls. We only did the beginning and decided we needed to save our energy for the upcoming hikes.

You could also walk from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg instead of taking the bus. It would connect you to this trail.

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The Cable Car was so beautiful! It only took a few minutes to complete both cable car rides.

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When we arrived in Mürren, just about everyone else from the cable car got on another cable car to Schilthorn. This is one of the highest peaks in the region and it is very easy to get to! We considered doing it after checking out Murren. If you are staying in the Jungfrau region, you should get a discount coupon from your hotel to ride this cable car at 30% off.

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After leaving the cable car station, we made a fatal error. We walked right to go into the town instead of taking a left while trying to hike the North Face Trail. Everyone else was walking to the right, so we followed.

We did, however, enjoy the first views of Mürren.

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The North Face Trail was the top hike we wanted to do. It is 4 miles with breathtaking snow peaked mountain and cow views. On most of the maps, it shows where to start, but not really where it ends as a complete loop. We knew that if we walked the way we did, we would be starting towards the end of the hike. We decided to try to start at the end, because some hiking forums said that going that way (counterclockwise) was safer, especially if the trail is icy.

From what I read online, the trail should have been clearly marked. All the hikes were supposed to be clearly marked.

Mürren, however, was doing construction which effected the trails, and the trailheads were inaccurate!

We start on the Blumental trail, then change route to the Allmendhubel, hoping it eventually takes us to the North Face Trail. We aren’t sure if we were ever technically on the North Face Trail, but we reach a point where we don’t care which trail we are on because it was so beautiful.

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After hiking (crawling) up steep, icy trails and the abandoned ski lift (Allmendhubel), hoping to not be eaten by a mountain lion, we reach a point where we finally see other hikers.

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Some of the other hikers walked down into this cute village, which I was expecting to have restaurants and food available. We decide to walk through the village, thinking the North Face Trail would connect from this common intersection, like the map shows.

We lost sight of the other hikers, so I am not sure which way they went, but I would love to know. If you kept going through this village, you would have to hike up a steep icy hill that leads to the cable car station. It was in the shade and we had just crawled up a long section of ice, so we opted to not do that again. However, if you went left, you would find trail heads to the North Face Trail. We followed those!

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After a little bit of goofing around in the meadows and following the North Face Trail Head, we decide to head back into town, since it didn’t feel like we were on the trail anymore.

My husband and I are a little confused why there is not another soul in sight.

As I wrote previously, there was construction happening and the trailheads were wrong. They led us to an electric fence. Yikes!

We end up finding a road and taking it back into town. For this reason, maybe only go in the high season unless you absolutely know where you are going?

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It didn’t damper our spirits, though! We were in a magical, unreal world and made it safely back to the town.

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Lunch at Edelweiss. I cannot recommend this enough! We had a chill, so we both ordered delicious hot coffee. I had their homemade vegetable soup and Andrew ordered a burger (which he said was one of the best he ever had). The views were so amazing, that we milked our time there by ordering beers after our coffee and food.

We were sitting so high up that the valley below looked so far away. Even the paragliders were difficult to see since they were so far below us.

Can you spot the paraglider in the picture below?

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After lunch, we decide to walk to Gimmelwald, which is also the beginning of the North Face Trail!

Since we had round trip tickets on the cable car, we could either get on it at Mürren or at Gimmelwald. So we walked instead of taking the first cable car, and took the second one from Gimmelwald back to Stechelberg.

The North Face Trail had a very obvious trail and trail heads, benches to rest on, and gorgeous views of the cows and mountains. The trees give glimpses of the ever evolving seasons.

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We walk for a little over 2 km to get to the top of Gimmelwald from Mürren. It took us about 40 minutes.

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Part of the reason I wanted to hike the North Face Trail was to see the cows. While relaxing on a bench overlooking Gimmelwald, we hear cow bells. The cow bells get louder as the seconds go by. We look back and cows are coming right toward us with their owners running to keep them in line! It was amazing watching them round up the cows.

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While walking down the next path from the bench to the center of town, the cows arrive again. This time, one cow started following me down a separate trail! My soul left my body, but I got my cow experience, big time.

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Gimmelwald is very small compared to the massive alps lining the town.

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We hear music and gravitate towards it. Mountain Hostel was having their halloween party, and we just so happened to get there 2 minutes after it started. There are people from all over celebrating nature, each other, and the drinks.