After my hikes with Martin and Jane I was ready for a rest.  So the day after they left I decided to take advantage of my travel pass and make a tour of the area.  The trip would involve 10 different transportation links.  The Swiss transportation system is awesome.  It is frequent, always on time and the various transfers are perfectly timed.  If you sit back an watch what you see is suddenly all the various transportation types arrive, everybody jumps off, switches to a different type then they all take off again.  Perfectly timed.

So I went out my door into a beautiful day.  I walked the short 8 minutes down into Gimmelwald.

#1 – I boarded the gondola from Gimmelwald to Stechelberg.  This is an amazing ride.  It drops off over the huge cliff and plummets down into Lauterbrunnen valley.

#2 – At the bottom I step off and catch the bus for the scenic drive up the valley to Lauterbrunnen.

#3 – Lauterbrunnen is a busy train station with trains from Interlocken connecting with trains up to the Jungfrau region via Wengen.  So I jump onto the cute old trains that climb up to Wengen (the other side of the valley from Gimmelwald) and then continue on to Kliene Schidegg.

 

Kliene Schidegg is where the trains go up into the mountain to the Jungfraujock.  This is a big tourist destination high up in the mountain.  I did this trip with Carolyn and Emily last summer however it is not part of the transportation pass so I skipped going up since it is rather expensive.  In the picture below the Eiger is behind me on the left and the Monch is to my right.  It was a perfect clear day.

 

#4 – I board a train that goes down into Grindelwald (different from Gimmelwald).

#5 – I get off in Grindelwald walk across a parking lot and board the Mannlichen aerial cable car. This is a very long ride probably about 30 minutes.

#6 – From the top of Mannlichen I catch the Wengen Gondola for the quick descent back down to Wengen.

#7 – in Wengen I get back on the train down to Lauterbrunnen (this is the only mode of transportation I ride twice on this journey).

#8 – From Lauterbrunnen I catch the Gondola up the other side of the valley (I could have taken a bus back to Stechelberg but that’s no fun).

This is a relatively new gondola.  In 1991 when I visited this was a funicular that went up the valley side, too bad it is gone.

#9 – At the top is another cute old train car for the ride into Murren.

#10 – I take a nice stroll through Murren and get to the gondola that goes down to Gimmelwald

I take the 8 minute walk back up to the chalet where I can see the moon rising about the mountains.  A great day of Swiss transportation travel

Here is a map of the route that I took.