From Lauterbrunnen, we took the Mürrenbahn cable car up to Grütschalp to catch another train that would stop in Winteregg and Mürren. We opted to exit the train in Winteregg to have lunch which gave an amazing view across the valley of where we would hiking in a few days (Wengen). After lunch, we decided to hike the 1.6 miles into the car free town of Mürren rather than get back on the train. It was rainy, but pleasant out and we found lots of interesting moss and snails along the side of the trail (which paralleled the rail line).
It rained off and on while in Mürren, but we still took the Allmendhubelbahn funicular up to Allmendhubel which was a restaurant and playground about 1,000 feet above Mürren, offering (when the clouds parted) amazing views of Jungfrau peak and Wengen across the valley.
The next morning the sky was a bit clearer, offering views across towards our future destinations of Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg. We took the Stechelberg cable car (the steepest cable car in the world) 2,500 feet down to the Lauterbrunnen valley floor and started our hike towards the town of Lauterbrunnen. This valley is known as “the valley of 72 waterfalls” - and that was a fairly accurate description as they came cascading down both sides of the sheer valley walls. We also saw dozens of paragliders (launching from up in Mürren) and base jumpers (launching directly over our heads) coming down to the valley floor.
Along the way, we stopped at Trümmelbach Falls, which is a river drains the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungrau glaciers inside the mountain itself. We took a short funicular that was built in 1913 up inside the mountain itself, then walked down through the 10 different cascades that were visible.
Our hike ended at the (surprisingly busy and not car free) town of Lauterbrunnen (where we had started the day before). The following day, we left Lauterbrunnen under cloudy skies and started our hike up to Wengen which was 1,600 feet above us on a shelf on the eastern side of the valley. The 2.6 mile trail climbed through town first on roads, then on gravel, then eventually a thin track through a grassy hillside with some extremely steep sections where we climbed about 1,100 feet in just under half mile.
Once we arrived at the car free town of Wengen, we took the Wengen–Männlichen aerial cableway which took us 3,200 feet up onto a north-south ridge that divides the Jungfrau region between Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. From the top of this ridge, there was a restaurant, a few gondolas, and an absolutely amazing playground. We decided to hike the 300 foot climb to the summit of Männlichen peak which offered amazing views of our entire trip: Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Jungfraujoch, Grindelwald, and Bort. The only part of our trip that wasn’t visible was Kleine Scheidegg, a pass that was on the opposite side of the green Tschuggen peak along the ridge.
