Adventuring through the Swiss Alps

As I am sitting here reminiscing on Grindelwald, Switzerland, I am truly at a loss for words...which is rare because ya girl is a talker. Exploring the Swiss Alps was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and It. Was. AMAZING. Okay okay...enough gushing about the sweet little town of Grindelwald and time to get down to the nitty gritty of making the most out of a quick trip to the Alps.

How We Got There

We took a train from Zurich to Grindelwald via our Eurail Pass (post to come about the this topic!). We took a main train to Interlaken (about a 2 hour train ride) and then hopped on a small tram that goes to the small towns in the Jungfrau region (another 45ish minutes). I cannot remember exactly how much the tram cost, but if I remember correctly it was no more than ~30 euros per person. This got us straight to the heart of Grindelwald. You can pre-purchase tickets here.

Where We Stayed

Hostels were the MOVE on this trip. Okay y’all, to be honest, I was super skeptical about staying in a hostel...because I can be kinda, sorta high maintenance (my hubs is probably laughing at me rn). BUT this trip turned me into a believer, so I will never turn my nose up to a hostel again! Anyways, we stayed at the Downtown Lodge. We booked a private room for 2 people, but the front desk guy was the bomb and let us stay in a larger room so that we could have more room… it’s the little things in life :). The bathrooms were surprisingly pretty clean, so no concerns in that area. Just be sure to pack your shower shoes because germs.

What We Did

Our Eurail Pass got us a discount on the sky gondola to get us to the top of Mt. Eiger AKA Grindlewald First. Once we got to the top we just explored the mountain on a 2 hour hike. The front desk guy came through for us newbies and mapped out a path for our amateur hiking level. We hiked to a lake on the mountain that is notorious for crazies to snowboard down a hill and do flips and tricks into the lake. It was cool, but I was a nervous wreck watching them. Once we got back to the main area, we did the First Cliff Walk, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me!...not sure Josh felt the same way. It is a Must-Do, even if you have a fear of heights! The cost is included in the Gondola ticket. There are a lot of other fun activities to do on Mt. Eiger, including ziplines, scooters, and mountain bikes, if you’re into that sorta thing.

When in Switzerland, we had to get the fondue! After a long day of hiking, we went to this cute little restaurant called Memory and ate on our own little private terrace with the most gorgeous views of the Alps. We indulged in the most delicious cheese fondue and tried out more Swiss beer and wine. If you’re looking for dinner with view, most of the restaurants on the main drag in town have outdoor seating--just make sure to bring a jacket because it got chilly at night!

Things To Note:

We traveled to Grindlewald in mid-June and the weather was perfect! In town, it was mid-60s and sunny. One silly mistake we made was when hiking we didn’t account for the altitude change, which obviously affected the temperature. Once we began hiking we were comfortable in shorts and a light jacket, but as the afternoon progressed it got pretty cool. Also note that there is snow on the mountain, so closed-toed shoes would’ve been a better choice than my chacos.

From Grindlewald you can travel to other mountains in the Jungfrau region via train. We would’ve done more if we had the time, but we were only in the Alps for one night, so I definitely recommend spending more time in this region if you love the outdoors, hiking, etc.