Berner Oberland
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau · Bernese Alps, Switzerland
Village to village under the most famous skyline in the Alps, with one night high on a summit for the sunrise. Every single day has a train or a cable car on it so it can be easy if anyone is tired of walking. It's also the most expensive option.
- Nights
- 1 night on a summit + 3 in villages
- Total distance
- 36 km / 22 mi
- Total ascent
- 1,050 m / 3,450 ft
- Highest point
- 2,681 m — Faulhorn
What you'd be looking at
First reaction to Berner Oberland?
One tap. You can change your mind later.
How it stacks up
Where we'd stay
One rough night at altitude, then three nights in ordinary village hotels with private bathrooms. The Faulhorn has nine rooms and one dormitory in total, so twenty-one of us would take most of the inn — that night needs booking a long way ahead.
Berghotel Faulhorn
2,681 mAn inn that has stood on this summit since 1830, and the reason to do this route. Nine rooms with period furniture plus a dormitory. There are no showers and the washroom has cold running water only — one rough night in exchange for sunrise on the Eiger with nobody else around. Dinner and breakfast are included in the price.
FoodA three-course dinner and breakfast are in the price. The meat, bread and cheese come up from Grindelwald and the wine is Swiss; everything arrives by helicopter or on somebody's back.
- Rooms
- 6 doubles, 1 quad, 2 family rooms
- Also
- A dormitory for groups
- Washing
- Cold water in the dorm washroom, no showers
- In the rooms
- Washbowl and jug, Biedermeier beds
- Price
- About CHF 115 pp in a room, CHF 80 in the dorm
- Included
- Three-course dinner and breakfast
- Standing since
- 1830
Grindelwald
1,034 mA village hotel in Grindelwald, at the foot of the Eiger, with the lift station and the railway both in the village. Ordinary comfortable hotel rooms with private bathrooms.
FoodA resort village with a full range of restaurants — fondue, rösti and älplermagronen at one end, pizza and burgers for the children at the other. Supermarkets for picnics.
- Type
- Village hotel
- Rooms
- Private, en suite
- Chosen
- Not yet
- Getting there
- Railway and two gondolas in the village
- Afternoon
- Cliff walk, mountain carts, scooters
Wengen
1,274 mWengen sits on a shelf above the Lauterbrunnen valley and has no cars — everything arrives by cog railway. Small village, big view, hotels facing the Jungfrau.
FoodHotel dining rooms with half board, plus a handful of restaurants along the one street. Small enough that booking a table for twenty-one is worth doing before we arrive.
- Type
- Village hotel
- Getting there
- Cog railway only, no cars
- Chosen
- Not yet
- Setting
- A shelf 400 m above the valley floor
- View
- Straight at the Jungfrau
Mürren
1,638 mMürren is higher and smaller than Wengen, also car-free, and looks straight across at the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The Schilthorn cable car leaves from the village.
FoodLast night, and the one to spend on a good dinner — several hotel restaurants face the Eiger, and the revolving restaurant on the Schilthorn is a cable car away.
- Type
- Village hotel
- Getting there
- Cable car and railway, no cars
- Chosen
- Not yet
- Population
- About 400
- Add-on
- Schilthorn cable car to 2,970 m
What you'd be eating
Two different trips, food-wise. The Faulhorn night is half board whether you like it or not: a three-course dinner and breakfast are in the room price, the meat, bread and cheese come up from Grindelwald, and the wine is Swiss. One sitting, one menu, and a dining room at 2,681 m.
The other three nights you are in villages with restaurants, which means choice — and Swiss prices. This is by some distance the most expensive route on the page to eat on, and also the only one where a fussy eater can always find something they will actually eat.
Rösti
Grated potato fried into a crisp cake, then buried under whatever is asked for — fried egg, bacon, melted raclette, mushrooms. The Swiss answer to arriving hungry at two in the afternoon.
Fondue and raclette
Cheese melted in wine and eaten with bread and potatoes, or scraped hot off the wheel onto your plate. Communal, slow and very well suited to twenty-one people at one long table.
Älplermagronen
Macaroni, potato, cream, onions and cheese in one pan, served with apple sauce on the side, which sounds wrong and is not. Herdsman's food, and the cheapest thing on most menus.
Meringues with double cream
Meringues the size of a hand with thick cream from the valley. The town of Meiringen down the road claims to have invented them and is not shy about it.
The set dinner
One seating, one menu: this round it was pasta in a rich tomato-and-olive sauce with bacon and a bowl of grated cheese passed down the table. Whatever the kitchen makes that night is what appears — the trade-off for a proper hot meal at 2,681 m.
Lunch on the trail
The easiest of the four. Every single day passes a mountain restaurant — Männdlenen, First, Kleine Scheidegg, Alpiglen — so nobody has to carry lunch. A Coop or Migros in the valley villages is the way to keep the cost down.
Dietary needs
Swiss kitchens handle vegetarian, gluten and allergy requests as a matter of routine, and menus are labelled. The Faulhorn is the exception: it cooks one dinner for everybody, so requests need to go in when we book.
What it costs
The expensive one. A main in a mountain restaurant typically runs CHF 25–35 and a beer CHF 6–9. Half board at the Faulhorn is about CHF 115 per person in a room, CHF 80 in the dormitory, dinner and breakfast included.
Special considerations
The hardest bit
Day 1, and only because it is long rather than steep — about 4½ hours on a ridge at altitude. The full Schynige Platte to First traverse is rated strenuous as a single 16 km day; splitting it over the Faulhorn night is what turns it into a family walk.
If someone's had enough
Better than any other route here. A bus runs from Bussalp, below the Faulhorn, if day 1 goes wrong. Days 2, 3 and 4 all end at a lift or a station, and any of them can be shortened to almost nothing by riding instead of walking.
Where you sleep
Berghotel Faulhorn (2,681 m) — the one rough night, and rough is the word: nine Biedermeier-furnished rooms and a dormitory, a washroom with cold running water and no showers. Half board is included at about CHF 80 per person in the dorm, CHF 115 in a room. Then three nights in proper village hotels in Grindelwald, Wengen and Mürren, all with private bathrooms, showers and dinner.
Fitting twenty-one people
The three village nights are the easiest booking — Grindelwald, Wengen and Mürren are resort towns with hotels that take parties of twenty. The Faulhorn is the exception: it has nine rooms and a dormitory in total, so twenty-one of us would essentially be taking the whole inn. Could be cool if we book early.
Getting there
Zurich (ZRH) — 2h by direct train to Interlaken
When to book
Swiss village hotels for peak July want 9–12 months' notice for a block of rooms; the Faulhorn needs the same. Decide by autumn 2027. A regional travel pass covering the trains and lifts is worth pricing as a group.
Days either side
Interlaken at the start is made for this — lake steamers, paragliding, and easy day trips. Lucerne is 2 hours away and worth two nights.
What everyone thinks of Berner Oberland
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