1 Week | July 2015 | 3 Families with teen kids | Hiking/Exploring
Average Reviews
Trip Overview
We wanted a trip that would give us lots of outdoor activities, and this was a great one. It happened to be a rare cool, rainy summer but despite this we had a terrific trip. We followed this week with a week at an Italian villa (listed under different itinerary).
Full Itinerary
Sunday:
Arrive Zurich 8:40am
Purchase train passes at airport from info area after examining best options. Train to Grindelwald. Arrive approx noon.
Took local bus to Residence Hotel (could also have walked). If you show the hotel confirmation then the bus is free.
Afternoon activity:
Zipline on First
Cable car (short walk from hotel) up First. Option was to hike to Bachelpsee (1 hr) but we opted to do the zipline and then walked down to the mid stopping point on the cable car and then took the Trotti bikes down, which were awesome!
Sleep:
Residence Hotel
Cost: 195, 210 2 rooms
Grindelwald
Rybigässli 3, CH-3818 Grindelwald, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)33 854 55 55
The nearest bus stop “Grindelwald Kirche” is just 50 meters from our hotel. Regular services of buses are available to and from Grindelwald Train station with a journey time of approximately 4-6 minutes. A Regular service of trains operated by BernerOberlandBahn (BOB) between Interlaken OST and Grindelwald with a journey time of 34 minutes.
Monday:
Morning: The hotel was able to send our bags on to the next hotel in Murren for us, which was great. We then took the train out of Grindelwald and connected to take the train up to Jungfrau. We spent a while at the top, doing the ski options, having lunch etc. There is a hike to a restaurant at the top that we didn’t do but which looked like a good option. We had some blue sky at the top which was unexpected and lucky! Took the train to Lauterbrunnen and took train up to Murren.
In Murren due to weather we weren’t able to do the Via Ferrata (3 hours) unfortunately.
We ate at the hotel which was fine.
Sleep: Murren
Edelweiss Hotel Hauptstrasse 3825
Tuesday:
Morning: due to weather we didn’t do our planned morning outing of taking the cable car to Shiltholn to see the 007 exhibit and have breakfast. Would have been back by 9:30 or 10. We ate at the hotel and then packed up and walked through town to the cable car. The hotel sent our luggage down to Lauterbrunnen train station and we packed a smaller back for our hike/backpacking trip.
Travel to Stechelberg (cable car). Then found a taxi to take up to the end of the road (saved a lot of time) to start our hike.
Afternoon: Hike to Obersteinberg – 2 hours. Stopped en route to have an awesome lunch at the little Inn (only one there was en route).
From the final PostBus stop at Stechelberg take the paved footpath upvalley on the left bank of the already-raging Weisse Lütschine. Crossing the river, you’ll continue uphill following signs to Trachsellauenen, a small guesthouse and restaurant near a 300-year-old mining site. Continuing on, the path narrows and steepens considerably, becoming a series of over fifty shaded switchbacks. Arriving at the Hotel Tschingelhorn, views to the valley open up and signal that you’re nearing Obersteinberg. Within about 2½ hours after leaving Stechelberg, the Swiss flag, flapping from a pole in front of the hotel, appears in view, along with some small farm building, a pig sty, happily grazing cows, and the traditional-style hotel dating to the 1880s. Obersteinberg sits at an elevation of 5833 feet, a full 2850 feet of vertical ascent from your Stechelberg starting point.
Sleep: Hotel Obersteinberg
Hotel Obersteinberg, 88/adult, 68/child, cash only
The hotel is located on the mountain and has no electricity and can only be hiked in to. Incredible views and scenery.
Wednesday:
Morning: Walk to Gimmelwald – rocky walk through more forested area. Was raining as well. (2 hours). Some stopped in Gimmelwald for lunch and took cable car down to Lauterbrunnen. Others walked the half hour more to Murren and had lunch there before heading down.
Afternoon: open/rest.
Sleep: Lauterbrunnen
Hotel Staubbach
Haputstrasst 3822 Lauternbrunnen
Thursday:
morning: see Trummelbachfalle (10 min bus ride from train station) – impressive!
afternoon: pick up for Canyoning trip via Alpen Raft company .Those who went had an awesome time! Those who didn’t go headed back to Grindelwald and did the Alpine Slide and some shopping.
Late afternoon: took bus down to near Stechelberg and watched the base jumpers jump. Incredible to see!!! Then walked further up the canyon to have dinner in Stechelberg (one restaurant there – was great) and took bus back or there is taxi that can be called.
