Grindelwald is a beautiful town about a 30 minute train ride from Interlaken in Switzerland. It’s located close to the Jungfrau mountain region making it completely surrounded in snowcapped mountains. It’s one of our favorite places in Switzerland and is somewhere you must visit! Here is our guide for taking a day trip to Grindelwald, Switzerland including transportation and everything you need to know about tickets!
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Getting to Grindelwald
You can take the train from Interlaken to Grindelwald in about 30 minutes. It’s an easy train ride and is a really popular way to get there. We loved that we didn’t have to worry about parking or trying to drive on Swiss roads.
- You can buy tickets at the automated ticket kiosks or at the ticket offices at the train station.
The train from Interlaken to Grindelwald was not included in our Eurail Global Passes. It is clearly stated both in the Rail Planner App (if you’re taking trains in Europe you should get this app). As well there on a large sign at the Interlaken Ost train station.
- Tickets from Interlaken to Grindelwald cost 12-14 CHF one way per person depending on the time of year.
- With a Eurail Pass (valid in Switzerland) you can get 25% off train tickets from Interlaken to Grindelwald.
Travel Truth: Honestly the view even from the train station is incredible! You are immediately greeted with massive mountains and rolling hills. Make sure when you get off the train to turn around and look back behind you!
Read More: How to Spend 4 Days in Interlaken, Switzerland
What To Do in Grindelwald
Grindelwald is known for activities such as hiking and skiing because of it’s ideal location. There is a small town area with some hotels, shops and restaurants. We walked down the main street and it’s like we were walking onto the mountain at the end of the road. It is so cool looking!
- Regardless of what you choose to do at Grindelwald make sure to bring a camera with you! It is one of the most beautiful places! We were so glad we brought our GoPro to take pictures during the First Flyer!
Grindelwald Cable Car
The Grindelwald Cable Car makes three stops up the mountain. It stops first at Bort at 1,570 meters. This is where you will finish the mountain cart (tricycle) ride if you choose to do it. The next stop is at Schreckfeld at 1,955 meters. Then the last stop is First at 2,168 meters.
The cable car is a beautiful ride up although it does come at a cost. Ticket prices depend on which stop you are looking to go to. A round trip adult ticket from Grindelwald to First (the top and last stop) cost 60 CHF or $61 USD. There’s no way around it, that is a lot of money!
- With the Swiss Pass the fare is half price making it significantly more reasonable. We thought with our Eurail Passes it would also be half price but at the ticket office we were told there is no discount with a Eurail Pass.
- A way to save money but still see this amazing place would be to take the cable car up making it 30 CHF ($30 USD) and then hike down. This is probably what we would have done if we hadn’t visited with Dave’s family.
- Or you could buy a round trip ticket to Bort, the first stop on the cable car for 32 CHF ($32 USD). Although the walk from Bort to First is all uphill it’s on a well paved path. So it’s definitely doable if you’re willing and able however it is a very long walk!
- You can also choose to hike all the way up but it will take you a couple hours and is pretty steep at times. It will obviously take longer though from the bottom so make sure to give yourself plenty of daylight.
The Grindelwald cable car ride took about 40 minutes to get to First station. It made two stops at Bort and Schreckfeld but we just stayed on and continued up. It was an incredibly scenic ride! Everywhere you look is rolling hills, grazing cows and huge mountains the entire way. It’s a lot of money (why are cable cars always so expensive?!) but it’s an amazing ride and just one of those place you have to go at least once!
- You can open the top part of the cable car to let in some fresh air and also hear the cow bells on the way up. It’s so peaceful to hear nothing but the cows!
It’s really easy to get on and off and the cable car itself is very sturdy and well built! Even if you’re not a big fan of heights it really is worth doing!
Travel Truth: Make sure to plan your day and look at the time of the last cable car down. When we visited the last cable car was leaving at 5:00 PM and we were running back to make it so we didn’t have to hike down. We got there probably at 5:05 PM with a bunch of other people so it worked out! But just make sure to keep an eye on the time if you’re looking to take it back to the bottom.
Read More: 7 Day Travel Guide to Switzerland
First Cliff Walk by Tissot
The First Cliff Walk by Tissot is just on the other side of the First cable car station. If you don’t like heights this might not be your thing as it is VERY high. The walkway is pretty much a metal, grated walkway that allows you to see down to the ground.
It’s completely free to walk through which given the price of the cable car was really nice! It goes around the curve of the cliff before getting to a platform that hangs above nothing but the side of the mountain!
- It is a little narrow I made sure to have all our belongings inside our daypack so nothing fell out. I kept thinking I was going to toss my jacket over the edge because it was draped over my arm!
We spent about 20 minutes walking to the small restaurant which sits at the end of the First Cliff Walk. There is a small part of the pathway at the end that’s similar to a suspension bridge. It’s a little scary as it did sway a tiny bit and there were quite a few people that were standing there nervous to cross. But we crossed and made it to the other side!
Near the restaurant is a walkway that goes up about 45 meters giving panoramic views! We had to wait maybe 5 minutes for a few people to take pictures ahead of us. I think we have a few hundred pictures from the First Cliff Walk!
First Activities – First Glider, First Flieger, Mountain Cart, Trottibike
Other than the First Cliff Walk there are quite a few activities you can choose to do at First as well. There is the First Glider, First Flyer, Mountain Cart and Trottibike. These are all optional and of course require an additional fee. So if you’re looking for some adrenaline activities you can take your pick or you can opt out and just enjoy the views!
With an Adventure Package ticket you can purchase 1, 2, 3 or 4 activities along with unlimited cable car rides. When buying tickets for 1, 2 or 3 activities you don’t need to specify which activities you want to do, just the number of TOTAL activities that you want. Then once at First you just scan your ticket for each activity. It’s very easy but make sure you don’t lose your ticket! Also, when we were buying our tickets the sign said that the First Flyer was sold out for the day, however, when we got to the top it was open with no line. We aren’t sure why but we were able to do it with no issues.
We did the First Flyer which starts a few steps down from the First cable car station. You go individually and zip line down to Schreckfeld, the second stop on the cable car. It lasted maybe a minute or two but try (I know, it’s hard) to look around you as you zip past all the surrounding mountains!
- There was no line so the whole process was really quick. We did have to sign a waiver at the entrance but that waiver was valid for all the activities we did that day so you only have to sign once.
- The First Glider follows a similar route between First and Schreckfeld but is a little different than the Flyer. Four people are strapped in facing down to the ground so you’re almost laying flat.
We also did the Mountain Cart from Schreckfeld down to Bort, the first stop on the cable car. The mountain carts are basically tricycles that you sit in. You glide down the mountain so you really don’t have to do much. But you do have hand brakes to control your speed and handle bars to steer. I was initially a little skeptical but ended up really enjoying the mountain carts so much!
I think the Mountain Cart is intended for those looking for a speedy ride down the mountain. But we slowly made our way down and it was so beautiful! It’s so quiet and we passed only a couple of other people plus a few cows. We kept pulling over to take pictures because it was so pretty!
- We spent about 40 minutes making our way down because we kept stopping to admire the view. You can obviously do it faster or take your time like we did!
- At the Bort cable car station there is a spot to return your helmet and the Mountain Cart.
There is also the Trottibike that is a combination of a standing scooter and a bicycle. You stand similar to a scooter but it has larger wheels similar to a bike. It starts at the Bort cable car station and takes you all the way down to Grindelwald.
Travel Truth: If you are planning to do any of the activities make sure to think about your day. Because all four activities bring you down the mountain make sure you do everything you want to at the top before making your way down. Otherwise you’ll find yourself going up and down which honestly isn’t the end of the world but takes time.
Read More: Day Trip to Lucerne, Switzerland
Hike to Bachalpsee Lake
From First there are numerous hikes to nearby areas. One popular hike is to Bachalpsee Lake and we completely understand why it’s a common choice! Bachalpsee sits at 2,265 meters giving you the feeling that you’re right in the middle of all the mountains.
There are quite a few longer hikes if you have a couple hours or if that’s the only thing you’re looking to do at First. Bachalpsee is one of the closer and quicker hikes so you can do it if you don’t necessarily have a full day to devote to hiking.
There are a lot of signs along the way so it’s really easy to follow the path as well. It’s listed as a 50 minute hike to the lake from the cable car station and there are distance and time markers to guide you. The path starts out pretty uphill and then evens out for most of the trail. It took us 35 minutes to get to the lake on the way there going at a pretty quick pace.
At 2:30 PM we passed only a few other people on the trail as most people had already finished hiking for the day. Again the trail follows the mountains and it’s truly amazing! When you get to Bachalpsee there is water on both sides of the trail. As you hike in you’ll pass the smaller portion on your left and then on your right will be the largest part of the lake.
- From the trail walking right to the larger lake area there is a pathway that follows along the water. If we had more time I’m sure that would be beautiful to walk around!
But the real gem of Bachalpsee was the reflection of the mountains on the smaller left lake area. It was around 3:15 PM so the lighting was just right and the lake was completely still. There was a clear reflection of the snowcapped mountain across the far side of the lake. Pictures don’t even do justice to what it looked like in person!
- We actually didn’t even see the reflection at first when we were hiking in and immediately went down to the right. So make sure to check out both sides!
We ended up doing the Bachalpsee hike at the end of the day and if we were to do it again, we definitely wouldn’t wait to do it! We were really rushed in order to get there and then make it back to the cable car station to take the last cable car down.
Our recommendation would be to hike first and then when you’re back at the First cable car station do the First Cliff Walk. Then if you’re looking to do any other activities they will bring you down the mountain. No matter whether you end at Schreckfeld or Bort (depending on the activity) you can either take the cable car the rest of the way or walk down to Grindelwald.
