Hiking in Lauterbrunnen 

Ade was very keen to get back to Lauterbrunnen, so we took a road trip with my cousin Jon and his friend Dean for two days. The day dawned fairly sunny – the best morning we had had so far, so it was a good day for some hiking in the mountains.

We took the scenic route, which took us through Staadt and not long after arriving at Lauterbrunnen, we headed up the Schilthorn, where they filmed the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Jungfrau was completely covered in cloud. Schilthorn still had great views across the valley and to many of the surrounding mountains, but there were some early signs this was about to change.

The revolving restaurant provided a warm spot from which to have a hot chocolate and admire the various mountains. There was also a huge viewing platform, so Ade was able to capture the mountains “on film” from every possible angle.

Unlike Jungfrau, however, which has ice caves, dog sledding and tobogganing, there isn’t much else to do at Schilthorn unless you’re prepared to brave the long trek down – as we couldn’t work out where the path went to and watched as a person was rescued not long after setting out confidently on a trek down, I figure this was definitely not for the faint hearted – far easier to take the cable car back down.

On the way down we stopped at Murren and had a walk around. Murren is a very cute little town perched above the Lauterbrunnen Valley. It’s the kind of picture-postcard view you expect to find in Switzerland and which you’ll see throughout the mountains here.

Lauterbrunnen is on the Busabout and Contiki tour group itineraries, so as you might expect it is a bit of a party town at night. The local pub plays host to people from all around the world and you can hear all about people’s adventures skydiving, paragliding or just sight-seeing. 

But it’s not hard to see why this spot is a popular tourist haunt so don’t let the crowds put you off.

After a night “on the town” we slept in the following morning and then made our way out to Trummelbach Falls, we had been to the Falls last time we were in Lauterbrunnen, way back in 2001, and as far as we could recall they were very impressive. 

Again, they exceeded our expectations. The Falls are amazing – 10 glacier waterfalls falling through the inside of a mountain. The water comes from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, up to 20,000 litres of water per second is carried through the falls.

Of course, this all made it very hard for poor Adrian to photograph – aside from the rain, the falls throw out so much water that it’s difficult to keep the camera dry. But what’s travel without the odd challenge?

Once again, Lauterbrunnen didn’t disappoint – it was just as beautiful as we remembered, though, as with most of the places we’ve visited, far busier than we remembered.

Fast Facts

We travelled in 2011.

We stayed in a private guesthouse booked through the local pub in Lauterbrunnen.

We were here for two nights.

Was it long enough? Lauterbrunnen is the kind of place you could while away many hours, days or weeks. The first time we went we stayed for a week, the second time for two nights. Both trips were amazing and when we’re next in Switzerland, we’ll no doubt go again.

Highlights: Trummelbach Falls are not like your average falls, the views everywhere you look. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself yodelling Sound of Music style.

Read more stories from Switzerland here.

Join @AllabroadAU on Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube for more travel inspiration.