Tour of the Jungfrau Region - A Trekker's Guide

This guidebook describes walking Switzerland's 9-10 day trek, the new Tour of the Jungfrau (Schynige Platte to Wilderswil). The trek takes the walker through the Bernese Oberland’s most spectacular mountain scenery, in the shadow of such iconic peaks as Wetterhorn, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

The view from Schynige Platte is one of the finest in all the Alps, with the ice-crested wall of the Bernese Alps spread out for inspection as your attention is inevitably drawn to the south. From left to right this wall comprises the Wellhorn, Wetterhorn, Bärglistock, Schreckhorn, Lauteraar-horn, Finsteraarhorn, Fiescherhorn, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, Ebnefluh, Mittaghorn, Grosshorn, Breithorn, Tschingelhorn, Gspaltenhorn, Blüem-lisalp and Doldenhorn; as grand a collection of mountains as you could wish to lay eyes upon. Glaciers and snowfields glisten among the peaks, while the deep U-shaped Lauter-brunnen Valley forms a trench between Jungfrau and Gspaltenhorn, and the middle ground is fussed with green hills, bare slabs and black shadowed pines.

Much of this backdrop forms part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, the first in the Alps to be granted this status, in recognition of the extraordinary beauty of its landscape.

The Tour of the Jungfrau Region (TJR) makes a journey of around 107km through this area, in a constant adoration of mountain and valley, of lake, river and feathery cascade. And by choosing the most scenic trails and some of the most atmospheric places for an overnight stay, it has all the ingredients to ensure a memorable 9–10 day trek.

With such an array of iconic mountains as a background, it is no surprise that the Jungfrau Region counts among the most popular of any in the Alps. Since the birth of Alpine tourism in the 18th century, Grindelwald, Wengen, Lauter-brunnen and Mürren have been attracting visitors summer after summer to gaze on this backdrop, to climb its summits or to wander its trails. Over the decades hundreds of kilometres of new footpaths have been created, to join the timeless trails previously known only to local farmers, hunters, traders and crystal gatherers. To service increasing numbers of visitors, hotels of all grades of luxury have added a kind of sophistication to the busiest of resorts, while more modest (but by no means less welcoming) inns, gasthofs and berghotels continue to provide accommodation and refreshment, often in remote and idyllic locations. Add to these the mountain huts and simple matratzenlagers (dormitories) created to meet the demands of the outdoor fraternity, and it will be clear that the region has a lot going for it!

The Route

Beginning at Schynige Platte, the first stage of the TJR follows the classic Faulhornweg by way of the Sägistal, Faulhorn and glorious Bachsee as far as First, the upper station of Europe’s longest gondola lift which links Grindelwald with some of the region’s finest walking opportunities. Practically every step of this first stage enjoys a constantly evolving panorama of bewitching mountain splendour, an introduction upon which it would be impossible to improve.

The route then takes an undulating trail across high pastureland to Grosse Scheidegg in the lap of the Wetterhorn, before cutting down the slope towards Grindelwald, but without actually going that far. The TJR retains an ambition to stay high wherever possible, so it turns towards the gorge of the Upper Grindelwald glacier and climbs to a balcony trail that eases along the steep flank of the Mattenberg with a bird’s-eye view across to Grindelwald’s hotels. On reaching the end of this balcony, the way descends into the gorge of the Lower Grindelwald glacier before rising steeply on the south side to gain another balcony path, this time on the lower slopes of the Eiger. Once again, views are impressive and far-reaching.

With Alpiglen within easy reach, the balcony path links up with the popular – and immensely scenic – Eiger Trail, which rises below the mountain’s notorious North Face and continues towards Eigergletscher, where the Jungfraujoch railway burrows into the mountainside. A path climbs onto the right bank lateral moraine of this glacier, and accompanies its drainage below the Jungfrau all the way down to the bed of the Lauterbrunnen Valley in an excessively long and steep – but inspiring – descent that emerges beside the well-known Trümmelbach Falls.

Flanked by towering walls of rock, down which numerous waterfalls spill their rainbows of spray, the Lauterbrunnen Valley is the finest example of a U-shaped, glacier-carved valley in all the Alps. It marks the midway point of the Tour of the Jungfrau Region.

The TJR now wanders past some of these waterfalls to Obersteinberg in the secretive upper reaches of the valley, then climbs over a ridge extending from the Gspaltenhorn which forms the south wall of the Sefinental. On one of the toughest stages of the route, the trail continues by ascending the north wall of this tributary valley to finish at the Rotstock Hut, a pleasant manned refuge set among pastures below the Schilthorn.

Known to thousands of tourists who visit the summit each year by cable car from Mürren, the Schilthorn is a marvellous vantage point from which to study the Jungfrau and its neighbours that flank the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The TJR also visits the summit, but by a ‘sporting route’ along the mountain’s airy west ridge, before descending its east ridge, then dropping to a beautiful jade-green tarn and continuing the descent into the gentle basin of the Blumental, a few minutes’ walk above Mürren. (Should the weather demand you keep off exposed ridges, a much shorter and less demanding alternative avoids the Schilthorn traverse by taking a direct cross-country route to the Blumental.)

The penultimate stage crosses out of the Blumental basin and follows a north-bound trail across rumpled pastures to the Soustal, then continues to the Sulsalp and the little Suls-Lobhorn Hut, with its uninterrupted view of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau turning bronze with the evening alpenglow. The final section of this scenic trek teeters along a narrow path above the deep Sylertal, crosses a grassy ridge near the Bällehöchst viewpoint, then makes a long winding descent of cattle-grazed pastures into the Saxettal, a lonely valley that drains out at Wilderswil below the Schynige Platte.