Murren Switzerland Sept 2023 Trip Report

Day 4 Back to the train station (clickety clack with our roller luggage through town) and we took the next train to Interlaken, then changing trains to Lauterbrunnen, then hopping on a bus to Stechelberg at the end of the valley, and then two cable cars up to Murren, with a change in Gimmelwald. We were finally here! We had booked this place in the winter of 2020, before Covid kind of shut down travel and life in many ways. Once we got off of the cable car, it was just a short walk, including 140 something stairs down to our chalet, with 2 carry-on bags a piece. (this was even harder on the way up, and Tom, bless his heart, carried mine up for me) When we entered the top floor of our Chalet (another 40 something steps up) we were blown away with how nice the chalet was, but mostly the view. Our host had left us a small bottle of wine so we immediately went outside on our deck, had a toast and marveled at the view. Para gliders sailed right in front of us throughout each day, and I envisioned myself doing that but would probably never actually do it, as I am pretty fearful of heights. After that we walked back up all of those stairs to check out our village. We found the much talked about Co-op store and were amazed at all of the great food, including fresh produce, bread and meat, and the prices were not much different than back in the US. This was nice for us as we planned and accomplished cooking most of our meals at our chalet to save money. Murren was so charming, car free, except for a few service vehicles now and then. The main street was dotted with chalets, and restaurants mostly. Not too crowded or touristy. I think I saw one souvenir type shop. And the setting was just phenomenal, on the edge of a cliff literally, and straight on views of the North Face of the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger Mountains. I can't imagine anywhere else in the world more beautiful to stay. Truly my favorite place on our trip.

Day 5 We were up early and attempted to hike the entire North Face Trail. We began with a funicular, right from Murren, up to Allmendhubel. Not too far into it, in a valley below, we stopped at the Pension Sonnenberg, because it looked so inviting and we were a tad bit hungry. We were greeted by the friendly owner outside and we ordered our first Swiss specialty, which was a breakfasty dish with eggs, cheese, tomatoes, and bread. After that we mistakenly started downhill, when we should have been going up hill, and we made it back to Murren way too quickly, after only a few miles total. Fortunately we were able to complete this trail at another time later on. Since it was still early in the day, and we had such much energy and enthusiasm, we decided to take the funicular back up to Allmendhubel, and take the Panorama trail, which was to the right of the landing, instead of to the left. This trail took several hours to complete but it was just beautiful the whole way, with views across the valley to the other side and our 3 mountain peaks mentioned earlier. We passed so many cows with their cow bells ringing, many hikers who were doing the trail in the opposite direction as ourselves, and finally made it down to the Grutschalp train station. From here we took another train along the mountain to Murren, that station being located on the other side of town from where we were staying. . My recommendation for anyone considering doing this hike is do it in the direction that we did it. There was much more uphill the other way around. We still got a great workout, and were pretty spent by the time we made it back to Murren. It was close to a 10 mile day for us and my legs were so sore already from all of those stairs.

Day 6 We took an early cable car down to the valley and then a bus, a train, and finally onto a slow moving cog train, to get up another mountain, to Schynige Platte. Oh my goodness, the views from here were also just jaw dropping beautiful! We could see our area from a different angle and also down into Lake Brienz and Lake Thun from the upper ridge of our hike. We hiked the Panorama Trail, which was a loop, in the clockwise direction, so we got our big uphill stretch done at the beginning. This has got to be one of the best hikes in the area and well worth the extra effort to get here. On our way back we decided to take a side train over to Grindelwald, a popular tourist destination and much larger town than our little village. It was crowded with lots of traffic and people and upper end stores, and we were happy to head back to our little village and chalet.

Day 7 We took a train up to Wengen, then up to Mannlichen, to hike the Royal Walk over to Kleine Scheidegg. We did this hike on our last trip with Rick Steves tours (21 day Best of Europe) It was another gorgeous hike, mostly slightly downhill so it was a much easier day for us. We had a picnic lunch before catching the train back down to the valley floor. We walked around Lauterbrunnen a little, seeking out some great photo ops, and got to see the little neighborhoods. Picked up more groceries at the co-op there, but noticed that the prices were the same as up on the mountain. We purchased a ready made fondue packet and enjoyed fixing that in our fondue pot for dinner, with veggies and bread. Yummy! We loved just hanging out in our chalet, enjoying the views and the coziness of it all.
Day 8 was our one rainy day of the entire trip. (4 weeks total in Europe) We had signed up for a guided hike to a cheese making farm through the Tourist Office. It turns out that the guide was the husband to our host of our Airbnb (which made him the owner also) We were the only ones who showed up and we we had a top notch experience with him. He shared with us so much info about the area and the history and culture. The cheese making demonstration was incredible. I took videos of it and posted it earlier on my page. This place and family who ran the farm are also featured on a Rick Steve's show, which I had seen before we left. We were able to complete the entire North Face Trail with our guide Nick this time, and only got a little bit wet toward the end. The breakfast we were served at the farm was all fresh and delicious. It was truly a highlight of our entire trip. Later that day we met up with Nick again for a free walking tour of the village itself. Again we were the only ones who showed up, maybe due to the fact that at this point it was really raining hard! Thank goodness our chalet had umbrellas. It was really a wonderful and enriching day.

Day 9 We changed it all up a bit and decided to go visit Lake Thun, down next to Interlaken. We got off at Interlaken Ost and then walked along the river and the Old Town to Interlaken West, where we caught a train to Spiez. It was a lovely peaceful morning walk. Interlaken seemed nice in this part of town. But it was much more of a city than anything in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and above it. Spiez was a lovely town. We walked down from the train station to the harbor, visited the grounds of Spiez Castle, and then enjoyed a couple of empanadas right next to the ferry dock while we waited for our boat. (they had ice cream/gelato too, but we resisted.) We cruised across the lake and got off at Oberhofen, and I did a self guided tour of the castle while Tom enjoyed the grounds. After that we walked along the lake toward the town of Thun. There is a beautiful promenade there and the lake is clear and blue. Since it was quite hot, we decided to hop a city bus (all of this was included with our Berner Oberland Pass we purchased on our first day) and made it to Thun. From there we hopped on a train to the Capitol of Bern, which was about 30-40 minutes by train. We had a whirlwind trip there, less than an hour to walk around, because we wanted to make it back before dark. It was a great adventure day and nice to take a break from all of the uphill hiking that we had been doing.

Day 10 our last day. We hiked/walked down from Murren to Gimmelwald, (finally! It was a great walk about a mile or so) then took the cable car to the valley floor, and then the bus to the very last bus stop in the valley. We walked UP the canyon to where some larger waterfalls join, which we could see from above in our chalet. It was beautiful and wooded and had a nice dirt road to follow on the way up. On the way back we found a path that crossed the river and came down the other side, which was even nicer. On the way back we finally stopped at Pension Gimmelwald and tried their famous Schwarz Monch Beer and it was delicious for this dark beer loving girl. We had stopped for pizza one day at the hostel in Gimmelwald but I can’t remember which day that was. Gimmelwald is super charming, a smaller version of Murren, and I can see why Rick Steve’s loves it so much. We also finally visited the Murren Rec Center where we were able to swim for free because of the small tourist tax we had to pay at the beginning of our stay. ( around $5 pp per day?) We paid about $5 more to sit in the outdoor hot tub and had it all to ourselves. It was heavenly looking out over those mountains! Our last dinner was fondue again, and we toasted our time in Muren from our deck, one last time.

Overall, our time in Murren was a bucket list wish for me. I could not have been happier the whole time that we were there. My face actually hurt from smiling that first day! Being able to head out each day and hike to our hearts content, going slow, stopping a lot along the way just to go WOW! Can you believe that we are really here?? We had a very leisurely pace about it all, having a full week to enjoy it. I would encourage anyone going there to try and stay a week if you can. I hear of so many people only having a few days, and trying to do it all like a couple of days in Disneyland. I cannot recommend this area enough if you love high alpine mountains, quaint villages, taking trains and cable cars, and friendly people. Loving hiking is a bonus!

Next trip we are planning on the Dolomites, so you may see me posting a few questions there. Thank you everyone for posting and helping out fellow travelers. Our first RS Best of Europe tour prepared us well and wet our appetite for more independent travel in Europe!

airbnb.com/rooms/4982492?sourceimpressionid=p31700015823m%2BUsx0AoDalxCJk9

Here is where we stayed. There was a crane below us that was bringing construction materials up from the valley floor, but it was not in operation all day long and didn't bother us much at all. We were right next to the Schlithorn cable car where all of the construction was, but it was out of our sight and ear shot so it was just fine for us. All those stairs though...my calves hurt again just thinking about it. :-)

We stayed in Murren a few years ago and loved it. Thanks for your trip report and bringing back lovely memories!

Murren really is the place to be for the spectacular views of the famous mountain peaks on the opposite side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. On every return trip to Switzerland, I try to get to Murren which simply has to be seen to believe there is such an incredibly beautiful place.

Thanks for your trip report!

Day 11 our last day in Switzerland - we started our journey to Milan, made possible with the BO pass which covered us all the way to Domodosolla. (about 6 or 7 connections that went without a hitch until we hit Italy) Unfortunately there was a train wreck ahead of us and we were delayed and rerouted once we hit Italy, and we eventually made it to our car rental in Milan, 6 hours late and minutes before closing. We next started the 2nd leg of our trip, 3 weeks in Northern Italy, which is a whole new story. 🙂 We loved Italy also, but our time in Switzerland will always be remembered as a highlight of my life ❤

Great trip report—thank you! We were also in Mürren in September, probably a little later than you. We were there with our son and his family (and two grandchildren, 11 years old). But was not our first time; actually our fifth. We started going when our son and his girlfriend were dating, then engaged, then married, then 2 trips with the grandchildren.

A couple of comments on your experience. The North Face trail is indeed easy to miss—it is not well-signed, and one can easily get off-route. It is marked on some maps, and one can follow those. It is well worth the effort,

Our son and his family also did the “cheese tour” offered on Wednesdays, and they loved it. We met them after the tour on the trail, and hiked back to Mürren together on the North Face trail.

As for the Mürren Coop—you never know what you might find there. Sometimes they run out of things and you have to find substitutes. And other times you are surprised to find unusual things—like the kilo bag of large frozen prawns that we made into a great scampi one night. But the real surprise was taco shells! I have brought some Mexican spices and we had a great toco dinner one night.

Thanks for a great trip report!! You have me even more excited for my return in June. 😊

Great trip report!

Wonderful report! We would love to get to this area sometime soon!

Thank you for this your report. We are planning a trip to Murren in June, so this was very helpful to give us a sense of what we can accomplish in a day.

Thank you for your report. It makes me want to go back to Murren as soon as possible to do the things we didn't have time to do.