If you actually have first hand experience, please sound in. Two adult gal, non-skiers looking for day trip ideas. Staying in Grindelwald 3 days. Already planned Jungfrauboch one day. Any ideas for local trips by train (or not) to explore villages etc? Brief enough to rejoin our skiers for dinner in Grindelwald (BTW, any restaurant recommendations?) at the end of the day. Same goes for 3 days in Zermatt and 3 days in St. Moritz. Yes, we’re already booked for Glacier Express Zermatt to St. Moritz. We def have some foodies and casting a wide net, everything from high-end/award winning to simple rustic mountain comfort food (aka raclette yes!). We’ll be there last week of March, first week of April.
Posted by
294 posts
We did the same in October, except only two nights in St. Moritz. Hopefully you are staying in a hotel that gives you the free Engadin card, which allowed us free public transport, including funiculars and gondolas.
We spent the first afternoon going up to Piz Nair for lunch in the snow. The second full day we went to Diavolezza and had lunch then came back by train and visited Pontresina and a couple of other villages.
The transport for all this was free with the Engadin card, so a great deal.
In Grindelwald you will be spoiled for choice, we loved visiting Schilthorn (we chose not to do Jungfraujoch), the hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, a visit to First, a lake cruise to the Hotel Giessbach to see the falls and have lunch and visits to Murren and Gimmelwald.
We actually stayed in Wengen which we preferred over Grindelwald.
In Zermatt the obvious one is seeing the Matterhorn. We only had one good weather day so went up to Gornergrat for a spectacular day. The second cloudy day we visiting the Gorner Gorge and then had lunch in a mountain restaurant.
Enjoy, you will have a fantastic time.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11892 posts
While staying in Grindelwald you can easily take the train to Lauterbrunnen. The easy hike from Grütschalp (above Lauterbrunnen and reached via a cable way) to Mürren is on a groomed snowy trail is very nice. Once in Mürren, check out the village, walk to the far end and take the Schilthornbahn if you like, or descend to the tiny village of Gimmelwald or all the way to Stechelberg in the valley. You can take a bus back to Lauterbrunnen from there or walk if you like. Then go up to Wengen on the train and visit that village.
Rick Steves Switzerland guide book has excellent info on this area and is worth having on hand for the logistics of the transportation options as it will seem confusing until you get there.
Posted by
Green Bay
21749 posts
In Zermatt, the Poestli Stuebli restaurant in the Unique Post Hotel is worth an evening if you are not vegetarian. Nico's is an Italian restaurant in Zermatt worth a stop.
For day trips, hopefully the connecting gondola to Italy is operating and you can take a day trip to Cervinia. It was not operating when I was there in early January and you could only ski into Italy. Either way, a trip to the glacier tour at the top of Klein Matterhorn is worth a stop. And the Italian restaurant at Trockner Steg has fabulous views if you can get a window seat for lunch. At Gornergrat, another Italian restaurant is Al Bosco at the Riffelberg resort, especially on a nice day outdoors or lunch. These two the skiers can join you.