A favourite region in Switzerland for us was the Lauterbrunnen Valley. In May there are a couple of long weekends which we liked to take advantage of for exploring. First stop on our way there from Horgen was Aareschluct, the Aare Gorge. It’s a great channel eroded by the river through the rocks with a path which takes about 40 minutes to walk. You can return the same way, catch a train back or take the slightly longer walk back over the Lammi pass – which is what we did.
For a couple of nights we were staying in a mobile home on the Camping Jungfrau site, right in the heart of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. At the time Eurocamp and Canvas Holidays had accommodation on the Swiss campsites and off-season you could get some very cheap deals, which we liked to make the most of. It’s a beautiful spot, cooler in spring as the sun goes behind the steep valley walls early, but you do get to live with the sound of the Staubbach Falls and visit the very Swiss restaurant on site.
A previous time in this area, we had visited the Trümmelbach Falls, slightly further down the valley from Lauterbrunnen. Visitors walk inside the rock caves as powerful waterfalls crash down beside. It was a rainy day so this seemed as good a place as any to pass an hour or two.
This trip we went to Grindelwald. Popular with tourists all year round, it’s a busy little town in the shadow of the Eiger, and with a great playground right off the main street! The children were 9, 7 and 4 so always a useful distraction.
From the village centre we took the gondola up to First. There are many different activities to choose from, an alpine restaurant of course and another great playground with an even better view. Several Swiss mountains offer Trotti Bikes (scooters) as a means to get down. Our daughter was still too young but we waved the boys off on their adventure.
That night we were joined by my in-laws and stayed in an Airbnb Swiss chalet, still in the valley, but closer to Interlaken. Our original thought was to go up Jungfrau with them but the day was cloudy and it’s an expensive train journey so deserves perfect weather (we’ll be back for that another time). Instead, we moved to plan B, Harder Kulm. A funicular railway leaves from Interlaken-Ost station and in 10 minutes, and for a fraction of the price, you arrive and can take in the view looking back at the Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau, Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. There is a pretty trail through the woods and after our walk, we circled back to the Panorama restaurant for lunch on the terrace before heading back to the car and home.
Another favourite place for us to visit in this area is the Freilichtmuseum at Ballenberg. A beautiful open-air museum in the valley where historical buildings have been transported from their original settings and rebuilt. Inside are regionally themed displays, working exhibits, a bakery, sausage smoker and various changing traditional activities to take part in, some especially Swiss in style. The site is huge and on our first visit we covered about half. There are 2 entrances, so the second visit we started at the opposite end. If you do get worn out walking around there is a horse and carriage option to take you back to the car park.
Another free weekend in the winter I saw a sled dog racing event advertised at Gadmen, something new for us to experience. We wrapped up warm and went to watch the huskies and a surprising variety of other dogs, including dalmatians! It was freezing but luckily we had a treat in store at the neighbouring town of Meiringen. Rumoured to be the town where meringues originate from we had to go and try them and warm up. Also in the town is a museum in a tiny church which is dedicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. The nearby Reichenbach Falls is the location for the death of Sherlock Holmes in the short story, The Final Problem. The previous evening we had watched with the children this scene showing the Falls.
One final trip to this region, before we moved to Florida, was to visit the car-free town of Mürren. We parked at the Schilthornbahn car park at Stechelberg in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and travelled by cablecar up to Mürren. As mentioned in a previous post the first day we continued up to Schilthorn and the James Bond exhibit. The following morning we found a nice trail, approximately 2 km, that took us down the mountain, passing a very cute, tiny village store, really just a cupboard, where we bought ourselves a Swiss cowbell to take to Miami. The path took us to Gimmelwald where we were able to take the easy option (cable car) back to Mürren ready for the highlight of this weekend. Paragliding! 4 of us signed up for a tandem paraglide, our daughter at age 5, decided she wasn’t ready although they would have taken her if she had been keen. The boys and I went up at the same time, slightly unnerving to see them spinning around in the sky below and above me. I took things more steadily, as travel sickness will affect me on every mode of transport – my guide always took this into consideration and was able to navigate us to smoother air currents whenever necessary. Great experience for us all with beautiful views on a gorgeous day.
