A “must see, “and a “must do” while traveling in Switzerland is to visit the valley of Lauterbrunnen. It is here where there are many majestic views that people remember Switzerland for.
By train, it is 2 1/2 hours from either Zurich or Lucerne, an hour extra from Geneva. Switzerland is not all that big. We highly recommend purchasing a Swiss travel Pass. Our 15-day pass saved us nearly $1000 dollars. It is good for many of the museums and exhibits too.
You may come across military soldiers traveling on the trains. You will also see them carrying their rifles. The soldiers we encountered spoke perfectly good English and friendly to boot.
You will need to get off at “Interlaken Ost.” There are actually two trains stations in the town of Interlaken. Another train will take you up into the valley.
There are a number of places to stay. It depends who you talk. I don’t think you can make a bad choice anywhere. Some people stay in Interlaken, Wengen, Murren and Gimmelwald to name a few places. Through advice from good friends, Lee and Mabel Carroll, we stayed in “Lauterbrunnen,” and the quaint hotel of “Silberhorn” particularly. The small village is central to all the places listed above.
Silberhorn is a fine hotel. Just follow the line out from the train station to the Main Street. You will see a sign to Hotel Silberhorn.
There are several floors, but no elevator. The room was spotless. There was no need for AC.
Every morning, we always looked forwards to their fine breakfast.
We came across some colored eggs. We wonder if these eggs came naturally this way? It is one of those mysteries I want to find out.
We had room #42 that was in the new section of the hotel. Our room over-looked the famous Staubbach Falls.
I don’t normally take a room-key as a souvenir. I made an exception for this hotel.
We do highly recommend this hotel.
Falling 974 feet (297 meters), Staubbach Falls is impressive. It was an easy walk from our hotel. No need for a car.
The Swiss leave walking sticks for your convenience.
After walking up the trail, an enclosed cylinder will take you into the mountain.
At the end of the cylinder there are a few more steps that will take you behind the falls! The experience of being behind the falls is awesome.
Not far from Staubbach Falls was a Swiss Restaurant that also served Chinese food. I had probably the best Chicken Szechuan of my life. The restaurant that stole our hearts, though, was at Hotel Oberland.
We found a lunch place, Hotel Oberland, in Lauterbrunnen, just a hundred yards from our hotel. The food was fresh and tasty, we came back three other times.
Kathie enjoyed the freshly made salads.
I had my first authentically made Swiss Fondu.
We did once splurge for dessert.
On our last visit, we found how good Hotel Oberland’s “Quattro Pizza” was. Made with four types of cheeses–Blue cheese being my favorite– we had this pizza made well done.
We recommend staying in Lauderbrunnen for at least four days. There is always the question of getting good weather. There are days when it rains with plenty of clouds in the valley.
On our last day, we had exceptional weather.
Next to our hotel is a cable car that went up the mountain. The trip only took about five minutes. A small-gauged train awaits at the other end to take you to a village known as Murren. A short walk through Murren will get you to the Schilthorn cable car. Our life was in the hands of a very young man.
Half way up you have to change again at a platform called “Birg.”
At the top of Schilthorn mountain—9,744 feet high (2,970 meters) is a platform with the famous revolving restaurant of Piz Gloria.
The 360-degree restaurant, known as Piz Gloria (name acquired from the movie in 1969) goes around every 45 minutes. We didn’t eat there but we understand the food is considered to be good. We did have a cup of delicious hot chocolate.
Even though it was in June, the walkway outside was icy. And it was cold. The views, though, made up for it. Panoramic views can be had of such mountains as Titlis, Jungfrau, Monch, Eiger, the Bernese and Jura Alps and on a good day, you can see Mount Blanc.
We were witness to a man that went off the walkway to ski.
This facility became famous from the James Bond movie, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” James Bond was a one-time Bond, an Australian named George Lazenby. Some believe he was the best of all the Bonds.
The bad guy in the movie was Telly Savalas as “Blofeld.” The movie is considered to be one of the more faithful adaptations to the Ian Fleming novel series.
An entire floor in the Schilthorn facility is dedicated to the movie. Your cable car ticket gets you in for free.
Coming down by Cable Car, we decided to continue on to a small village of Gimmelwald. We were in the heart of what people most remember about Switzerland.
We came to a small place of business in Gimmelwald where an “Honesty Box” was placed to pay for your goods. Supposedly, it was the first “Honesty Shop” in Europe.
In the afternoon, we decided to take the train up to Wengen. You literally go up and around a large mountain to get to Wengen. Wengen is actually higher than Lauterbrunnen. You are literally on a mountain in Wengen.
We took the cable car up to area of Mannichen. It is here were you can take a walk—known as “The Royal Walk” to the “Kings Platform.”
Along the way, there are actually seats to enjoy all the views. You are literally 7683 feet high.
On the trail, there were plenty of Edelweiss flowers. They is native to the Alps. From watching the series “Band of Brothers,” an Edelweiss flower on a German soldiers meant that you were an “elite” soldier. At least you were able to trek very high into the Alps to pick this iconic flower.
From the village of Wengen, the train continues up the mountain to a place called Kleine Scheldigg. The Swiss Travel Card does not cover the cost of this railroad juncture. The extra few miles of travel are $15 or so. The view of the mountains are breath-taking and well worth the cost–particularly if it is a nice day.
I had no idea why there were American Indian tee-pees 6762 feet high.
We did spend a few hours in Interlaken. There is one main street from one railroad station to another. At one end, there is a casino. You will need your passport to get in.
As it was raining, we found a seat at Interlaken’s Hooters.
It has become a hobby of ours to visit Hooter’s. The company actually was started in Clearwater, FL. This Hooters was just like the USA, but with a Swiss ambiance.
Even my Daytona wings are as small as ever—but tasty!
