Switzerland: Meiringen, Grindlewald, Lauterbrunnen Valley and Interlaken

Sunday 7^th July Lake Maggiore to Swiss Alps

By the time we had breakfast our lovely peaceful layby was surrounded by a dozen vehicles as loads of divers had used this spot as a meeting place. It was definitely time to move on. We headed up to the top of the lake to Lugano and Mike tried to retrace his steps from an earlier holiday. We had planned to book into a campsite here to catch up on some work but the campsite we called in at cost 89 euros a night! Too much for us. We eventually found a free parking spot by the lake where we were able to pick up an internet signal. Jacqui worked for a couple of hours and was able to skype Richard. It was great to have a long chat with him.

We continued to Ascona, again for Mike and then took the road over St Gottardo’s Pass. The alternative would have been to use the 17km long tunnel but this did not appealto Jacqui that much. From there we took the even more beautiful Sustan Pass eventually stopping for the night outside of Meiringen. We went for an evening stroll, stopping at a Swiss restaurant for a beer and wine before heading back to Buster.

Monday 8^th July Meiringen

After breakfast we headed into the town of Meiringen – famous for its Sherlock Holmes connections. First we went to the Coop to do a small shop where we found Swiss prices much higher and then on to the tourist information to get information about the Reichenbach Falls.


This was where Sherlock Holmes met his supposed end along with his arch enemy Moriarty. Armed with the info we headed for the falls taking the funicular railway (renovated in Victorian fashion) both up and down.  We explored the Falls quite quickly as we wanted to make it to Grindlewald for the early afternoon.

After our visit we took the ‘green route’ stopping at the beautiful lake at Interlaken for lunch. Once in Grindelwald we found a campsite that cost 40 euros. Again, camping is more expensive in this country.  After we had settled ourselves we decided to go for a walk but it was not a successful one.


 It was a very steep climb for the first hour and then we found ourselves in the midst of a heavy thunderstorm. We decided to turn round for home to plan tomorrows day.

  The evening brightened up and camping right under the Eiger was lovely.

Tuesday 9^th July Grindelwald

The weather forecast showed that we would have a good sunny morning with cloud and rain coming in later in the day. We got up early and were on the gondola lift to Mannlichen (2227m) by 9am. The gondola took 30 minutes and is the longest lift in Europe. From Mannlichen we took the ‘Romantiche Weg’ down to Alpinglen (1615m) to catch the train back to Grindlewald Grund. It was a beautiful walk down. We had lovely clear panoramas of the Eiger (3970m), Monch (4107m) and the Jungfrau (4158m).      



The pastures were full of a wide variety of wild flowers and the sun kept shining. It took us about two hours to walk down and we had an early lunch before catching the train.

In the afternoon we wanted to visit the Lauterbrunnen valley on the other side of the mountains. This was a more beautiful and dramatic valley than the one we had been in.  The valley is surrounded by steep cliffs and 72 waterfalls. The most spectacular had to be the Trummelbach Falls which carries the icy water  (2C) from the glaciers from the three mountains listed above. Over the years the water has carved a corkscrew route down the inside of the mountain.  Tourists can go right inside the mountain to view the Falls.

It was an extremely exciting experience and is considered one of the most dramatic falls in Europe.  We continued the drive right up to the end of the valley to Stechelberg where we stretched our legs before returning to Lauterbrunnen. We stopped here to see the Stubbach Falls, which mike decided to climb at 300m, the highest in Switzerland and then drove onto Interlaken.

With difficulty we found somewhere to park for the night and then went out for a delicious typical Swiss cheese fondue meal.