A stunningly beautiful day of hiking over 12 miles from Kleine Scheidegg to Gimmelwald, via Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, Grütschalp, and Mürren.
Hiking Distance
miles
Elevation Gain
feet
Total Time
hours
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Hiking RoutesTrain and Gondola
Today’s route somewhat follows the Alpine Pass Route as I begin to head west toward my eventual destination of Kandersteg. I decided to take the Wengernalpbahn train down from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen instead of hiking all of the
I deviated from the Alpine Pass Route by taking the Eiger Ultra Trail from Kleine Scheidegg, instead of the Mendelssonweg, where there would be fewer people and more mountain scenery. The trail meandered for a mile-and-a-half to a ridge which led down to near the Wixi chairlifts. The trail continued down through forest to some classic Swiss scenery at Biglenalp.
The trail was absolutely beautiful until the junction with the Wengernalp trail, where it rejoined the Alpine Pass Route and widened into a road that wound through thick forests and across ski slopes down into the car-free village of Wengen.
I stopped for lunch in Wengen at the Hotel Caprice, and then took the train down to Lauterbrunnen. The train station is connected to a cable car station, from which I rode the Grütschalpbahn cable car up the other side of the valley to Grütschalp.
From Grütschalp the trail stayed high above the Lauterbrunnen valley and offered views back to the Jungfrau and the area I passed through in the morning. The trail passed through the car-free and picturesque village of Mürren.
After Mürren, the trail/road descended steeply down to the rustic little village of Gimmelwald, where I spent the night at the charming Pension Gimmelwald.
