Glacier-capped peaks, mountain railways, and chalet villages
I spent a month in Switzerland based in the small village of Jaun, and finally made it to the Jungfrau Region, which had been on my bucket list for years. These guides cover the Eiger views around Grindelwald, the car-free villages of Mürren and Gimmelwald above the Lauterbrunnen Valley, how to get around, and how to keep Swiss costs in check.
More about Switzerland
My Swiss guides are built around three days in the Jungfrau Region, with Grindelwald as the base. The north face of the Eiger rises straight above the village, and the gondola up to Männlichen opens up hiking with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in view. Grindelwald is busier and more developed than the storybook village I had pictured, but the mountains more than lived up to it.
The Lauterbrunnen Valley is all sheer cliffs and waterfalls, and the cable car and mountain railway up to Mürren made for the best-value day of the trip. From Mürren you can walk on to Gimmelwald, and the views between those two car-free villages were some of my favorites in the whole region.
I visited in late October, when autumn color fills the valleys, fresh snow sits on the peaks and the crowds are far thinner than in summer. The trade-off is weather that can wash out a full day and lifts that start closing for the season, so check operating dates before you go. Switzerland is expensive, and the mountain lifts around Grindelwald especially so — I skipped Jungfraujoch, the “Top of Europe,” because the price was hard to justify.
If you are deciding where in the Alps to spend your time, Chamonix is the French counterpart under Mont Blanc, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the Bavarian base below the Zugspitze.
