Switzerland 3 - Mürren

I dare say that the Mürren we visited today was one of the most beautiful places we visited in Switzerland.

Mürren - View of the Jungfrau

The plans for today were quite grand. However, only half of them could be made. Learning from yesterday, we set off at nine. At the train station, we board a Regional Express full of Swiss pensioners riding with us on our shared journey to Thun. There, the plan was to take a boat ride on Lake Thun to Interlaken and then continue on to Mürren. But we discovered on the spot that boats don't run as often here as in Lucerne, and that we had just hit the two-hour window when no boats run. Disappointed, we go back to the station to find a train to Interlaken. That doesn't leave for another 20 minutes, so we walk around Thun. We reach the Aare River, where local daredevils surf the rapids.

Thun - Surfing on the river Aare

The rest of the time we spend on the platform on Wifi, because it doesn't work in the camp and the stations are the only place where you can find free wifi. We take the train to Interlaken Ost station, where a Jungfraubahn connecting train is waiting to take us to Lauterbrunnen (Note the train splits in two at Zweilütschinen. One goes to Lauterbrunnen and the other to Grindenwald). Thanks to this connection, we don't even regret the 20 minutes we lost in Thun, which we would have spent waiting in Interlaken anyway. The train is packed to bursting and there is standing room everywhere. The journey takes about half an hour. At Lauterbrunnen we plan to transfer to the cable car to Grütschalp. But the same idea has the other half of the packed train, and I'm worried about whether we'll get on the cable car in the first sequence. In the meantime, while waiting, I notice a Post bus with a sign saying Kleine Scheideg, which is the second cable car to Mürren. I tell Janet that we'd better go there, there will be fewer people. The Swiss pass is valid for the Postbus. We take the bus for about 15 minutes through a beautiful valley full of waterfalls falling from the surrounding rock walls.

Lauterbrunenn

My idea that it would be faster via Kleine Scheideg is quickly disproved by the kilometre-long queue at the cable car station. Asking if they would let us on the cable car based on the mobile app was pointless due to the endless queue, so we head straight to the queue for the cable car. The lift here works like an elevator, with only one cabin going up and down. The cabin holds about 80 people. The cable car is part of the Schilthornbahn. There are so many people here because it is part of the cable car systems, Leading through Gimmelwald, Mürren, Birg up to the top of the Schilthorn mountain (Swiss pass only valid after Mürren), made famous by the filming of James Bond specifically "In Her Majesty's Service". This fact is constantly pointed out at the station, and even the wifi here is named 007. We didn't fit in the first batch of people, but we did in the second. A ticket from the SBB app was enough to get through. Due to the terrain rock profile. The cable car is designed in a V shape. Thus, we take one cable car to Gimmelwald, where we change to the cable car to Mürren 1600 m above sea level.

Cable car to Mürren

Cable car to Mürren

We walk through the village and end our walk at the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren mountain railway station, which looks just like the former cog railway in the Tatras. We checked the departures (it runs every 15 minutes, the last one at 19:58) and headed back to the cable car towards our first alpine hike to the top of Brindli.

Mürren

Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren - The Mürren Station

The path is well signposted and leads between typical Alpine wooden buildings and pastures with grazing cows. Next to the cows, we are kept company by the view of the opposite snow-capped peaks. I envy everyone who lives here, because it really is beautiful.

The journey to the top was not too difficult and took us about two hours. From the top we go straight to the cable car, which takes us to Grütschalp, where there is a connection to the cable car to Lauterbrunnen.

Climb to Bridli

Bridli

Bridli

Bridli

Descent from Bridli

Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren

Lauterbrunnen from the cable car

Unfortunately for us, we hit a connection that doesn't connect, so we have to wait 20 minutes for a train to Interlaken.

The cog railway from Interlaken comes to Lauterbrunnen

We're not going to Interlaken yet. We will only go down to Zweilutschinen, where we will change to a train in the direction of Grindelwald, where we will change to a cog railway in the direction of Jungrafoujoch. But we are too poor for that. We really didn't want to pay 200 Euro for the ticket. We only give ourselves half an hour for the tour to catch the next train down. After all, it's already seven in the evening.

Zweilutschinen

On the road to Grindelwald

On the road to Grindelwald

Grindelwald

We get on the train and go to Interlaken Ost. There, IR to Bern is waiting for us. In Bern we buy juice and beer at the train station and discover a delicious milk chocolate for 0,5 Euro. We arrive at the campsite again in the twilight around 10 pm. For dinner we make Chinese soup and couscous with tomato sauce and Ostrava sausage. We have a beer in the tent and fall asleep there.

Useful links:

Swiss Railways
Swiss Saver day pass
Jungfrau Bahn
Schilthorn Bahn