Travel Album: Switzerland

Walking in the mountains above Interlaken

There was such an enthusiastic response to my recent post about mountains that I thought I would share more photos from the Bernese Oberland area in Switzerland. These shots are from three walks in June 2008 (which explains the less-than-fantastic quality of the photos). To see a much better version of the map below, click here.

Map of trains, buses and walking routes accessible from Interlaken. Just hop on a train, and go!

Walk 1: After my visit to Jungfraujoch and Top of Europe (more photos here), I walked from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen, a route that takes about 2 hrs and 45 minutes. This was a lovely stroll with a gentle descent of only 800 m.

Grindelwald station (1034m): change trains and keep going up!
Kleine Schedigg (2061m), where you get the train to Jungfraujoch.
A very youthful-looking me on Jungfraujoch (3545m). Behind me is the Aletsch Glacier, the largest and longest glacier in the Alps, being 24 km (15 miles) in length.
A stroll in the snow, Jungfraujoch.
Looking back up at Jungfraujoch and Top of Europe.
Wildflowers along the path.
Mountains reflected in a pond.
Lupins and mountains. (You can just spot Top of Europe on the ridge.)
The path leading to Wengen.
A meadow near Wengen.

Walk 2: From Harder Kulm to Interlaken, roughly 2.5 hours – and a descent of 2500 m. My knees were shaking by the time that one was over!

Funicular up, walk down.
Looking down on a paraglider.
Looking across to Jungfrau.
Interlaken sits between the Thunersee to the west …
… and the Brienzersee to the east.
A lovely, tree-lined walk — down, and down, and down.
Time to rest!

These four photos were taken from the balcony of my hotel, the Metropole. Stunning views of Jungfrau, in all conditions (well, the foggy one is not so stunning).

Taken at 3:52pm.
5:35pm, and what a change in the weather!
Two hours later, Jungfrau is bathed in pink as the sun sets.
The next morning, 6:15am.

Walk 3: Along Schynige Platte, a generally flat 2.5-hour circular walk on a plateau.

From left to right, the famous peaks of Eiger (3970 m / 13025 ft), Mönch (4099 m / 13448 ft) and Jungfrau (4158 m / 13642 ft).
A view from Schynige Platte.
A view from Schynige Platte.
Looking down at Interlaken from Schynige Platte.
A view from Schynige Platte.
My lunch spot on Schynige Platte.

If you have enjoyed these walks in the mountains of Switzerland, be sure to visit Jo’s Monday Walk for other walks.

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29 thoughts on “Travel Album: Switzerland”

  3. I can go up but the getting back down worries me these days! Sensational views, though. Surely worth a little effort. 🙂 Another of my blogging friends (Rosemay Lily) has been to Wengen and was wildly enthusiastic. It seemed like a good base. Thanks for filling my head with dreams, Elizabeth 🙂

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    • Yes we loved Switzerland and I’ve already done some posts about the mountains and lakes there. I have so many others so will probably do some more in future. Wengen is lovely though we have yet to go go all the way up Jungfrau. We had a wonderful lunch at Murren above Lauterbrunnen on the other side of the valley. We went by cable car and train though! These photos are stunning Elizabeth! 🙂

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        • Thanks Elizabeth 🙂 I’m not too bad but my husband gets really quite ill in cable cars like a phobia and it’s getting worse! We’ll be visiting Bavaria in April and I want to go up Zugspitze so I’ve worked out that you can go part way by train then I’ll park him in a cafe or pub and take the cable car to the top that way we’ll both be happy! We both loved the little train to Murren and the views! We also went up to Harderkulm by funicular – there looked to be some great walking trails around there too. All my Swiss posts are filed under the Swiss Travels category section in the blog. Have loved looking at your photos brings back wonderful memories have a lovely weekend 🙂

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      • I was completely unable to send back a reply to this when reading it among my own Notifications ! In fact, there were four responses from you (you nice person), and I couldn’t get a single one of my following ones to go !!!! All that happened was that a dark pink bar appeared above telling me that it had failed to go and I should try again.
        Is it just me ?
        [sob !]

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  5. To me, this place is heaven 🙂

    What a incredible place!!!

    For someone who likes hiking in hills, these images are simply irresistible 🙂

    Great to find you here and hope to see many more thrilling images from the mountains 🙂

    Thank you so much for sharing, Elizabeth…

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  6. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : as promised, Portimão | restlessjo

  8. Absolutely spectacular! When you hear these mountains calling you…listen. Only special people hear the call.

    Then when you return, listen again…find the alphorns, find the jodlers…at sunset in the Berner Oberland. They await your return.

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