Piz Gloria and hiking in Murren

You do know they have breakfast special. Go up first thing in the morning, have breakfast, and return, all at a reduced rate. Morning is also the best chance for good views as clouds can build up late morning.
https://schilthorn.ch/en/Infos/Timetable__and__Tariff
Scroll down to Brunch Special.

I did the breakfast brunch in Sept. 2021. Loved it!!!! I still think about the mini waffles. The views were fantastic!!

I did reserve the brunch ahead of time. At that time, the reservation was changeable if I needed to change it. You could email them to see if that is still the case. The Schilthorn tickets we just purchased the morning of. I think we took the first cable car up and it was not crowded.

It looks like the restaurant is closed until March, and the booking site is not available. I think that’s where I got the email address from. So, check back in March if you’d like to email them.

Everyone has their own opinion on this. I personally find it not worthwhile to base your day around a pre-booked meal there. The restaurant is a neat experience because of the revolving views, not because of the food. If you go in the afternoon you'll practically have the place to yourself. You can sit wherever you want, order a drink to enjoy the views for 20 minutes (and dessert if you want) and then move on with your day. I go up there quite often in the summer and between lunch and closing time it will be basically your own private revolving restaurant.

We brought our own picnic lunch we put together at Coop in Mürren & ate at the tables inside one floor below the sit down restaurant. They have a counter there that sells hot cocoa, coffee, soft drinks & snacks. It was perfect. Or you can picnic outside.

Hi Sam
Thanks for your reply and advise.

I plan to buy the Swiss half fare card and Jungfrau card, which will let me go free up to Murren

I went through the link you sent. What I can make out is : the brunch + ticket from Murren from 8.55 to 11.55 is $ 75 per person.
And the afternoon platter + ticket from Murren from is $ 73 per person. No time limit is mentioned for that. Please correct me if I have not understood correctly.

I do not see any breakfast special. Maybe the brunch they serve up to 8.55 is breakfast and that’s what you are talking about. Am I right ?
My question : you must have reached Piz Gloria before 8 to finish breakfast by 8.55.
Did you start from Wengen ?
What time did you start ?
Were you more than 2 persons to get seated at the window seat .
How is the view if you do not get the window seat ?

I agree that reaching early morning is a great idea as the views could potentially be better too.

Hi Carrie
Thanks for your reply.
I opened the website to see if I could email and ask the question about changeable dates, but like you said, Piz Gloria is closed till March.
A few questions :
How many days in advance did you book ?
Was breakfast a buffet ?
The first cable up is at what time ?
Were you a party of two or more ?
Did you get a window seat ?

TIA

Hi wanderweg

That’s a great idea becz breakfast is included in our hotel package and just having a drink or dessert and enjoying the view for 30 mins would be perfect for us.

When you say afternoon, what time do you mean ?
After 3 pm ?
Basically everyone says go early so that you get great views. You think going late and still getting great views would work for the month of September ?

TIA

Hi Continental
That’s an awesome idea too !
I did not know that there is a restaurant a floor below Piz Gloria and you carry your own food there and just get a drink from the restaurant.
Thanks for letting me know.
What time did you go there and what was your starting point ?

TIA

I mean like after 1 pm. Sometimes the weather/view is better in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, sometimes all day, sometimes not at all. The only way to know is look at the webcam that morning and weather apps MeteoSwiss & MeteoBlue. Personally I'd just go based on when the weather allows for the best views, bring a snack with you and then grab a drink if it works out with the time you end up there. If the morning is significantly better for weather that day, you're really not missing that much by not doing the restaurant.

Hi wanderweg

That’s excellent advise.
I think that’s what we will do, go to Schilthorn on the day that the best views are predicted , and take a chance with Piz Gloria . If we are lucky we might get to have a drink or dessert there , if not we can eat at the restaurant below.

Can you please advise : is it worthwhile to go to Brig and do the thrill walk and skyline walk, if you have already done the First Cliff walk ?
Are both the experiences similar ?

TIA

We were there in October, the weekend before they closed. I had emailed in advance and they said to book a few days earlier and then cancel if the weather wasn't suitable.

We decided not to book and just go for a drink which we did at around 11:30am. We sat for a little while at a table by the window, they then said we had to move as they were reserved for larger groups. We sat at the opposite end of the table and still had stunning views, but not as good as those from outside.

We saw the brunch buffet and were glad not to have booked it. It looked like large amounts of fairly unhealthy food, with lots and lots of children sniffling and handling it all. Possible being the last weekend it was more crowded than usual though.

I am definitely not a buffet person and that convinced me to stay that way. The drinks were good though and definitely worth visiting for.

I made the reservation for the breakfast buffet before I left on the trip. As I mentioned above, it was changeable, so I wasn’t locked into that time or date. There were 3 of us. It was not crowded so they gave us a table right by the windows. We all really enjoyed the food. For us, that was part of the experience.

Looking at the time stamp on my pictures, we were up there by 8:30 am. We stayed a couple of hours. Because the weather was so nice that day, we wanted to take advantage of that and so we headed over to männlichen after Schilthorn. We were there around 1:30 pm. We took the cable car up from wengen and then later back down.

My advice is to have a list of things you’d like to see and do. If you can avoid it, don’t book anything in advance. See what the weather looks like when you are there and decide the night before what you will do the next day. If you have nice weather, you will want to take advantage of that.

Yes, Birg and the Thrill Walk are worth it. It's really not the same as First and in my opinion it's better. The views from the outside deck at Birg are also very nice. I usually recommend going up to Schilthorn first and then stopping at Birg on the way down.

And just to clarify, the space downstairs at Schilthorn isn't a restaurant. It's just a small indoor space where the elevators and stairs come up from the cable car and has a snack bar and a couple tables, but it's really just meant as a move through space. If it's a nice day and Piz Gloria doesn't work out I'd recommend going up to Schilthorn to enjoy the views, then go down to Birg, do the Thrill Walk and have a picnic or order food from the restaurant there. They have tons of outdoor tables there and really nice views. A much better picnic/eating option than the indoor space at the Schilthorn. They sell hot lunch food at the restaurant at Birg which can be eaten inside or outside.

Hi wanderweg

Thanks for the wonderful suggestion.
I will definitely keep this in mind while planning the day at Schilthorn.
As per your suggestion we shall start early from Wengen, go to Schilthorn, enjoy the
panoramic views and walk the 007 walk of fame. If we are lucky, we will breakfast/ Brunch at Piz Gloria. Then onto Birj , where we will have lunch (in case we haven’t eaten at Piz Gloria), do the thrill walk and thereafter go to Murren.

There are 3 hikes in Murren ( I am talking about the easy / moderate ones which we can do ).
What I have written is based on what I have read/ understood , please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

1 Gruschap to Murren : I read it’s a 2.7 miles long, very easy hike ( 1. 30 hours ).
Halfway take a stop at Winteregg for icecream and continue to Murren.

2 Walk through the village to Mürren
(Allmendhubelbahn) funicular station. Ride up to the Allmendhubel (Standseilbahn) station, which drops you at the flower park. Walk the Flower Trail . 1 hour long, very easy hike ( going downhill ) Length : 2 miles , Elev. gain : 200 ft

3 . Walk through the village of Murren to Gimmelwald. This is a 3 kms long, easy, downhill panoramic walk on paved road ( 1 hour), visit “ little cheese shops” at local resident houses, “ Honesty shops” and stop for refreshments ( pizza ) and the view at Pension Gimmelwald .

My question : can all 3 be done on the same day ?
If not, which ones should be clubbed together and which one done on another day.

TIA

Wanderweg, and others, will have great information for you. Here are my thoughts:

1)This hike does have some ascent, especially at the beginning, just so you are aware of that. I have seen people say that it is along the train tracks, but for the majority of the route you are actually walking further up the hillside, looking down on the tracks, where you occasionally see the train, moving slowly along, and it can be a great addition to any landscape photos you take as you walk along.

The final 20 minutes or so are directly beside the train tracks, and the mountains, although closer, are mostly obscured by the forest. This is the only part of the walk that is not very interesting. If you were do to just a portion of the hike, I would do Grütschalp to Winteregg and then catch the train for the rest.

Here is where you can see the elevation gain and a profile of the hike

https://muerren.swiss/en/maps/summer-maps/hikes.html#area=60825263&cat=Hiking%20Trail&filter=r-fullyTranslatedLangus-,r-openState-,sb-sortedBy-0&ipd=39076401&wt=Mürren%20(Switzerland)%0A60825263&zc=12.,7.85537,46.55076

2) I have not done the flower trail, but if you walk down it then it is a descent of 260m (853 feet). 

Here is the link to the trail. Note that for Mürren tourism, you would hike up not down. A hike that is only downhill can actually be very hard on your knees, and if the footing is loose gravel, it is easy to slip - you have a lot more control of each step when you go uphill.

https://muerren.swiss/en/maps/summer-maps/hikes.html#area=60825263&cat=Hiking%20Trail&dmdtab=oax-tab1&filter=r-fullyTranslatedLangus-,r-openState-,sb-sortedBy-0&ipd=23432033&wt=Mürren%20(Switzerland)%0A60825263&zc=12.,7.85537,46.55076

3)This is a paved road, so there is not much danger of slipping, but again you should look at the elevation change and compare it with what you are used to doing. It is impossible for someone else to say what might be difficult for you to do, each has their own fitness level and experience. Compare the route description with your past performance and decide based on that.

In this link you will see, once again, that they present it up hill - from Gimmmelwald to Mürren. Doing it in the opposite direction means that you will have a 270m (885 ft) downhill walk. Many, many people walk this road, and enjoy it, but only you can say if it is something that the both of you can physically do.



Scroll down the page to see Gimmelwald - Mürren

https://gimmelwald.ch/?page_id=83&lang=en

Edited to say: if you were to do all three of these hikes in one day, not counting the walk through Mürren, it will add up to over 3.5 hours with a 150 m (492 feet) ascent and a 530 m (1,739 feet) descent.

Whenever I am deciding on a hiking route it is always about looking at the difficulty of the trail along with these numbers.

I doubt you’ll be able to do all that in one day with Schilthorn, Birg and wanting the dining experiences.

Perhaps this…
Early morning to Schilthorn, late morning Birg, down to Murren, walk through town to the Allmendhubel and ride up. Either lunch there at the Allmendhubel or my favorite option is the easy walk to Suppenalp for lunch. It’s an authentic mountain hut experience (closed Mondays & Tuesdays). Then either walk back up to Allmendhubel to ride down to Murren or take the Blumental Trail down to Murren. I’d recommend hiking poles to stabilize your knees on the decent if you do the trail down. It’s not difficult but there is a portion after Murren Beef farm that’s a steep farm road. Upon returning to Murren either walk down to Gimmelwald (very easy descent, not steep at all) or take the cable car down to Gimmelwald. Walk around and then have dinner either at the Pension (fixed menu and seating time, reservation recommended) or wood fired pizza at your leisure at the Mountain Hostel (very good). If you like beer, either way try the Schwarz Monch at the Pension. It’s their own beer and very unique. Once you’re done with dinner, cable car down to Stechelberg, bus to Lauterbrunnen and train back to Wengen.

Of all the hikes you mentioned, my least favorite is Grutschalp to Murren because it’s the same route you see on the train. The other options give you new perspectives.

Hi SwissNomad

Thank you so much for explaining the details of the 3 hikes in such meticulous detail and for forwarding the relevant links.

As I mentioned before, I am a 70 year old with ok level of fitness. I go for walks ( about 4-5 miles long on a flat trail ) at least 3 /4 times a week. I live in Seattle which has a fair amount of hills, but since we are usually driving, I don’t do a lot of hill climbing. However, ever since I have started finalizing my trip to Switzerland , I have added an uphill ascent of 250 ft ( takes me about 20 mins to go uphill and downhill) over 2600 feet ( about 1/2 mile ) to my walk to make myself fitter for hiking in the Alps :) .

Re the hikes :
1 The Gruschap to Murren hike :
Awesome idea to do only half the hike till Winteregg and then catch the train back to Murren. Saves time and energy :)

2 The Allmendhubel to Murren trail : the flower trail.
Point regarding loose gravel is well noted. Will make sure that we do not go on a wet day. Also the option of taking the cable car to Allmendhubel and then walking to Pension Suppenalp for a meal and getting back to Murren by cable car is also a great idea.
Have you ever eaten there ?
Any idea how good the food is ?

3 Murren to Gimmelwald : Sounds like a fun walk with a stopover at the Pension for dinner or a pizza at the Mountain hostel.

After this return to hotel in Wengen by train/ cable car /bus.

Keeping the abridged version of these 3 hikes in mind, do you think we can do the trip to :
Schilthorn( with maybe breakfast at Piz Gloria and the 007 walk ) ,
Birg ( Thrill Walk)
And
these 3 hikes in their abridged versions in one day ?

TIA

Hi Wanderweg

Thank you so much for almost planning out one of the most difficult days in my itinerary.

As per your suggestion we shall go early morning to Schilthorn and luckily manage to have breakfast there, followed by our Thrill walk at Birg.
After that we may go up to Gruschap and hike uptill Winteregg and then take the train back to Murren.
Then as per your suggestion, we shall go up to Allmendhubel and just do the lunch at Pension Suppenalp.
Here are my questions :
1 What’s the walk like from the station to the Pension Suppenalp ? Any steep hills ?
2 I have very limited knowledge of Swiss cuisine .. just Rosti, Cheese/ chocolate fondue, Zurcher Geschnetzeltes ( super delicious .. had them in Germany last year ). However, we are open to trying new dishes .
I went through their menu and it seems like a great menu :)
Any suggestions on what to order ?

After lunch we will take the train back to Murren
From Murren we shall do the hike to Gimmelwald . Seems like a fun hike and Gimmelwald looks like a beautiful village.
We shall stroll around and may have dinner at the Pension ( it may be difficult to make a booking for an exact time ) or
go to the Mountain Hostel for dinner .
Any recommendations for food here ?

Thereafter we shall cable car to Stechelberg, bus to Lauterbrunnen and train back to Wengen.

Till what time are all cable cars/ train/ buses open ?
Don’t want to get stuck at Gimmelwald.

Thanks for all your time and help.

Don’t go to Grutschalp after Schilthorm for that walk. That’s retracing your steps and you really won’t have time with the rest of your plans.
Do this:
—Train Wengen > Lauterbrunnen
—Walk across the street and take the cable car up to Grutschalp
—Train Grutschalp to Murren
—Walk through the village to the Schilthornbahn and go up to Schilthorn, stopping at Birg on your way back down to Murren
—walk through town to the Allmendhubel station and ride funicular up, then walk the 3/4 mile to Suppenalp for lunch
—walk back uphill to Allmendhubel to ride back down to Murren
—walk through town to Schilthornbahn and ride cable car down to Gimmelwald OR walk down to Gimmelwald (all paved, easy)
—walk around Gimmelwald and then have the pizza at the Mountain Hostel at your leisure or you can do the fixed seating at the Pension. I think it’s at 7 pm.
—cable car down to Stechelberg
—bus to Lauterbrunnen
—train to Wengen

1 —it’s about a 3/4 mile walk downhill from Allmendhubel to Suppenalp (200 ft of elevation loss) and then afterwards you have to walk back up that 3/4 mile and uphill 200 ft
2 - their rosti is good, as well as their macaroni with baked apple, their schnitzel and their local foraged mushroom soup. We’ve also enjoyed their local cheese plate. Never had anything we didn’t enjoy there. Be prepared to take your time and enjoy the view there, as service can be a bit slow. It’s not fast food. If you go at the height of lunch time sometimes all the outdoor tables can be taken, as there aren’t many. In that case you can ask to share a table with a smaller group, wait for a table or sit inside and then move outside if a table opens up.
3 - The cable car from Gimmelwald runs until 11:50 at night. You won’t get stuck :)

Hi Wanderweg

Thank you so much for chalking out my full day itinerary for our visit to Schilthorn, along with recommendations for places to eat and even the best dishes available on the menu.
Really appreciate your time and effort.

We would also like to go paragliding ( maybe on another day ) and since you know so much of this area I am posing another question to you: Are there any age restrictions to go paragliding?
Is Murren the best place to go para gliding ?
How much time do you need for 1 person ?
Do you think there will be time to add paragliding to this day ?
Any recommendations for the paragliding company would be welcome .

TIA

Are there any age restrictions to go paragliding?
*No, you just need to be able to walk up a somewhat steep road to the starting point with your guide. It's around a 10-15 minute uphill paved road to the launch site. The guides carry all the gear. You also need to be able to take a couple "running" steps to start flying and not have any back/hip/etc. issues so that you can land safely. My 67 year old father in law has done it with me.

Is Murren the best place to go paragliding ?
*It's great from Murren. I recommend AirTime Paragliding (www.airtime-paragliding.com) There are other areas around Grindelwald and Interlaken that you can also do it, but I can't comment from personal experience on those.

How much time do you need for 1 person ?
*It's around a 2 hour commitment. You're only in the air for around 20 minutes, but by the time you meet up with your guide, walk up to the launch, fly, land down in Stechelberg and then get back on the cable car to go back up to Murren or to wherever you're going afterwards, it's around that amount of time.

Do you think there will be time to add paragliding to this day ?
*No, you already have a jam packed day. Since it seems you have a lot you want to do in the Murren area, I'd commit 2 days of your itinerary to the area. Perhaps combine paragliding with one of the other hikes you want to do in Murren or walk the Lauterbrunnen Valley to Stechelberg, ride the cable car up to Murren, paraglide, end in Stechelberg and then continue back to Lauterbrunnen to do some other activity later in the day.