Nikita’s Nomadic Notes

*WARNING – this is my longest blog post ever, apologies in advance!*

All I can say is that for many reasons, Switzerland felt like an alternate reality. There’s simply no other way I can describe it. Not only was it THAT beautiful, but it was also THAT expensive, it didn’t even feel real. If I had some sort of unlimited budget, I would’ve spent an eternity here, hiking, exploring and taking thousands of photos. But unfortunately for me, my budget is strictly limited, so I lived off pasta and 2-minute noodles.

My first Swiss stop was the small village of Lauterbrunnen. Situated in a valley surrounded by steep rocky cliffs, and known for having 72 waterfalls, it is truly a location like no other. There’s one street, with a few shops, one small supermarket with limited hours, and one pub. On one wall inside the pub, you will find many notices about base jumping. “Ensure you purchase your landing pass before jumping”. A landing pass is essentially a ticket that allows the jumpers to land in certain farmers paddocks. “Please alert air control before you jump”. And then on the opposite wall of the pub, is a memorial for the base jumpers who have lost their lives in the valley. According to Google, around 20,000 jumps are recorded in the valley each year, with Lauterbrunnen having some of the highest fatality statistics in the world. Already this year, three jumpers have lost their lives in the valley. It was certainly a bit of a nerve-wracking experience walking through the valley, glancing up and seeing a jumper free falling above you. If their parachute doesn’t deploy, what do you do? Who do you call? It would be a traumatic experience for sure. I comprehensively thought about all this as I watched a few jumpers come flying into the valley.

The train ride into Lauterbrunnen was stunning! Winding your way towards the mountains up into the valley, which lies at about 800m. I arrived fairly late in the afternoon, but after checking into my hostel I went for a stroll through the town and visited the Staubbach Falls, they drop from a height of 297m into the valley, and there’s a track that enables you to walk not only right up to them but even behind them. Upon returning to my hostel, I sat outside and watched the sunset, witnessing the final sun rays disappearing from the mountains. It was so peaceful. To round out the night, I visited the only pub in town with two South Africans and an Englishman to watch the NZ vs Uruguay RWC game. Thankfully we comfortably won that one.

I had absolutely no plans for my time in Lauterbrunnen. I knew there were a lot of trains, cable cars and hikes, so I got myself a map and started some research. After some recommendations from other hostel guests, I decided I would spend my first full day hiking to Mürren and Gimmelwald. Two smaller, car-free villages, with great mountain views. It’s difficult to explain through writing and without a map to point at, but there were a variety of cable cars I could take from Lauterbrunnen, or you could hike the entire way. I compromised. I didn’t feel like starting my day with a 4km straight uphill stretch, so I took the cable car up the hill to Grütschalp (1,486m) and hiked from there to Mürren, up the hill of Allmendhubel (1,907m), around the North Face Track, on to Gimmelwald where I took another cable car back down to the town of Stechelberg on valley floor, about 5km from Lauterbrunnen. I was out hiking for most of the day here and covered 22km.

It was safe to say I was pretty knackered when I got back, but I had had such a fantastic day out. And that was only day one! Fast forward an hour or so (after a good shower), I was cooking my noodles and got chatting to two Aussie boys. We were discussing plans for the following day, and I mentioned that I had splashed out and brought a ticket to visit Jungfraujoch, also known as “the top of Europe”. The tickets usually cost around 200CHF ($375NZD) per adult return, but with a Eurail travel pass, which I have, it’s discounted to 150CHF ($280NZD). It’s still extremely expensive, but it was one of those must-see experiences, so I coughed up the money. One of the Aussies decided to join me, so we decided to catch the first train at 7:30am allowing us to arrive just after 9am, hoping to beat a lot of the tourist traffic. The weather was looking fantastic, but a bit cool – a high of 5 degrees, which is understandable considering we were travelling to the top of a mountain I guess. I only brought two pairs of long pants with me, tights and jeans, I wore both. I think I layered up half the clothing in my backpack.

WHAT A DAY IT WAS! This experience is one of the top highlights of my trip. The train takes you along a mountain rack railway to Europes highest train station at 3,454m. The railway began operating in 1912 and runs through a tunnel in the Eiger and Mönch Mountains which protects it from snow and weather. At the top, there are multiple viewpoints, the highest being the Sphinx Observatory at 3,572m. You look out over snowy capped mountains, glaciers, and land as far as the eye can see. But damn it was cold up there. There were also many restaurants, an ice palace, the highest Lindt shop in the world and an outside snow play area. It was cool to explore. After getting some very expensive lunch, we embarked on a side quest. There is a hiking trail that runs across the Aletsch Glacier to the Mönchsjochhütte (3,657m). It is a groomed trail and takes about 45m. While it’s only a short walk with a gradual incline, it was challenging at above 3,000m of altitude. But I’m so glad we did it! The hike to this hut made my day, it was so beautiful and a real highlight. Once at the hut, after taking a few hundred photos, we indulged in some schnapps and hung out enjoying the view. What a life!! Awhile later the weather started to turn, with cloud rolling in so we made our way back and jumped on the train back to Lauterbrunnen. I’m glad I spent the money, I will not be forgetting this any time soon.

Following this, I had one final day in Lauterbrunnen. My Australian friends left early that morning so I was back to my own company. I took the train to Grindelwald, a town in the next valley over, which is a lot bigger and has even more hiking trails. From here I took a cable car up to Grindelwald First, which was very touristy. There’s a cliff walk you can do, and then I hiked on to a lake, Bachalpsee. This whole area was very busy with a lot of people, families, and dogs so I didn’t enjoy it as much, even though the views were still amazing. From the lake I took the mountain biking trail (but walking) and hiked about 10km back down to Grindelwald. Thankfully this track was a lot quieter. It was somewhat challenging in the sense that it was constantly downhill and hard on the knees. Over the 10km I descended around 1,230m. The whole way the views of the mountains were stunning and there were many paragliders taking to the skies. Parts of the walk wound through the forest and it reminded me of home. It was a fantastic last day in the area.

It’s becoming harder and harder to pick my favourite travel destinations, but Lauterbrunnen really goes straight to the top (or maybe first equal with the Dolomites). It was a really beautiful and special region, with so much to see and do. I would absolutely love to return in winter, and try my hand at skiing in these resorts. If only I could speak German I would come back to work a ski season!

~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes