We've been planning to visit Jungfraujoch for many years and this year we finally managed! Last weekend, we drove to Interlaken where we stayed for one night as it's not possible for us to do this trip in one day because we live far away.
We enjoyed Friday evening in the village and on Saturday morning we boarded the train that took us to Grindelwald Terminal, then a gondola to Eigergletscher and another train from there to Jungfraujoch. It takes some time to get there but it's worth it!
We have been to Bernese Oberland several times but we always avoided the touristic places as they tend to be crowded. However, when you live in Switzerland it is a must to visit Jungfraujoch at least once. I must say that we were so lucky with the weekend that we picked for this trip. We booked 4 hours between the tickets, so that we had enough time to visit all available activities and have lunch as well.
On the way from Grindelwald to Eigergletscher we enjoyed the views of the village as well as the mountain Wetterhörner which consists of three summits: Rosenhorn (3689m), Mittelhorn (3704m) and Wetterhorn (3692m).
The trip in Gondola takes about 25 minutes, so we had enough time to enjoy the views. There is a video screen and audio inside which will give you some information about your position and we also learned some interesting facts about our surroundings.
The mountain on the right is called Eiger. With its 3967 m above the sea level it is considered an extremely difficult mountain to climb. There have been many tragedies including climbing expeditions here and over 60 climbers have died attempting to conquer the north wall of Eiger. Therefore, it is also known as Mordwand or Murderous wall instead.
From Eigergletscher you can take plenty of slopes in winter. The ski season has just started and we came across many skiing enthusiasts. We could have also spent a bit more time there but we didn't want to waste any of our booked hours, so we went to the train platform instead. The view from the waiting room was not bad at all!
And here comes the train! We thought that we would be going somehow around the mountain and slowly ascend to Jungfraujoch but the rails actually go through the mountain Eiger. There is a tunnel all the way up. It was surprising and concerning at the same time as I struggle with closed spaces but I must say that it was way more comfortable than I expected.
There is one stop on the way where you can get out of the train and enjoy the view. It's called Eismeer (Sea of ice) Railroad Station located at 3159 m and it's the second highest train station in Europe, the highest one being at Jungfraujoch.
Construction of the Jungfrau Railway began in 1896 and the Eismeer station opened in 1905.
We had about 5 minutes to enjoy the views of Ischmeer glacier and surrounding mountains, so we ran out of the train, took some photos and then we were called back by the crew and had to return to the train.
The windows were frozen and partly covered with snow which I loved as it gave an even more wintery atmosphere to the photos.
I think it took another 10-15 minutes to get to Jungfraujoch after we boarded the train again.
It was around lunchtime, so we went directly to the restaurant Crystal for lunch to avoid crowds later. I believe we were the first ones served that day 🙂
My husband struggled with breathing a bit which is normal at such high altitude so we took our time there to give him a chance to get used to thinner air.
We could sit at the window and admire the view of the spectacular Great Aletsch Glacier but honestly I couldn't wait to go on the platform to walk in the snow for the first time this winter!
This must be a restaurant with the best view ever! And they even had some vegan options for us. We haven't had a meal at such altitude before!
My husband was concerned about sunburn as the sun was shining right in our faces for the entire time, so we switched the sides after the main course to even out the color 🙂
After our lunch we headed straight to the platform.
We were greeted by Mönch with its impressive 4107 m.
The summit was successfully climbed for the first time in 1857 by a group of alpinists led by Christian Almer, who also made the first ascent of Eiger as well as 17 other summits in the Alps. Mönch has become a popular climbing location for climbers from all over the world. It should take about 2-3 hours from Jungfraujoch to reach the summit but if you prefer to climb all the way up from Grindelwald you should count with 1-2 days.
When you turn around you will admire the majestic Jungfrau with its 4158m is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps. The platform is located at 3454m. The ascent to the summit takes about 4 hours from Jungfraujoch. It was conquered for the first time in 1811 by two Swiss brothers. I sound like an experienced climber now 🙂 but I would never attempt to conquer a mountain like this.
It was the first time for me to be this close to the eternal ice. I was in awe of the Aletsch Glacier. It's a 20 km long river of ice which weight 10 billion tonnes (I don't even know how many zeros there are in 10 billion tonnes) and it's thickest part is 800 meters deep. Unfortunately, due to the global warming, the Aletsch Glacier is shrinking up to 50 meters each year and is also retreating around the edges. In the 19th century it was 3 km longer than it is today!
There are some interesting facts about this glacier but probably the most interesting one is that if the glacier were to melt, each person on the earth could be supplied with 1 liter of water each day for 3.5 years.
Let's enjoy the surroundings a bit more...
The Swiss flag must not be missed!
There were so many crows flying around. We wondered how they got there and how come that they are not freezing. They even seemed to be happy.
Me and Jungfrau
From the platform we took a lift to get even higher to the Sphinx Observatory which is an astronomical observatory located at 3571m. The building has an astronomical dome, laboratories, workshop, weather observation station and two terraces which are accessible to the visitors. Due to the snow we were only able to visit one terrace and I couldn't take a picture of the building as they were installing a Christmas tree so it was a bit chaotic there. But looking out of terrace calmed everybody down...
We were really so lucky with the weather. It looks like recently the weather was not so good in the region and we've heard from the receptionist as well as the staff in the restaurant that we picked one of the best days in a long time.
It made me think of our trip to Schilthorn some years ago when we landed in the snow storm and didn't see anything after we paid over 100 CHF each to get to the summit.
You can take a guided tour on the Aletsch Glacier which we might do one day as walking on the ice which is thousands years old sounds surreal.
It looks like it will be a good ski season.
Me, myself and I - cold but happy.
And I couldn't finish this post without showing you some of the crows. They are apparently used to people and didn't mind us taking tons of pictures. They were even posing for us.
We had so much fun on the top of Europe and would recommend everyone to come to this place while in Switzerland. It takes time and money to come here but it is really worth it.
PS: There was an ice palace too but I will show it to you next time.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
This is an incredible report! I've never seen Glacier "in person", and never been so high, views are fascinating. You are my eyes to the world today! 😉😍
Miss you, guys!
Sending you my virtual !LUV and !BEER
We miss you too! I hope that one day soon you will be able to come and visit us in Switzerland. Then you will see it with your own eyes 🙂
Hope, you and your family are safe 🙏
This is magical. I cannot imagine how unreal it must have felt being there. From the freezing windows of the train to being at such a high altitude - must have felt like you're in a movie!
Are you going to ski? When I picked up snowboarding it was a bucketlist item to snowboard in the Swiss slopes. Come next winter, I might have to settle for Austria.
Please tell me you're going to share more from this trip. I find it so interesting!
We have never been at such high altitude either, so indeed it was an amazing experience. Next one will probably be Matterhorn (at some point) 🙂
No, no, no, we don't ski. We are both afraid of having an accident. Skiing is soooo popular here but every winter we have someone we know who either breaks something or ends up in the hospital, so we are not even going to try 😂 There are many trails which are maintained in winter too, so it's easy to go hiking or you can also use snow shoes, so this is our clear preference.
There will be one more post, hopefully tonight 😉
I am reading your whole post. I am very enjoying to see wonderful places in your posts. It's my dream to visit Switzerland. Hopefully my dream become true soon and your looking very pretty and crow's photography is awesome. Thanks for sharing this great places with us and have a safe trip.
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words. Being able to travel is a blessing, so I hope that you are/will be able to travel as much as possible.
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Gorgeous mountain views! looks like a wonderful trip. Love the views from Eismeer Station and of course from the top.
Thank you! It was one of our best trips in Switzerland. Getting there was tiring but it was definitely worth it :)
Great! It's on my list also.
I hope you will be able to tick it off soon!
In an alternate universe I already visited ;) In reality, my attempts ended somewhere near the peaks just east of the Lukmanier Pass almost twenty years ago.Even there, the view was an amazing sea of peaks as far as the eye could see.
We usually don't go this high in the Alps as it's crazy expensive because of the tourists. But when you live in Switzerland for as long as we do, it really is a must to do :) I hope, you're doing well - happy to hear from you again!
Well, there was this time I went from the capital to our local second highest peak at 2914 m, and back, without spending a penny. Except for the canned food and the equipment on my back, that is. It's quite sad when you're not allowed to go for free. All places natural should be accessible to all but not so with some deemed dangerous anymore. And perhaps for the good of a lot of people. And the regret of others. Shouldn't we all be free to risk and fall into volcanoes and stuff?
Wow what an incredible trip. It looks gorgeous all covered with snow. Great picture of the two of you!
Thank you Sara! :) Hope, you're doing well! I've seen your email and will come back to you in the upcoming days..
Sounds good!
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As I often say in my posts, mountains with snow are even more fascinating
That is true :)
Great that you just found something to look around and enjoy despite its freezing coldness temperature!
Wow. Fantastic pictures and scenery, looks like an epic place to explore!
A busy, adventurous and fascinating trip
Woow!! This is a great post!! Your pictures are amazing! The landscape looks so white (obviously), but it’s kinda magical!! The only thing that I want to do right now is to touch that snow and rest there for a while, lol, in my city (Mendoza, Argentina), we have 40 degrees right now.
Very beautiful!! Thanks a lot for sharing!!
Thank you for stopping by! :)
Oh, believe me, you wouldn't want to rest there for a while, it really was cold :) When it's sunny it's sort of ok and you can even get a sunburn but when there are clouds and wind then you rather stay inside and think of those 40 degrees that you have now at home :)
It's such a beautiful place. It's been years I visited but still the memories are fresh
WOW! I can't imagine to be over there. What an amazing place to be. Everywhere looks so refreshing and you really had a great captured as well. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day.
!PIZZA
Such a beautiful location; reminds me of Everest that I have seen from the window of the plane. I haven ever been to such a snowy covered magical location, it's really beautiful...
I have always dreamed of seeing Everest! The Netherlands is not so far away from either German or Swiss Alps, so you could maybe do it this year :)
Swiss Alps is on my bucket list so probably soon I will travelling...
Whutttt this was a nice trip indeed! I remember visiting Grindelwald for a couple of times when I was living in Luzern but I never went all the way up but stayed skiing between the power platform, Grindelwald first and Wengen.
But wow you had a beautiful day up there! Super cool how the view of the glacier was and the season looks like it will have a good start indeed with this amount of snow!
take me back to mountains versus this dutch flatland hahahhahah
So wie air in Luzern gesagt hatte:'huäre schön!'
We live in Schaffhausen so for us it takes ages to get to Interlaken. If we would live in Luzern we would probably be in that area every other weekend 😂
We were sooo lucky with the weather and since it's only the start of the season there were not even that many tourists, so it was cool. I still want to go once in summer, so let's see if we will be this lucky again :)
Well, Holland is indeed different.. let's see if you will have some snow this year :)
Still from Luzern this was also a 2 hour train ride, but indeed from Schaffhausen that is like a half a day trip. But you guys have the Rheinfallen :D For some reason I never visited that while it must be beautiful as well.. (I guess also weather dependent)
Did you need to buy the ticket in advance to get up there? Or is it just possible to go when you see the weather will be good? That could change the plan for a good one once you see the weather is going to be nice.
They are talking about snow in Holland here potentially for this week. Fingers crossed, I love snow and everything turns into a disaster here because we aren't used to it so it is really amusing. (Everyone still goes by bike even when there is snow and expects the travel to take the same amount of time)
This is an awesome tour. Last week, I just came from the French alps to do some winter ski. The highest altitude I've been to was about 1958 meters. Can't imagine myself being at 3000 meters of altitude or more.
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Thank you for stopping by! Did you live in Switzerland before?