I first heard about Gimmelwald from the American travel guide, Rick Steves. After reading his recommendations of this small village in the Jungfrau Region, I decided to go there myself when I finally had the opportunity to visit Switzerland in 2005. A friend, who I…Read More

I first heard about Gimmelwald from the American travel guide, Rick Steves. After reading his recommendations of this small village in the Jungfrau Region, I decided to go there myself when I finally had the opportunity to visit Switzerland in 2005. A friend, who I had been visiting in the northern canton of Aarau, drove me to Bern, and from there I took a train by myself to Interlaken, and then into the Lauterbrunnen valley. I've since read that this is the deepest valley in the world. At the time I had little to compare it to, having grown up mostly in the flatlands of Texas and Oklahoma. Nevertheless, I was awestruck by the dramatic, massive cliffs and snow-capped peaks, which contrasted so beautifully with the forested slopes and the lovely green valley floor.

After departing from the rail train, I took a cogwheel train up the steep ascent, only to board yet another rail train up above, which soon arrived in Mürren, the town which lies on the slopes above Gimmelwald. From Mürren one can enjoy a fantastic view of the Jungfrau and the Eiger, bu following Rick Steves' advice, I pressed on. I knew that beyond the bustling shops, cozy cottages and quaint hotels lay the quiet hamlet of Gimmelwald, which lay about a twenty minute walk away. Gimmelwald is a small village of perhaps twenty families and a handful of other folk, who live on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Lauterbrunnen valley. Most of the people still make their living through raising dairy cattle, harvesting hay on the steep slopes, and taking in hikers who pass through. Accommodations include small hotel, a bed-and-breakfast, and a mountain hostel, not to mention the opportunity to sleep in the straw of a local barn.

The Gimmelwalders are hospitable, welcoming and generous, and the scenery is spectacular. Some of the wooden buildings in Gimmelwald are over 500 years old, a testament to the judicious planning and sound architecture of an age gone by. The children of the village play in the water of the stone fountain trough, beneath the crest of the Schilthorn, and a single winding path runs through the town, connecting the scattered buildings one to another. There is a school for the children, and plenty of work to do for everybody. For my three day-stay, I had made reservations with Herr Alleman, who offers hikers the chance to sleep in the straw of his barn for the very affordable price of 21 Swiss Francs per night! Sleeping in the Straw is a growing phenomenon in Switzerland and in some parts of Germany as well. During the summer season, when the cows are up on the upper pastures, farmers clear out their barns, lay down fresh straw and woolen blankets, and offer travelers the chance to enjoy a rustic change in accommodations. The woolen blankets were very nice to have, and not too warm, because the temperatures dropped down to the fifties at night. When I was in Gimmelwald, I shared the straw with several other travelers as well. There was a family with two children who were all traveling on bicycles, an American mountain climbing enthusiast, a girl from Finland and a girl from New Zealand.

Every morning, Herr Alleman or his wife provided me and my fellow travelers with fresh white bread, jam and butter, fruit and nut yogurts, fresh unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk, coffee and tea. After breakfast, I spent all day hiking in the surrounding area, and would come back in the evening very hungry! The restaurant, which was part of the bed-and-breakfast, served nice meals, refreshing beer, and offered seating on a terrace looking out over the valley, facing the Jungfrau and the Eiger. What's precious about Gimmelwald is the quiet peace, the separateness from the usual tourist crowd, and the lack of superfluous, expensive amenities. In Gimmelwald, you have a fantastic bas camp from which to explore the entire surrounding region, to get into the mountains or just follow the more gentle paths around the pasturelands. It's been called heaven on earth, and now I know why. I'm going back to Gimmelwald in May of this year with my husband, and we're going to explore it all together.

While visiting the Interlaken area of the Swiss Alps, we stayed in a tiny village named Gimmelwald. This village is not to be confused with the more touristy Grindelwald. Gimmelwald is not easy to get to, but it is worth the travel time. We…Read More

While visiting the Interlaken area of the Swiss Alps, we stayed in a tiny village named Gimmelwald. This village is not to be confused with the more touristy Grindelwald. Gimmelwald is not easy to get to, but it is worth the travel time.

We arrived in Interlaken and changed trains to a private mountain railroad to travel to our lodgings up in Gimmelwald (elevation 4485 feet). We started out on a train to Lauterbrunnen and then transferred to a funicular up the cliff and then to a scenic mountain train to Murren. From Murren we could either take a gondola down to Gimmelwald or hike 30 minutes downhill. We decided to hike.

We stayed at Esther's Bed & Breakfast in Gimmelwald. It's a beautiful wooden home which has been divided in half so that the owners live in one half and the lodgers stay in the other. There really isn't anything to do in Gimmelwald other than walk around and enjoy the views but it does give an authentic feel for small Swiss villages and one feels miles away from civilization. Even the locals must travel via gondola in order to bring up their purchases or take down their wares to sell.

We had heard that Switzerland was more expensive than Austria and Germany and we found this to be true. Our lodgings, which did not include breakfast, were only $47 per night but what eats up the money in Switzerland is the transportation. The mountain trains and gondolas are all privately run and therefore not free with a Eurail Pass. Fortunately the Eurail Pass did give us a 25% discount. The budget conscious can still enjoy many of the views without taking the more expensive gondola rides.

One of the most expensive gondola rides is up to the Schilthorn, a peak at 10000 feet. It gives a panoramic view that includes the Jungfrau Peak which is about 13000 feet high. The cost of this gondola ride including a simple breakfast was about $80 per person round trip. The views are incredible. Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice and also unfortunately there was more haze than we would have liked. The restaurant at the top of the Schilthorn is the Piz Gloria which was made famous in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." The restaurant revolves as you dine. It was about 1° C or 34° F there that morning so we were very glad to have our performance fleece jackets.

There are a lot of other things to do in this area, called the Bernese Oberland. One fantastic place we went to is Trummelbach Falls. The snow melt of the top Swiss peaks run off through these falls. The unique feature is that the falls cut through a mountain forming caves. We were able to ride an elevator up in the caves and then hike around the falls. Since it was dark in most of it, we didn't take a lot of photos here.

On our last morning in the Interlaken area we took a cruise on Lake Brienz. This was included with our Eurail Pass! We rode to Brienz and then took a train back to Interlaken to catch our next train to our next stop on our trip.

Gimmelwald was my little peice of heaven. The village is small and intimate, with HUGE mountains springing up all around you. The air is calming and relaxing, and the numerous hiking trails are awesome and don't have to be strenuous. Simple and charming--I was ready to…Read More

Gimmelwald was my little peice of heaven. The village is small and intimate, with HUGE mountains springing up all around you. The air is calming and relaxing, and the numerous hiking trails are awesome and don't have to be strenuous. Simple and charming--I was ready to move there.Close