First (Grindelwald) & Pfingstegg

Another poster that lives part of each year in Switzerland (wanderweg), posted elsewhere that lines can be as long as 3-5 hours in summer there, though of all the activities available, trottibikes was the relative shortest.

It’s true - lines are typically 3-5 hours long for the flyer & mountain carts. Trotti will have the shortest line. Pfingstegg lines will be less.

I will make another comment that should be a consideration when taking your family on the adventure rides at First that I think a lot of people don’t realize because they’ve done a good job of keeping the PR away from it…. There are a lot of injuries. Broken legs, etc. and the Interlaken hospital receives pretty regular visits from those activities. I personally wouldn’t let a 10 year old do the mountain carts or Trotti there, as adults with actual driving experience and risk assessment understanding are getting hurt, let alone little kids. My husband & I have done mountain carts and Trotti bikes in multiple places in Switzerland. I’m a pretty easy going person who is up for letting kids have fun and with those, it would be a strong no. Even my husband who is super athletic fell off a mountain cart and cut his leg. Personally I’d stick to zip lines and mountain coasters where a kid is just in for the ride and then maybe rent bikes in the valley and do some thrill walks (First & Birg) to make them feel like they’re getting adventure. I’d even let them do paragliding before mountain carts.

I appreciate the info. I agree, Trottibikes are too dangerous him as we have experienced them. There are plenty of fun things for a 10 yr old. We are doing all the things you mentioned and will skip the mountain carts + lines.

By mountain coasters, are you talking bout the toboggan runs? We are considering that in Lucerne if we do Mt. Pilatus. We will also be in Wengen later this month. I'm concerned about lines as well.

We were at first recently at 8.15 and queued for around 15 minutes to get adventure tickets. We went straight to the carts and were the second group to go on..after queuing maybe 15 minutes. By time we went up and did the hike to the lake it was 1pm and the times for the glider and flyer were 190 minutes and the carts 110minutes. Trotti bikes were open.

Unless you are going to be there super early I don't think it's worth it. Just go straight up.

Pfingstegg we did on the afternoon and there was a tiny line..about 5 minutes. It's not really staffed so it moves very quick.

Although the toboggan at mt pilatus is much better. If you go to Mt pilatus and want to do the run do the trip in reverse to most people. Go up by gondola to frankmuntegg first . We only queued around 5 minutes.

I really appreciate the replies. Great details…

I wanted to follow up for our mid July trip. We left Wengen at 8:30 AM and got to Pfingstegg just before 10. We purchased 6 trips for the toboggan run and the wait time for the 1st run was only 5 minutes. Next 5 runs there was no waiting. Amazing!! There were cows literally on the edge of the toboggan track just watching. Made for the good pictures. Did the fly-line and there was less than a 5 min wait. FYI, the fly-line is a more scenic than fast. We did the Thrill Walk at Birg and skipping First was the right move for us. There is also a restaurant to grab drinks and food at Pfingstegg.

We left Pfingstegg and headed back to Männlichen and ate. There is a wonderful playground at Männlichen w/ swings, slides, trampolines, & self bowling that our son loved. Then we walked the beautiful & easy Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg hike. Stopped at the Chalet Bar at the end of the hike for some adult beverages before heading back to Wengen. Very fun day for our kiddo.

The BO has great playgrounds and those were perfect before hikes. The Adventure "Flower Park" playground at Allmendhubel was very impressive. We enjoyed drinks and our son had a blast riding the zip line. Hope this helps those with kids......

Thank you for coming back with your assessment! We are staying in Lauterbrunnen next summer with our adventurous daughter who will be turning 10 by then. This is really helpful!

Would love to know how long the toboggan ride would roughly take start to finish. Trying to gauge timing to fit it in with other things. So roughly 5 minute wait in line? 5 minute ride and then 5 minutes to get pulleyed back up to the top? Thank you!

You can go fairly fast on the toboggan. I would venture to say easily under 5 min if no one slowing you down on the track. The ride pull back up to the start took under 5 minutes. It can be a long journey to Pfingsteeg so I would relax after and have drinks or food & enjoy the views from the restaurant chairs outdoors before venturing back.

Thank you! That’s really helpful. I was trying to fit Grindelwald First Walk (just the cliff walk) and the toboggan into a half day, coming from Lauterbrunnen but may have to skip. Due to the time the journey would take for First plus the overall cost. So we’ll stick with just First and make most of our time there to enjoy the views. Appreciate the help!