We had plenty of warnings ahead of our obligatory trip to the Jungfrau.
Overhyped? Only if you encounter terrible weather.
Most congested mountain in Switzerland? One of the top two or three.
Most expensive second-class train by kilometre in the world? Most definitely.
Everyone loves the Jungfrau’s UNESCO World Heritage pedigree and dreamy scenery, yet most bemoan its daily besieging by masses of multi-national tourists, all converging at Kleine Scheidegg awaiting their exclusive train ride to the legendary Jungfraujoch. But there is a cheap(er) way to avoid most of the crowds as we found out, for novice hikers who wish to enjoy the Jungfrau without the exorbitant prices.
At a fraction of the price charged for a round-trip to Jungfraujoch, one could take the train as far as Wengen before transferring to a cable car up the local mountain of Männlichen, where a flat, family-friendly trail leads straight to the foot of the Jungfrau. From the cable car one can appreciate the steepness of the glacial valley, cleft between 3000-plus-metre peaks and concealed in shadows except for the midday.
Known as the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg trail, this 7 km route packs a dizzying punch of Switzerland's most famous landscapes into a well-maintained trail navigable for rugged baby strollers in good weather. Along with the Lavaux vineyard hike above Lake Geneva and the Panoramaweg near St. Moritz, this was one of our three favourite beginner hikes in Switzerland.
Starting from the Männlichen cable car station and passing a children’s playground featuring a ginormous cow-shaped slide, the trail swerves slowly around the eastern slopes of the Tschuggen peak towards the alpine transport hub of Kleine Scheidegg. The inclines were apparently gentle enough for some young ladies in high heels, making it a comfortable 2 hour stroll for these two 9-to-5 workers of average fitness.
One key attraction of the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg trail is its near constant and unobstructed view of the Jungfrau’s magnificent north face which, along with her neighbouring peaks of Mönch and Eiger, forms the core of continental Europe’s watershed at 4158 metres above sea level.
An easterly panorama overlooks the Grindelwald valley and its pair of popular resort towns, normally served by the Wengernalpbahn cog rail which did not serve Grindelwald at the time of our visit. That was partially the reason behind us choosing the village of Lauterbrunnen as our home base in the Berner Oberland.
For families requiring more frequent rest stops, a picnic area at the halfway point provides a weather shelter and a few barbecue pits. And if you aren’t the sort to haul your own wine bottles on hikes, the Grindelwaldblick restaurant beckons near the end of the trail with its offerings of hard apple ciders and beers.
Aside from its tempting offerings of beer and wurst, the Grindelwaldblick also features one of the best viewpoints along the route with an elevated pavilion built next to the restaurant, providing the pictured front row view of Kleine Scheidegg beneath the Jungfrau. We started our hike just past 10:00 and arrived at 12:00, in time for lunch before embarking on our most expensive afternoon outing.
Now here’s my next tip for budget travelers. If you’re going to blow your budget on train tickets like we did, you might want to skip the overpriced restaurants by staging your own Swiss picnic on Kleine Scheidegg’s limited number of benches. A shrimp appetizer, a green salad, landjäger jerky, bread and cheese, and a small bottle of sparkling cava, all available from the Coop supermarkets at Wengen for about CHF 10 per person in total.
We needed every franc we could save to pay for the most expensive excursion of our 16-day journey across Switzerland, CHF 110 (CAD$154) per person in tickets to take the cog rail from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch and back to Wengen later this afternoon. And this was AFTER the 25% discount offered to Swiss Travel Pass holders.
Sticker shock aside, Swiss rail engineering was marvellous to behold as our cogwheel train tunnelled up the mountain’s base and made an intermediate stop at the underground station of Eismeer, boasting an aquarium-like viewing window burrowed out of the Jungfrau’s southeastern face to provide visitors with an up-close view of the Ischmeer Glacier.
The panorama became even more impressive at the terminus station of Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe at 3454 m and straddling the continental divide at the heart of the UNESCO protection zone. Jungfrau’s steep north face would eventually drain into the Rhine towards the North Sea, while the southern glaciers would follow the Rhone into the Mediterranean.
The southern slopes overlook the Aletsch Glacier amid the largest contiguous glaciated area in Europe, 22 km long and an incredible 900 metres deep at the far end. From this vantage point one could pick out the occasional snowshoe track from mountaineers or perhaps resident scientists studying the glacier as a barometer for climate change.
Beneath the ice lies a large underground tourism complex with restaurants and cafés, a snow park, museum, theatre and souvenir shops all interlinked by a series of tunnels, complete with a Lindt shop that seemed to carry limited quantity treats that we had never seen elsewhere.
My favourite spot for memorable photos was the ice palace, ideally with a good enough camera for capturing the translucent walls without flash. We visited a similar palace the previous week at the Matterhorn Glacier Express above Zermatt, but here the lighting turned out much better for photos.
A quick elevator ride to the Sphinx Observatory afforded a bird’s eye view of the snow park below. Renting a snowboard -- or a snow tube for those who would rather sit -- turned out affordable enough that I would have rented my own pair of skis if we had a full afternoon on these slopes. With our limited time I had to settle for a few golf swings of hitting snowballs down the glacier, still enjoyable though less exhilarating.
And I didn’t know at the time that it was possible to spend a night up here!
Not at the train station, but at the Mönchsjoch alpine hut 45 minutes from the station, accessible only via a snowshoe hike. Simple meals and warm beds await, as well as possibly the most spectacular sunrise in the Alps. Too bad we had to return to Lauterbrunnen on the second last train of the day.
On the way back we stopped by Wengen, famous for its car-free status as well as one of the most impressive Skiing World Cup events held annually at the Lauberhorn slopes above town. The spectacular setting come at a cost of higher apartment prices and one more train transfer from Interlaken, which led to us picking Lauterbrunnen as our homebase at the end.
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