The dreary weather forecast for today, Sunday, was rain for the entire day. It was our last day in Switzerland, so we just had to take an Alps hike in the Lauterbrunnen Valley despite any inclement weather. The valley is part of the spectacular Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is like no place we have ever seen; as it has some of the most awe-inspiring scenery in Europe. For moutain scenery supreme, Lauterbrunnen and the surrounding towns cannot be topped. It is truly mountain heaven for us. We love the natural beauty of the Alps with its steep slopes, distance snow-covered peaks and small, tidy towns of weathered chalets. Cows, sheep, goats, numerous hang-gliders and an occasional helicopter are all part of the Lauterbrunnen Valley scenery. This place is truly a cinematic masterpiece: the sun and clouds are constantly changing, the light highlights one ridge or peak, then fog or mist rolls in. This pictorial mountain paradise changes within minutes. What really sets this area apart are the more than 70 striking waterfall that line the length of the 2-mile valley. These waterfalls are not like any we have ever seen before as they forcefully cascade out of cliff-face crevasses and power down the mountain with massive spraying. It is truly a magical wonder.
As soon as we arrived, it started raining; but, we had our rain pants and jackets, so why not climb? We trekked the Panorama Spazierweg (trail) which connects Lauterbrunnen with the high mountain-top car-free town of Wengen. Wengen is only accessible by cog train or foot. It is an active ski/hiking town overlooking Lauterbrunnen and has access to numerous ski runs via a cable car. The climb to Wengen is an almost 2-hour, continuous uphill, switchback trail through forest and fields. The views back into the valley are stupendous. You see many of the waterfalls from a completely different perspective. The town of Wengen is another Swiss stunner with lots of attractive chalets and small hotels. Summer rentals posted on the real estate offices were very inexpensive. (We are quite certain that is not the case for winter rentals.) We spoke to a friendly lady in town and she said that the winter season is the busiest time of the year. It’s hard to believe that summertime isn’t very busy due to the wonderful hiking available. Today, Wengen was very quiet and sleepy with many hotels and restaurants closed. Perhaps, these establishments open during July & August? The hike down the steep trail was much quicker but hard on a different set of muscles.
We then decided to visit another of the three towns in the area, Grindelweld. This is a much larger town than tiny Wengen & Lauterbrunnen. It is teaming with cosy timber homes, flower-rimmed guest houses dotted on the lush green snow-capped mountains along with a number of enchanting hotels within the town center. This remote town has the Jungfrau and Aletsch mountains looming over it. We can’t even imagine how magnificent this place is during the winter! From our perspective, this town should have been where we stayed if we were focused solely on hiking. The access to trails, cog trains & cable cars is outstanding. We are thinking of returning here for Lesley’s 65th next year in the fall. Yes, this is mountain heaven. . . .or should we say paradise?