Cow parade dates posted for Lauterbrunnen, Wengen

For my own selfish benefit and those on my RS Alpine tour, I hope those cows are a bit stubborn and want to stay up there a few days longer :)

They’ve been slowly moving down over the last few days. Yesterday while I was biking they were being moved below Winteregg so they’re already on their way down, but that’s not every cow in the area. There will still be cows around for a bit longer :)

Oh, no. Not good for me. We actually arrive, with our luggage in Lauterbrunnen at 12:30 9/17. The website says:
Between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m., coming from the Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen, along the Dorfstrasse to the church parking lot.

I can possibly try and take an earlier train (if there are still reservations available from Luzern to Interlaken). That would get me to Lauterbrunnen at 11:30, but what would we do with our luggage while we wait for the cows? Is there a place to store it? Like the other poster said, does this mean I won't be seeing any cows on our hikes while we're there? I was so looking forward to that.

Thanks,
Laurie

Oh, what the heck. What's one more set of unused seat reservations gone to waste. I'm just going to take an earlier train and store our bags. I really don't want to miss this by just a matter of minutes. Thanks for posting it!

Laurie

Brava, Laurie! I love this!

not a cow parade, but something Mr Steves appears to appreciate at the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
https://bsky.app/profile/ricksteves.bsky.social/post/3muiinn6ou22p

Oh no, sorry to hear that Laurie! Planning this one train journey has certainly been troublesome. I do like your idea of going early enough to catch the parade though, it is quite special to watch.

what would we do with our luggage while we wait for the cows? Is there
a place to store it?

Yes. There is luggage storage at the Lauterbrunnen train station. Also, the cows make quite a mess of the streets as they walk along - you will be happy not to be arriving right after the parade. Wait for the clean-up crew to do their work first before you drag your luggage through the streets. ;-)

does this mean I won't be seeing any cows on our hikes while we're
there?

The cows will be at their home farm, so in the Lauterbrunnen valley and also in Wengen, so you will still see them in the fields, but not at the higher elevations (Männlichen and such). In Wengen if you do the the Mönchblick viewpoint walk you should pass by cows in the fields...other areas as well, but I just know that one of the alpine descents goes right to a farm there.

Reservations made for an earlier train! Thanks so much, Swiss Nomad. Can you imagine my disappointment if we arrived just moments before the parade ended?
All the best,
Laurie

We had a bucket list item happen today! Saw the beautiful cows descending in Lautterbrunnen 🩷😄
We didn’t plan for it but we were so blessed to experience it!!

Updated to add one more date:

Tuesday, Sept 15th in Wengen at 10:00

Also, note that Wed. 16th are the mother cows and calves, not decorated.

Thursday, Sept, 17th has multiple groups of cows, decorated

We had a bucket list item happen today! Saw the beautiful cows
descending in Lauterbrunnen 🩷😄

So glad that you were able to see them!

A big thank you to SwissNomad! Our incredible, amazing Rick Steve’s’ tour officially ended today in Bern. (Breakfast only, no activities.) Our long ago plan was to then go to Wengen today on our own for a few nights. I happened to see your post about the cow parade coming through Wengen this morning and made a call to our hotel with a new plan to arrive last night. We just saw the cows come through in two groups this morning!!! It was fantastic! So much fun!!! What a wonderful memorable opportunity! Thanks for your post!!! ❤️

Sorry, I’m just interrupting in the middle here, This might be a silly question for you all, but I’ve never heard of a cow parade in my life! Do they do this every year around this season? I’m a bit confused about what the cow parade actually is, but now I’m curious — is it worth seeing? After seeing this forum, I even went and searched it on Google, and I can see some cows with flowers or something floral on them.

You’re so welcome KD! I was there this morning too - maybe we saw each other and didn’t realize it 😅

@freyalaurent695
Yes, basically cows with flowers and very big bells on - at the end of the summer alpine grazing season the farmers decorate their cows for the alpine descent. They walk down the mountain and right through the village on their way back to their farm. People usually line the streets to see it.

It is worth looking for some on YouTube so that you can hear the sound as well. It’s a very fun cultural experience.

From RS site: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/switzerland/festivals

I saw them today too!! In Lauterbrunnen. Absolutely magical! I’ll never forget it. Thank you so much again for letting us know.

Two years ago I was in Urnasch, near Appenzell on the Saturday of the cow parades. I think I saw 6-8 groups go through. You could hear them coming from a long way off. I absolutely loved it!!! I grew up on a dairy farm and love cows. In addition to the cows with their bells there were several other elements to it. It began with a young girl and boy that were herding 3-4 sheep or goats. Smaller children were keeping the goats in line with brooms made from dried weeds/plants. Next came 4 yodelers in costume, then 2-3 cows with huge bells and about 20-25 more cows. At the end of some of the groups of cows there was a decorated horse with a wagon with an old butter making churn. I will never forget that awesome experience!

A few years ago, my wife and I spent a weekend in Lenk, in the Simmental, for the Alplerfest and Alpabzug. It was great. Similar to what Joy described, there were a lot of things to see as well as the wonderfully decorated cows. In Lenk, they have the "Miss Lenk" contest. We each paid to submit a vote for Miss Lenk. After carefully considering all the beautiful candidates, we both voted for cow #47.

This year, the Alplerfest in Lenk is 11-12 October.