I usually do Free & Easy Travel thus a lot of "Homeworks" needs to be done before each trip and I find it a waste to just dump it one side after all my hard work. So decided to to have a blog to record some of this up , hopefully someone might find this useful for them.
Today we will be going from Interlaken to Gimmelwald which we will be staying for 2 nights at Pension Gimmelwald, min 2 night stay and cost us 320CHF for 2 nights , double bedroom ensuite.Then from there we will be going to Schilthorn then to Murren, next to Trummelbach Falls and finally back to Gimmewald for the night. We had plan 2 days in this region and pray for good weather as we plan to visit both Schilthorn and Jungfrau.
Check out of the hotel early and had our breakfast prepack by the hotel to eat on the train. We left Interlaken at 6:05AM and reach Lauterbrunnen train station at 6:25 AM. From there , get out of the station and walk towards the bus stop for Bus 141 which will leave at 6:35 AM and it will reach the Stechelberg station at 6:47AM.From there , take the cable car to Gimmelwald at 6:55 AM to Gimmelwald in 5 min. As we are early , we just drop out luggage at the hotel and make our way back to the station for the next cable car at 7:30 to Schilthorn. Half card will get you 50% of the tickets to Schilthorn. From past experiences, it's always good to visit mountain area in the morning to avoid clouds and crowds.
From Gimmelwald, one will have to take the cable car to Murren then change to another cable car Brig then another one to the top of Schilthorn taking a total of about 27 min from Gimmelwald to the top. Schilthorn 's Piz Gloria if famous as the flaming location for the 1969 James Bond 007 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
One very cool thing is that we saw a guy who just bring along his paraglide and pithing minutes he just jump and glide down the mountain.
From the top , we took the cable car back to Brig which feature a "Thrill walk" - The THRILL WALK leads down into the vertical walls of the imposing rock massif. Visitors walk along a 200-metre cliff pathway under Birg cableway station.
After completing one round of the Thrill Walk , we took the cable car back to Murren and decided to have our lunch there before heading back to Gimmelwald and checking in to our hotel.We took a short rest after check in and then we make our way to the Trummelbach Falls by taking the cable car to Stechelberg Station follow by another Bus.
Trummelbach Falls consist of "10 waterfalls " in a cave , which is actually different part of the falls view at different locations.For a start , you can choose to take the lift up then after that slowly make you way down to the exit.
We took the bus back to Stechelberg Station and since it was still early , we decided to walk over to the waterfalls on the other side of the carpark. Managed to climb up to the foot of the fall thru a steep rocky slope. By the time we reach back at the hotel , it was almost 19:30PM.
Pension Gimmelwald is actually a restaurant on level one , so either you can choose to have your dinner there or it's better to have it at Murren there as there are more choices or of cos to save money like us , Instant noodle + supermarket.
We decided to go to the Gornergrat to view the matterhorn so we will need to take the Gornergrat Bahn (train). Usually the sky is clearer in the morning so best to take the first train also usually by afternoon the tour group will be in so will be crowded on the top.Go for the earliest train which is 7am in summer period ( refer here for timing ) The cost for return ticket is 49 CHF with half fare card ( Saver Pass is not usable for this ). The fare allows you on and off up and return.
When we were there around 6.45 AM , there was already quite a number of tourists and workers.Take the train to Rotenboden station then walk about 10 min to the Riffelsee where you will be able to see the reflection of the matterhorn in the lake. Usually recommend early in the morning or in the evening where there is no wind , then you be able to see the reflection in the lake. It's better to come here first then to the top station cause not all people knows about this spot and also usually for tourists they only go all the way to the top.
When we reach the Riffslsee , there was already some tourists before us , either they stayed in the hotel on top or they hike their way up in the early morning.
After spending some time taking the photos , we took the train up to the top station. There was already some crowd at this time, by the time we going off , hordes of tourists group had already made their way up.
By the time we came down was around 11am+ so we decided to have an early lunch then collect out baggage then get on the train to Interlaken.
I would highly recommended this shop that sell grill chicken BUT the lady boss was saying that she be retiring in 5 weeks time so the shop would be close.A check on google map and it shows that it's Permanently closed , the shop is called WILDE HILDE Roast Chicken.The chicken was really really good with the spices.
We managed to got on the train at 12:13 with 2 changes in train at Visp and Spiez, this will get us to Interlaken by 14:28. We be staying at Interlaken Youth Hostel for the night as we will be making our way to Gimmelwald the next morning. The hotel is just few min walking distance from the train station , choose to stay here is to just break the journey. The rooms are simple but expensive , we got the double room with shower and that cost us about SGD $230 for the night.
After check in , we had a short rest then went to the supermarket at the train station to top up some snacks and drinks. Next we decided to go to Harder Kulm Peak for sunset and with Half card , the fares is 50% off at 16 CHF.The station for the train up is just walking distance from the hotel. There was a little Q when we reach , by 6:30PM we reach the top of Harder Kulm.
We stay until 20:30 for the sun to set and then make our way down.Pass by a shop called Asllanis Corner and we decided to take away some food as dinner, Just one burger + fries cost about 20 CHF! portion was quite big and taste was ok.
