Hiking in Grindelwald

[Pauline]

I am getting ready for our two weeks of hiking in Grindelwald and wanted to post some online resources for hikes because it took me ages to find them.

Grindelwald sits in a valley with good hiking on the slopes of both sides of the valley. This PDF shows the whole valley and the hiking routes.

The south slope is accessed by the Mannlichen Gondola on one side (two stops - Holenstein middle station, Mannlichen at the top) and a cog train on the other (Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg with a few stops). There are various hikes across the valley usually starting from the gondola station and walking to a train station. This website lists the walks: www.maennlichen.ch

The north slope is accessed two bus routes on one side (Grindelwald to Bussalp and Grindelwald to Waldspitz), the First Gondola in the middle (three stops, Bort is the middle station), and the bus to Grosse Scheidegg on the other side (several stops). This website lists the walks: www.jungfrau.ch

There is one another gondola which goes to a smaller hiking area, the Pfingstegg Gondola.

All walks from the area are also listed on Grindelwald.ch but it is not as easy to use as the ones above.

The mountain rides are insanely expensive and so is the 6 day pass you can purchase (255.00CHF/$277 which is 42.50CHF/$46 per day). This page on jungfrau.ch lists the prices for all the mountain rides except the buses. The website for the Grindelwald bus gives some prices but not all. (In contrast, hiking in the Gstaad area is 13CHF per day.)

This map shows the routes on the north slope.

These notes are rough and I will add to them as my research progresses. Tourist offices in Switzerland are usually very good and will have all this information, but I want to make some plans before we go so I have an idea of which hikes we will do.

 

[Pauline]

This map shows the routes on the south slope. Not as many as on the north slope.

 

[Pauline]

After much agonizing I decided we will purchase the Half Fare Card for 120CHF each. It lasts for a month (but we are there only 2 weeks) and gives you half price on all trains and most buses and mountain rides. I think it will pay for itself after six days. It gives us the most flexibility. The 6 day pass only works out to be a good rate if you use it every day - and you might get a bad weather day.

I am checking with the tourist office that the Half Fare Card can be used with all the different mountain rides in the area. We can also have a day hiking at other area and use it (Meiringen and Kandersteg are what I am thinking).