Four Awesome Days In Grindelwald, Switzerland

⛰️Grindelwald: A Swiss Wonderland for Adventurers of All Ages

In 2025, my wife, teenage son, and I took an awesome summer vacation to Central Europe. For the (almost) final chapter of our journey, we landed in the town of Grindelwald, Switzerland – and wow, what a way to wrap things up. Whether you’re a solo adventurer, a couple, or a family with kids, this place has something for everyone. I can’t recommend it enough.

Tucked into an alpine valley and surrounded by towering peaks, Grindelwald feels like something out of a fantasy novel. No matter where you stand in town, you’re greeted with jaw-dropping mountain views that shift with the light and weather.

The town is also a launchpad for adventure, with several cable car lines whisking you up to high-altitude playgrounds filled with panoramic vistas and outdoor activities. This isn’t the place to dive into centuries of history or ancient architecture. Grindelwald is all about nature, movement, and making memories in the great outdoors. And for that, it delivers in spades.

🚅How We Got Here

Grindelwald, Switzerland was the third part of the trip – we came here from Salzburg, Austria. See Five Awesome Days in Salzburg, Austria for everything we did there. And see Five Awesome Days In Prague for the first part of our trip.

To get to Grindelwald from Salzburg, we took trains that I booked on Rail Europe. I talk a bit about the first segment – Salzburg to Zurich – on my Salzburg post. Second segment was Zurich to Interlaken – this was on a Inter City train. The Zurich train station is really big, but it’s pretty easy to find the right tracks by number. We booked first class and didn’t have trouble finding space for our luggage. The third and final segment was Interlaken to Grindelwald. This is a relatively quick train ride, going uphill most of the way. You start to get a sense of the scenery on this train ride. Make sure you get off at the Grindelwald train station, not Grindewald Terminal, as most buses leave from the Grindelwald station, and the hotels are mostly around here not Terminal. The Grindelwald train station is right to the middle of town.

🚅Day 1 – Arrival

We rented an apartment on Airbnb in Grindelwald town, up the main street a little bit from the train station. I decided to take the bus to the Airbnb. Even though we had luggage, this worked out fine, we stood for few minutes on the bus for just 3 stops to the one nearest to our apartment (Kirche). The Grindelwald bus system is a great way to get around town and we used it several times a day when we were here. I’ll explain all about how it works, how to ride it, etc. later on in the “Getting Around” section.

We got to Grindelwald pretty late – about 5:30PM local time – so there wasn’t time to do much other than enjoy the view from the balcony of our Airbnb. Which was amazing! Every evening from 8:00 until dusk, I found myself mesmerized by the ever-changing face of the Fiescherhorn. Every few minutes, the view looked totally different from the sun coming at a different angle. It was like watching nature paint a masterpiece in real time.

This quiet ritual became my favorite part of the entire trip. I’ll be sharing a bunch of photos here, but fair warning: they don’t quite do it justice.

🥾Day 2 – Grindelwald First, Bachalpsee, Pfingstegg

Get on the cable car here

Get off the cable car here and enjoy the surrounding views

Get on the Pfingstegg cable car here

After waking up, the beautiful view was still there. But we needed breakfast and food. So we headed to a grocery store at 8AM to stock up on breakfast and lunch food for the next few days in Grindelwald. We took the Grindelwald bus two stops to go to the VOI Grindelwald store. Each bus line runs every half hour, but there were 3 different ones that ran between the stop by our apartment (Kirche) and where the VOI is (Grindelwalderhof), so we didn’t have to wait long to go there or come back. (I’ll explain more about the buses in the Getting Around section)

🚠 Grindelwald First: Kicking Off the Adventure

After a breakfast of yogurt and Swiss muesli at our apartment, we set off for our first big adventure – and the first of many cable car rides on this trip: Grindelwald First. I’ll dive into the logistics and ticketing details for Grindelwald First (and everything else in Grindelwald) a bit later, but let’s talk about what makes this spot so special.

Grindelwald First is a scenic peak just north of town, easily reached via a cable car that glides straight up from the heart of Grindelwald. As you ascend, there are view of lush valleys and jagged peaks that are even better at the top.

Along the way, there’s a whole lineup of family-friendly thrill rides: mountain go-karts, zip-line-style gliders, and more. We skipped those, though – most had wait times pushing two hours even early in the day. The only one without a long queue was the Trottibike, but reviews weren’t glowing, and the idea of pushing our bikes uphill at the bottom through town at the end didn’t sound all that thrilling.

Still, Grindelwald First has plenty to offer. Right near the cable car station, you’ll find trails with jaw-dropping views – panoramas that stretch across the Bernese Alps and make you feel like you’ve stepped into a postcard. Whether you’re here for the action or just soaking in the scenery, First is a fantastic way to kick off your time in Grindelwald

One of the cool things you can do here is the First Walk, where you can walk on a metal walkway along the side cliff. It’s short and pretty cool so definitely make sure you follow the signs to check this out. You can see it at the bottom of the first picture below

🥾 Trail to Bachalpsee: A Swiss Gem Worth Every Step

Just steps from the gondola station, there’s a cafeteria perfect for grabbing a quick snack before hitting the trails. There are several trails near the statoin, and we chose the crown jewel: the trail to Bachalpsee, a stunning alpine lake that offers one of the most iconic views in all of Switzerland. And the journey there is just as breathtaking as the destination.

The trail itself is wide, well-kept, and easy to follow – you can spot its starting point in the middle photo above. It’s a little over 2 miles to the lake, with a total elevation gain of around 400 feet (though you’ll climb about 700 feet in total due to a few downhill dips). Most of the uphill effort comes early on, so once you conquer that initial stretch, the rest is smooth sailing. The incline is gentle enough that you don’t need any hiking experience, though it’ll be a bit of a workout if you’re out of shape.

But the real reward? The views. With no trees to block your sight line, you’re surrounded by rolling green meadows, scattered rocks, and towering peaks in every direction.

Once you get to Bachalpsee, you’re rewarded with an unreal view with the lake in the foreground and perfect mountains in the background. You can walk all around the lake, and there are lots of places to sit on the ground and soak in the view. The view looking back away from the valley isn’t too shabby either.

You can keep going on the trail if you walk around the lake – this will take you up higher. But we didn’t do this. This site has a good map showing it. After soaking in the views for a while here, it was back to the First cable car station for the ride back to town.

📋To get to First, we walked to the Grindelwald First cable car station. This cable car station is only for First – it’s not the same cable car station for Jungfrau and Männlichen (which I’ll talk about on days 3 and 4). It’s a few bus stops up from the train station. The cable car to First is included in the Jungfrau Travel Pass – see my description of that at the bottom of the page. Once we got to the station, we just got in line and got on a car right away to head up, no wait! There are a few other stops along the way for a few of the activities, but we went straight to the top. The views are so amazing! So take your time and enjoy the view. All around the station it’s open fields so you can get great pictures anywhere. It’s 7,165 feet above sea level at the top, so it was a little cooler than the town, but on a warm day it wasn’t cool enough to need a jacket.

🚡 Afternoon Thrills at Pfingstegg

But the day wasn’t over yet. We got back to the apartment by mid-afternoon, which left just enough time to squeeze in one more adventure. From our balcony, we’d been watching a cable car gliding quietly up and down the hillside all week – Pfingstegg. It’s not as popular as the more famous lifts around Grindelwald, but we had to see what it was like because of the proximity.

Getting there is easy: hop on the local bus to the Pfingsteggbahn stop, or walk from the Kirche stop if you’re up for a short stroll. We headed up around 4:30 PM, and while the views at the top aren’t quite as jaw-dropping as First or Männlichen, they offer a great panorama of Grindelwald town nestled in the valley below.

🎢 Once at the top, we dove into the two main attractions: the toboggan run and the fly line. Both were a blast! The toboggan zips you down a winding metal track on your own cart, with just enough speed to get a thrill, and the fly line gives you a gentle, scenic glide through the trees. They’re shorter and less intense than the adrenaline-pumping options at First, which makes them perfect for families with younger kids – or anyone just looking for a lighthearted thrill.

For what you get, Pfingstegg seems a little pricey, but I’m still glad we went up, the toboggan and fly line were really fun.

🌦️⛰️ Evening Views After the Rain

After getting back to the apartment from dinner, I settled in for my Grindelwald evening routine: soaking in the view from the balcony. But tonight was special. A heavy rainstorm had passed through earlier – we just missed getting caught in it before ducking into the restaurant – and it left the mountains looking completely refreshed. The rain brought out a cascade of new waterfalls streaming down the cliffs. A soft rainbow appeared just as the clouds began to clear, and up on the Eiger, we could see a fresh layer of snow dusting the summit.

Here’s the view from the balcony. The cable car you can see slowly going up is the Pfingstegg candle light dinner car. This was taken at around 9PM. The candle light dinner is quite pricey but I imagine would be a pretty awesome experience.

❄️Day 3 – Jungfraujoch

Today we visited what’s probably the most popular thing to do from Grindelwald – Jungfraujoch. It’s a really cool, very unique, and expensive experience. Jungfraujoch is the highest railway station in Europe at 11,300 feet, in the middle of the Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps. It’s quite a large station on the plateau with plenty to do and see, there is a whole self guided tour sequence of things to do, The Discovery Tour. There are the views in the middle of the glacier with snow all around. But there’s also a really cool ice cave with sculptures, where you walk through an entire caverns cut of of pure ice (yes, you are walking on ice, and yes there are rails), a section where you can walk out on to the glacier in the snow as far as you want. That part was really cool, if a bit exhausting! You’re over 11,000 feet up and walking through snow, so I ran out of breath pretty quickly. There is also snow tubing in this area, and paragliding – we didn’t do these as there was quite a line, but it looked fun.

And, one of the best parts of the discovery tour is taking the elevator up to the Sphinx observatory, where you can walk around and get the best vantage point for views of the glacier and mountains. I’ll talk about logistics in a bit, here are the pictures of this amazing place:

📋Let’s talk logistics. To get here:

1. We took the Grindelwald bus to the Grindelwald Terminal stop in the morning. This takes a little time to get to, make sure to check the bus schedule. Terminal is a pretty new cable car terminal with shops (including a well stocked Lindt store)
2. The Eiger Express cable car from Terminal up to Eigergletscher. This is about a 15 minute ride on a new cable car that opened in 2020. It’s included in the Jungfrau travel pass, so just scan your ticket and hop on – this was very easy. The cable car ride is very nice with great views the whole time.
3. The Jungfraujoch cog railway from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch. It’s about 35 minutes, going all uphill, mostly in a tunnel dug in to the mountain. It’s quite an engineering achievement, especially considering that construction started in 1896! You can’t just walk on this though, you need to buy a timed ticket for a departure and return time, which you can buy online and scan your PDF to get on. The Jungfrau travel pass gets you a small discount. During not busy times of the year you may be able to walk up to buy it, but when we were here in summer you needed a timed ticket.

If you aren’t in Grindelwald, you can also take the train from Interlaken to Kline Scheidegg, take another short train from Kline Scheidegg to Eigergletscher, and then Jungfraujoch.

Once you arrive – you’re quickly guided out to the self guided tour entrance. There are shops here and restaurants but we didn’t do any of those. The self guided tour part has signs everywhere, but be sure to go to the glacier part! You have to take a right turn down a long wide corridor. Watch your time though – you must be through the tour, back at the train in time for your return booking time. I bought tickets with an hour and a half for us to spend at Jungfraujoch, but I would recommend getting 2 hours – this will give you more time to enjoy and not feel rushed. If you want to eat up here, give yourself even more time.

🧥VERY IMPORTANT – Bring a warm jacket and wear pants! We were here in early July, in the late morning, and it was maybe 40 degrees at the top, with snow all around. And it was during a heat wave. And the ice cave is below freezing. It’s really high up here.

So, you’re probably wondering what we thought of Jungfraujoch? It was really awesome, and I would definitely recommend it if you can afford it. If you’re in Grindelwald, it’s almost a must. It’s so different and unique, where else will you get to be in the middle of a huge glacier with snow all around, particularly in the middle of summer? The views, and experiences, are unforgettable, and so unique. It’s not without downsides though. It’s going to be crowded no matter when you go, and some places, like going around the Sphinx observatory, it will be a bit uncomfortable. There are very large tour groups so it can be difficult to get around them. And it’s a bit too touristy. But still a really cool experience.

🧀 Fondue with a View: A Swiss Bucket List Moment

We got back to the apartment mid afternoon, and next up for us was an early fondue dinner at Stallbeizli Heuboden. My son said eating fondue in the Swiss Alps was a “bucket list” item for him! So he picked out this place. He’s way too young for a bucket list, but I wanted fondue in the Alps too. It was delicious, and the view was fantastic.

Stallbeizli Heuboden is a little outside of Grindelwald, up one of the roads from town, just about underneath the Eiger Express cable car. We sat outside on a really nice wood balcony with a fantastic view. This was definitely a place to remember, and did I mention that the food was delicious? We got the cheese fondue, bread, and cold meat platter. On some days, if you call them more than a full day in advance, they can do a “fondue reservation” that’s a large meal with a lot of options. We were happy with what we got, so don’t feel that you need to call that far in advance. When we were here there were several open tables on the balcony. I’m not sure you need a reservation for a normal meal, but it doesn’t hurt to call to make a reservation.

📋As you can see in the last picture, rain was coming, so we finished our dinner and headed back to the apartment. The restaurant is right by a bus stop, so we took the bus back to the apartment. We did have to make sure to time it right – the bus line by the restaurant (123) only ran once an hour and the last bus was sometime around 6:30, so be sure that if you take the bus, you can get back. And definitely check the times with Google Maps, or the Grindelwald Bus Timetable. The rain started while we were waiting for the bus, so we actually took the bus up a few more stops away from Grindelwald, to the end of the line, where it turns around and comes back. Thanks to the bus driver who stopped for us and waved for us to get in. The bus ride was back was really nice, so I took a video of it. This shows why you definitely don’t want to walk up this road though!

After getting back to the apartment, once again I sat on the balcony and watched the view. It wasn’t quite as amazing as last night though, so no pictures from this evening.

🚡Day 4 – Männlichen, Wengen, Glacier Canyon

End of the Panorama trail, start of the train to Grindelwald

Get off here from Kleine Scheidegg

It’s the last full day in Grindelwald, tomorrow we leave for a short stay in Lucerne, and then home. So why not go on some more cable cars and beautiful mountain hikes? There are just so many to see from Grindelwald. In the morning, we headed out for the Männlichen cable car, to take that up to the top and head out for more adventures from there.

To ride Männlichen – head to Grindelwald Terminal, the same place that the Eiger Express leaves from. Männlichen is included in the Jungfrau travel pass, so we just hopped right on a car, there was no one in line and most cars were empty this morning. The ride is 19 minutes long, and we had the whole car to ourselves. This ride was really cool, there are fields below the cars with cows that you can hear through the car.

⛰️ Panoramas from the Peak: Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen

Once you get to the top, there is a big wide area to walk around at, with trails up to some great viewpoints. From the top you can see both down towards Grindelwald, and then on the other side, the famed Lauterbrunnen valley. On a sunny day this would have looked a lot better, but was still pretty amazing, especially the Lauterbrunnen valley view. The Lauterbrunnen valley in the second picture famously has the town of Lauterbrunnen at the bottom, with Murren higher up on the opposite side (you can see a little of it in my picture), and beyond that, Rick Steves’ favorite place, Gimmelwald (you can’t see it in the picture).

🚡 The Royal Ride from Männlichen: A Cable Car with a Twist

Männlichen is easily one of the best-connected cable car stations in the region. From here, you’ve got access to several scenic hikes (we tackled one later in the day), plus another cable car that drops down into the charming town of Wengen.

We figured—why not take it? It’s included in the Jungfrau Travel Pass, so it was an easy decision. But the real highlight? The Royal Ride. For just 5 francs extra, you can ride on top of the cable car—yes, outside, in the open air, with nothing between you and the mountain breeze.

It’s a short ride, but totally worth it. The views are incredible, and the feeling of gliding above the alpine landscape with the wind in your face is something you don’t forget. It was a bit crowded up top (space is limited), but still a very cool experience.

Wengen is a cool town with a lot of hotels in the mountains above Lauterbrunnen. It’s very walkable because there are no passenger cars allowed (there are work/service cars). We didn’t actually plan to do anything in Wengen – we just wanted to take the royal ride. So we walked around town for a little bit, and then headed back up to Männlichen. We didn’t do the Royal Ride on the way up, once was enough to get the experience. The cars are facing the same way going both up and down, so you don’t get a different view of things going up or down. Now, we did consider taking the train from Wengen down to Lauterbrunnen, since Lauterbrunnen is such a famous photo spot, but decided against it since we can see Lauterbrunnen from above.

🥾 The Panorama Trail: A Gentle Hike with Grand Views

After riding back up to Männlichen, we set off on the Panorama Trail—a scenic 2.8-mile hike that winds its way down to Kleine Scheidegg. From there, we’d catch the train back to Grindelwald. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most of our whole vacation.

The famous trail is family-friendly with a gentle descent of about 500 feet. It offers nonstop views of alpine valleys and towering peaks. Even with the weather not quite cooperating (more on that later), the landscape was stunning. You walk along the side of the mountain the whole way, with sweeping views down toward Grindelwald and up toward glaciers and jagged summits.

The path itself is wide, well-maintained, and easygoing—no tricky footing or nerve-wracking drop-offs. Just green meadows and stunning scenery around every bend. Because it’s mostly downhill, it’s a relaxed walk that lets you soak in the surroundings without breaking a sweat.

🌧️When we first set out, the weather seemed promising – clouds but dry. For the first ten minutes, we were cruising. Then the rain arrived. It started off relatively light, but after about 45 minutes, it turned into a steady downpour. Luckily, we came prepared with rain jackets, hats, and pants—but no umbrellas. So yes, we got pretty soaked. Still, we were far better off than the handful of hikers we passed wearing shorts and t-shirts, looking cold, wet, and very much regretting their wardrobe choices.

The trail itself held up surprisingly well. Thanks to a thick gravel layer, it never turned into a muddy mess. Toward the end of the rain, we had to dodge a few puddles, but nothing too dramatic—just a bit of tiptoeing here and there.

And then the rain stopped during the final stretch. The clouds lifted just enough to reveal some incredible views, making the soggy trek feel totally worth it.

The end of the trail is Kleine Scheidegg, a train station at the junction of 3 lines – the two lines of the Wengernalpbahn cog railway to go to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, and the train to Eigergletscher, to go up to Jungfraujoch. There are a few restaurants here too. All 3 rail lines are included in the Jungfrau travel pass, so just get on to any of those 3. No need to show a ticket or anything, although in theory someone could come by to check if you have the pass. We rode the train back down to Grindelwald.

The train goes to the Grindelwald Grund stop first, but you don’t need to get off here, you can take it to the main Grindelwald station to be in the middle of town.

🏞️ Exploring Glacier Canyon: A Hidden Gem Beneath the Balcon

We didn’t call it a day yet though, there was still one more place we had to visit – Glacier Canyon Grindelwald! It’s a really cool, and very different experience to do in Grindelwald. All of those pictures I’ve posted of the view from the balcony? Well down in the valley below the glacier is a VERY narrow canyon with the river flowing through it, that you can explore on a safe metal walkway. On the walkway you are walking above the river most of the time, with some parts through the canyon walls. The canyon walls are so steep and narrow, and if it’s rained recently there will be waterfalls from above along the way. The highlight is getting to walk on a huge net over the river. It’s wobbly and unstable, but secure so you’re not going to fall through. You don’t have to do this – it’s to the side, so don’t worry if you don’t think you can handle it. But definitely try it – it was really fun!

📋The canyon walk is out and back – you walk up the walkway until the end (or as far as you want), then turn around and come back. It’s just a little under a mile from the entrance to the end, where you turn around and come back, with very gradual uphill ascent. It’s not challenging at all. There is an entrance fee but it’s very affordable, especially compared to the other things in Grindelwald. You get a very small discount from the Jungfrau travel pass. If you have a car, parking is plentiful. You can also take the bus here – it’s at the end of the 122 line, at the Gletscherschlucht stop.

🧥One thing that you might not expect – it’s quite chilly here! Because there is no sun, and you’re by rushing water coming off of the mountain and glacier, in the middle of summer it stays cool. It was maybe 50 degrees for us. So bring a jacket! I didn’t get wet, the walkway is generally under overhangs so the waterfalls weren’t anywhere near the walkway. I definitely recommend this if you have a few extra hours during the day while in Grindelwald and are tired of cable cars. This is also a good option if it’s rainy – you’re almost entirely protected from overhead rain on this walk.

Well that’s it for Grindelwald! We leave the next day for a short partial day in Lucerne, and then on to Zurich for the flight home. I’ll share one last video, of riding the bus from around the Kirche stop down to the Grindelwald terminal station, so you can see how lovely Grindelwald is, and how great the bus system is.

🛥️(bonus) Day 5 – Lucerne

Grindelwald, Bern, Switzerland

Transfered here from the Grindelwald train, to the Panorama Express train to Lucerne

The post is about Grindelwald, but I wanted to share a little about where we went next – Lucerne, Switzerland. This is an amazing city is a little under 3 hours from Grindelwald by train, taking the Panorama Express scenic train from Interlaken to Lucerne. I figured, why not add a day to our trip so we could take this train, and see some of the sights in the old town of Lucerne? This was a great way to end the trip. I booked the Grindelwald – Lucerne train tickets through the SBB app – very easy and convenient. Grindelwald – Interlaken is the same train we took in to Grindelwald, and it was very easy to transfer in the Interlaken Ost train station to the train to Lucerne, just a few terminals over.

Once in Lucerne – the train station is right in the middle of town, so we walked to check in at our hotel. From there, we took the bus back to the area around the train station, to take a boat on Lake Lucerne. The bus system is fantastic in Lucerne – large buses that run very frequently and go everywhere. Our hotel gave us a transit pass for the buses, and like others in Switzerland, you just walk on and go.

🛥️ Lake Lucerne Ferry: A Perfect Last-Day Wind-Down

Lucerne the town is at a northwest corner of Lake Lucerne – a large lake with many picturesque towns along its idyllic shores. Ferries run along the lake and stop in towns along the way, running frequently. We just wanted to ride a bit, so I booked a ferry from Lucerne to the town of Weggis, and a return ferry, a trip of about 40 minutes. We got off at Weggis, and waited around for about 10 minutes for the return ferry to come. Booking of the tickets for the ferry, and all of the trains, is through SBB – download the mobile app for the best experience. This ferry was a really relaxing experience, a good thing to do on our last day of the vacation, to just sit around and watch the towns along side the lake.

Strolling Through Old Town Lucerne: History, Charm, and Iconic Bridges

Back in Lucerne, we set out on foot to explore the city’s Old Town – and wow, it’s amazing how much history and beauty is packed into such a walk-able area. Cobblestone streets wind past pastel-painted buildings, each with its own character and story. But the true stars of the show? The bridges. The old wooden bridges are absolutely enchanting, especially with their flower-lined railings adding bursts of color. Crossing them feels like stepping into a fairytale. Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) is the crown jewel – an iconic landmark that dates all the way back to the 1300s. Though much of it was rebuilt after a fire in 1994, several original sections remain, and you can still see the historic paintings under the roof as you walk across.

After this lovely jaunt through Lucerne, it was back to the hotel, dinner, and then off to Zurich the next morning for our flight home! I’m glad we added this extra day in Lucerne – we packed a lot of sights in to this partial day.

💡Switzerland Tips and Impressions as a Tourist

Visiting Grindelwald and Switzerland absolutely met my very high expectations coming in. It is incredibly beautiful everywhere. I did a lot of research on Grindelwald to plan for the trip, so I thought I was prepared. From a logistics perspective, I was prepared, and knew where to go. Nothing can prepare you for the scenery though! Here are my tips and impressions, as a family of American tourists:

• ⛰️The scenery is even better than you have in your imagination of Switzerland.
• Compared to the western United States – you’re much closer to the mountains here. Towns are nestled along mountain sides, cable cars and trains go up the mountains, unlike anything in the US. The mountains are also more vertical – more sheer drops, steeper sides, etc.
• Grindelwald is a relatively small town with so much packed in to it. No mountain town in the United States is like this.
• You really don’t need a car. The buses and trains here are so extensive, reliable, and dependable, throughout Switzerland you can almost always rely on public transportation to get you around. This is definitely unlike anything in the US.
• Cities and towns are much more compact than in the US. Dense centers, a lot packed around the center, and no sprawl. Farmland is right outside of the cities and towns.
• ☀️Temperature – We were here in near record heat through Europe. It was 90 degrees in Zurich for our train layover, and got in the mid 80’s in Grindelwald which is almost unheard of. Heat waves keep happening in the summer throughout Europe, so, if you come in the summer you can’t assume it won’t get hot. So pack for all weather – shorts for the heat, but also bring pants and jackets. And be sure to pack for the cold at Jungfraujoch. Coming from the eastern United States, it wasn’t bad at all for us, and was nicer than at home because the humidity is relatively low compared to home. But in Grindelwald, nowhere has air conditioning since the normal high in the summer is 72! We had our windows open at night, but it still was quite warm.
• 🌧️Rain – it did rain most days when we were here. Most days it was just a short period of rain in the morning and evening, but day 4 was during the day too. Be prepared for rain at any time – bring hats and umbrellas. It does rain more frequently here than in the United States.
• 🪰Bugs – Not a single mosquito seen the whole time! But there were flies. I think this may have been because of how hot it was, and also indoor restaurants had to have their windows open which made the flies worse. And we did have some in our apartment because we had to open the windows at night. Apparently, the window screen never made it to Europe because I didn’t see a single one, which explains the flies from opening windows. But still, it is much better than getting lots of mosquito bites like we would at home eating outside.
• 🍽️Restaurants – While the food was good in Grindelwald, it didn’t hold up to our other European destinations. Grindelwald is a pure tourist town, and a pretty family friendly destination, so I think that limits how much fine dining there is. Generally, the restaurants along the main street near the train station are not the best, those are the most touristy. The quality tends to go up a few bus stops beyond the train station. Because of this and how expensive restaurants – if you have a refrigerator and kitchen in your hotel/apartment – getting food at a grocery store for some meals is a good idea to save some money. The fondue restaurant on day 3, Stallbeizli Heuboden, was excellent though.
• 💧Water – unlike in the US they do not automatically bring water to you at restaurants. And almost no one carries around water bottles. Europeans definitely do not get enough water! If you want water before your food – you have to ask for it, but make sure to ask for tap water. If you just ask for water, they’ll bring a fancy bottle of mineral water and charge you for it. I didn’t realize you could ask for tap water until the end of the whole trip. Is this like an American tourist tax?
• 💰Money – Switzerland uses the Swiss franc as its currency. As of this writing in 2025, 1 Swiss franc is a little more than a US dollar, but things are priced like USD dollars in expensive cities, and the conversion rate makes things even pricier. So yes, Switzerland is expensive. But that’s common knowledge. Honestly, visiting is not much more expensive than US cities like New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, etc when you factor in needing to tip more in the US. Speaking of tipping…
• Tipping at restaurants – Tipping is different here and in Europe than in the US. There’s no definite right or wrong answer on what to tip, or whether to tip. But the wait staff all make livable wages, so they are not dependent on tips to live like the the US. I’m not going to say exactly how much to tip. From what I’ve generally read, it’s considered courteous to tip 5-10% but isn’t always expected. When they bring your bill, if you pay with credit card, you’ll pay right there with the card with a mobile reader. It’s best to “round up” the bill – so tell them how much you want them to charge. Everywhere says to round up to an even bill, but that doesn’t really matter for credit cards. So if your bill was $55, telling them you’ll pay $60 would give a 9% tip which is very generous. There’s not a separate line item for the tip or anything. It’s best not to leave the tip as cash on the table when you leave, give it when the server comes, so that’s different than in the US.
• 💳Cash or card? Almost everywhere took Mastercard and Visa, so we paid for most things this way. But cash is appreciated since there is no service fee. There were a few ATMs in Grindelwald near the train station.
• Language – German is the native language in Grindelwald, but, everyone in service industries speaks English well. There was never a situation where we had any language issue with anyone, so don’t worry about this along as you speak English.

🎫Tickets and Getting Around

There are a lot of activities in Grindelwald – a lot of different cable cars, and ways to get between places. You have a lot of options.

Jungfrau Travel Pass for easy access

There are a few different travel passes you can get. The Jungfrau Travel Pass is the package pass we bought. It may seem really expensive, and it is! But buying this gets you free access to most of the cable cars and activities in Grindelwald and surrounding areas. Just look at the site and the map to see everything that’s included. At most places you just go straight to the entrance, scan your travel pass PDF from your phone, and you’re good. No need to buy tickets at each spot. With 3 of us – we each had a phone, so we each scanned our pass from our phone. Very easy!

This also counts as a transit pass in Grindelwald, and gives you access to the trains that go all around from Interlaken to Grindelwald and the surrounding towns. This pass was so convenient and took a lot of stress out of planning knowing I could just hop on pretty much everything. And it was definitely worth the price – if we had bought individual tickets for everything we did that we used the pass for, it would have been a lot more money than the pass cost.

❗NOTE though that even though it’s called the Jungfrau travel pass, you don’t get free access to Jungfraujoch. The cable car from Grindelwald to Eigergletscher (Eiger Express) is included in the pass, but the train from Eigergletscher to Jungfraujoch is not. You get a discount with the pass but still have to buy that separately.

🚌Grindelwald Buses

The Grindelwald bus system is great and we rode is several times a day. Grindelwald is pretty small so there are only a few different bus routes. The schedule is here, be sure to download the PDF, that shows the times for literally every line and stop. Easier still is Google Maps – just put your destination in, get directions, pick Transit as the method, and you’ll see multiple options to get there with (relatively) accurate times for the buses.

Once you know the bus stop, you can just get on and off the buses whenever and wherever you want (be sure to push the button when your stop is approaching so the driver knows to stop). You are supposed to have a ticket – which the Jungfrau Travel Pass includes, and anyone staying in town should get a guest pass from your hotel/Airbnb/etc. The buses stop pretty much anywhere in Grindelwald that you’ll want to go. One downside to buses is that the last bus at most stops in summer when we were there was 6:15-6:45. That makes it hard to take the bus somewhere to get dinner unless you eat early. And, the lines only run every 30 minutes or hour. It’s fine if you’re along the main road like we were, because 3 different lines run through the main part of town. But when needing to take one specific line, this was pretty annoying. But still, I’m glad we took the bus and didn’t rent a car.

🛫Trains and getting to Zurich Airport

Whether you are going straight from Grindelwald, or stayed in Lucerne for a night like us, it’s easy to get to the Zurich airport with the fantastic Swiss train system. Book the train through the SBB mobile app, and be sure to get the train to the Zurich Flughaven stop (the airport). These were cheap and quick, and run frequently. The app will tell you which terminal to go to at the train station, and might give you a train layout. We preferred to get first class on the train rides – it’s not much more than standard fare, and gives you a little more room. First class was also less crowded and on all of our rides had plenty of open seats, unlike the standard class. There wasn’t an option for assigned seats on the train to Zurich airport, but we did get that on some of our other rides. Generally it’s not really necessary but if you want to be sure you’ll get seats together, this is a good option.

The only annoying thing for the train to Zurich airport was, even booking first class, there was not much room for luggage. The train was a double decker, and the overhead racks could only fit purses, not even backpacks, so we had to stack our carry-on size luggage at a few inconvenient spots. It would have been even more inconvenient with larger bags. But we got there fine, and departed Zurich to head home.

❓Questions or thoughts?

Have questions for me, or thoughts on our trip? Click the social media links and interact with me there! I probably won’t check that often, but that’s the best way to get in touch with me. And check out About Me to learn more about me.