Written: Mar 28, 2024
Updated: Mar 28, 2024
Read time: 13 min

Grindelwald First and Bachalpsee, Switzerland (2023)

If you've ever been a Harry Potter fan, the name Grindelwald should ring familiar. In the books, Grindelwald was one of the most powerful and notorious wizards of all time, a certified baddie. Grindelwald, Switzerland, however is a village in the Bernese Alps that harbors nothing so sinister. D and I encountered no evil wizards when we ventured to Grindelwald, and found only otherworldly beauty in the landscape.

A short history of Grindelwald

There is some debate about how Grindelwald got its name: linguists interpret its derivation from the Old German Celtic word "grindel", referring to a piece of wood that serves as a barrier, and when joined with "wald", the word for forest, its name in whole would mean something like "a forest barricaded from the rest of the world"; however, local legends say that Grindelwald gets its name from the phrase "Grinde ol Wald", or "boulders and forest", which was used by the serfs of the first master of the land of Interlaken to describe the Grindelwald Valley when they were sent out to explore the mountains beyond Interlaken. There are many more interpretations and legends regarding the roots of the word Grindelwald beyond the two mentioned as well.

The Grindelwald Valley is bounded by the mountains Fiescherhörner and Eiger to the south, Kleine Scheidegg, Tschuggen, and Männlichen to the wets, the Faulhorn and Schwarzhorn to the north, and Grosse Scheidegg, Wetterhorn Massif, and Schreckhörner in the east. The valley extends east to west for a total of 16-km and is dissected by the Black Lütschine River. It is a popular destination for avid skiiers in the winter and famous among mountaineers who seek to ascend the north face of the Eiger.

Grindelwald First

It was a gloriously clear and beautiful sunny day when we woke up on the third day of our stay in the Interlaken and Jungfrau regions. We'd be hiking to Bachalpsee, an alpine lake with panoramic views of the peaks surrounding Grindelwald valley. It was the only hike we'd do on this trip out of the many I planned, due to the snowpack and early season trail closures.

We woke up bright and early to grab breakfast as soon as it started, before the first rays of daylight had come over the peaks. The journey time to Grindelwald First from door-to-door was about 2.5 hours. The bus route was mostly the same as the one we took to Lauterbrunnen, where we had to transfer buses at Wilderswil. There's usually a railway that takes you straight from Interlaken West to Grindelwald, but it was under construction for literally just the week that we were there. It was scheduled to reopen two days after we'd leave.

The bus to Grindelwald was just as packed as the one to Lauterbrunnen, and the roads were even windier this time. We had to stand most of the ride, so I was swaying with each pinhead turn and my motion sickness was starting to build. It was such a relief to get off at the terminus station, Grindelwald Bahnhof. ("Bahnhof" means "train station" in German; if you break up the words, "die Bahn" typically refers to some kind of rail, whether train or streetcar, and "der Hof" means "yard" in the sense of a courtyard, so together it kind of means "rail yard". Fun, right?)

The views from the parking lot of the Grindelwald Bahnhof were already incredible. Each of the mountains surrounding Grindelwald were in perfect view, uncluttered by trees and buildings.

The north face of the Eiger — The famous north face of the Eiger.

The peak of the Schwarzhorn — The Schwarzhorn in the valleys beyond.

The viewing platform at the Grindelwald terminal — This was the view from the platform at the bus station!

The Klein Fiescherhorn visible between the saddle — I think the peak between the saddle is the Klein Fiescherhorn.

We bought our tickets for the Firstbahn, the cable car line that would take us up to Grindelwald First, one of the accessible summits where many skiers and snowboarders begin their rides. There's a stop in the middle at Schreckfeld, where you can transfer to different cable car lines that take you deeper in the mountains for other ski and snowboard routes.

There is no bad seat on the cable cars, since plexiglass covers all sides of the car. We watched as the lush, green and undulating valleys of Grindelwald village gradually faded into snow and ice and the peaks that once soared overhead became almost eye-level with us. The cable car climbs nearly 4,000-ft in elevation in the short half-hour ride up to First. The level of engineering required to pull and circulate such heavy, braided steel cables up and over the rocky and dangerous mountain terrain so that we could sit comfortable in a little glass box was really amazing to think about.

An expansive meadow lays out before the Wetterhorn mountain — The left side of the cable car faces Wetterhorn the entire way up to the Schreckfeld station.

Grindelwald village under the Wetterhorn.

A wider view of the village and the Wetterhorn.

A barn on the hillside and a dusting of snow on green grass — We start to up to snow level here.

A closer look at the steep walls of the Wetterhorn massif.

We marveled at ambitious hikers -- or maybe this was just a locals' daily walk? -- who took the trail leading out from the Grindewald terminal at the valley bottom, all the way up to the Schreckfeld station buried in the snow.

Hikers walking up a path parallel to the cable car — There were quite a few people taking this trail! Made me feel lazy.

The Shreckhorn and Kleines Schreckhorn — The Schreckhorn in back and Kleines ("small") Schreckhorn in the foreground.

Overhead view of the Grindelwald Valley — You can almost see the full length of the valley from here.

Snowy slopes and coniferous forest cover the mountainsides — The treeline slowly giving way to snowy plateaus.

A view looking down the snow into the valley and up at the Schreckhorn — Simply amazing views the whole ride up.

The downside of traveling during shoulder seasons is that you get stuck in the no man's land of available and doable activities. The upside is that you get to enjoy the scenery of both seasons at the same time! It was pretty cool to go from walking among flowing waterfalls, grassy meadows, and blooming flowers to tromping through snow several feet deep within the span of a few hours. In some ways, it was even better that a storm had just passed because the snow was still so clean and fluffy!

A snowfield with a yellow cabin in the middle — A deep snowfield with a ranger cabin.

A snowy plateau where you can see deep into the mountain range — That trail the hikers were goes up to here also!

A view of the cabins at the Schreckfeld station below — You can see deeper in the mountain range from here.

Hiking to Bachalpsee

As soon as we stepped out of the cable car terminal, we were feet deep in snow. So much of it was still fresh and crunchy, and thankfully not too icy. We passed the famous First Cliff Walk (~sponsored by Tissot~) on the way to the trailhead for our hike.

Tissot Cliff Walk overlooking Grindelwald Valley — First Cliff Walk overlooking Grindelwald valley.

After refilling our water bottles and a restroom break, D and I started the hike to Bachalpsee. Bachalpsee is one of the many famous hikes in the Jungfrau region that you've likely seen all over Instagram whenever a photo of the Swiss Alps pops up. It's also one of the shortest and easiest hikes you can do (see: Alltrails stats)...at least in the summer. Not to say that the hike was hard, but it was definitely more of a slog going up through the snow.

D at the trailhead — Following the snow plow tracks as the trail.

A bench overlooking the surrounding mountains — Someone was nice enough to dig out the bench.

Hound walking in the snow — This cute hound with a pretty merle coat does this hike often with their owner!

Hound near the bench — He also took a little break at the bench.

D posing on the trail — Pretty deep snow for late April!

D sitting on the bench, facing the mountains — Great lunch spot in hindsight.

D looking to the right at the views — This is not a green screen, it's all real!!

View of Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn peaks — Views of the Schreckhorn the whole trail.

Clouds rising over the ridge — Very cool to see clouds forming right on the other side of the ridge.

Color photo of clouds rising over the ridge — A colored version of the same clouds.

After about 45 minutes to an hour, we finally reached where Bachalpsee should've been. It was hard to tell where the trail ended and where Bachalpsee began, since everything was covered in such a deep layer of snow. In the summer, you can take the trail around the whole lake, and most of the famous photos of the lake are taken from the far side of it. Unfortunately for us, that section of the trail was blocked off with caution tape and "Danger!" signs warning of avalanche risks and deep snow drifts. It also wouldn't have made a difference in terms of views because you couldn't even see the lake!

Schreckhorn over Bachalpsee — There's supposed to be a lake here in front of the Schreckhorn.

Everyone that reached the end of the trail had the same hint of disappointment in their voices and faces when they asked us if they were at the lake. As we came down, we were stopped by several groups of hikers who were out of breath from the uphill and needed to know if there was even a lake view for them at the end. Guess we'll all have to book another trip to the Swiss Alps some day to actually see the lake!

D and I at the end of the trail — A couples' pic at the end of the trail to prove we did it!

D walking down the trail, mountains to the right — D walking back to the trailhead

A thin layer of clouds settling over the mountainside — The clouds that were rising over the ridge previously started to settle into the saddle.

Hikers going up and coming down the Bachalpsee trail — Walking down the last few switchbacks to the trailhead

Wetterhorn in black and white — Beautiful contrast between snow and granite.

Pano view of the cliff walk and surrounding mountains — Pano view of the cliff walk to the Faulhorn on the right

Hikers on the Bachalpsee trail — Bachalpsee (where we hiked to) is in that valley to the right of the mountain peak! You can see hikers coming down the trail on the far right.

First Cliff Walk

After getting off the trail, D and I did the First Cliff Walk. I only took a short video of it with my phone, so no pictures of the actual walk. If you're afraid of heights, it does get kind of freaky since there is literally nothing under you for several hundred feet. It was good exposure therapy for me and I just kept reminding myself to trust the engineers.

The popular, touristy thing to do is to walk out onto the observation deck that juts out over the mountainside and allows you to look over into the valley blow. The line of people waiting to take their photos at the end of the platform was so, so long and wasn't worth the wait for us. We took some selfies by the restaurant/cafe situated on the mountainside of the Cliff Walk and I think we had just as good views!

Selfie of us at the cliff walk — Our selfie by the cliff walk cafe, no waiting time required.

It was about lunch time so we sat on the restaurant patio and ate some sandwiches we packed earlier that morning. We caught the next cable car down so we could make it back to Interlaken in time to catch the last ferry across Brienzersee (Lake Brienz).

View of one of the peaks from below the snowline — Back below the snow! Only took 20 minutes of descent on the cable car.

Sheep running along the pasture — Lots of cute sheep running through the pastures

D looking out the gondola windows — No bad seats in the gondola

You can read on here to see what we did on our Brienzersee cruise!

If you'd like to follow the rest of our adventures in our 20-day trip through the Rhine River region of Europe, you can find the whole collection of posts in 20 days on the Rhine River (2023).