Visiting The Mountains of Switzerland

Prior to visiting Switzerland, I knew that I would be spending quite a bit of time in the mountains.  In my mind, I had envisioned seeing beautiful green pastures with the mountains in the background against a bright blue sky, and cute little countryside cottages lined along popular walking trails.  But as with some things in life, reality came crashing down when I checked the weather a few days before departing for the trip.  It was set to rain the entire week I was in Switzerland, but I was holding onto every last strand of hope that the weather forecast would take a turn for the better as the week progressed.

My first days in Switzerland were spent in Lucerne and I had plans to visit Mt. Rigi or Mt. Pilatus or both.  On my first full day there, the skies were slightly overcast so I took a chance and decided to take the “Classic Round Trip” up to Mt. Rigi.  This included taking a boat (get the steamboat if you can) to Vitznau, then taking the cogwheel train up to Rigi Klum. From there, you can take the cogwheel train back down to Rigi Kaltbad (or walk down) and then taking a cable car from Rigi Kaltbad to Weggis. 

It was only about 14 degrees that morning so the hour long boat ride was a chilly one.  Upon arrival at Vitznau, it was still relatively clear and I boarded the cogwheel train up to Rigi Klum.  As soon as the train reached Rigi Kaltbad, the fog completely took over, and by the time the train reached the peak at Rigi Klum, I knew there was a good chance that I would not get to see any of the beautiful scenery from the grounds below. 

After spending a few minutes at the top to get oriented, I decided that it would be nice to walk down to Rigi Kaltbad.  Not too many people had the same idea as I was one of only a few people I saw on the trails that day.  The further down I got, the thicker the fog seemed to get.

I was quite disappointed as I had heard about some very impressive views from Känzeli, but this is what it looks like on a foggy day:

I made it to Rigi Kaltbad just as the Cable Car to Weggis was about to depart, so I hopped on immediately and was treated with quite a scary view.

It wasn’t until we were almost at the bottom, past the clouds that we started to see some clearer skies.

I ended up bypassing Mt. Pilatus due to the weather, but on the day I arrived into Interlaken, the sky didn’t look too bad, so I made my way up to Harder Klum. It started drizzling a soon as our train made it to the top, but that didn’t stop us from making our way towards the platform.  Harder Klum, also known as the Top of Interlaken isn’t quite as developed as some of the other mountains in Switzerland.  There was a viewing platform and a restaurant at the top but that was about it.  The walk from the train station to the viewing platform is less than 5 minutes and just a very slight incline.  Because Harder Klum isn’t very developed, everyone that heads up there on your train will likely be gathered on the viewing platform. 

Again, due to the fact that Harder Klum isn’t very developed, most people only seem to stay up there for about 30 minutes, as it seemed like everyone took the same train back down.  Unless you are planning on hiking in that area, 30 minutes is more than enough.

I spent two nights in the Bernese Oberland region and as soon as I woke up on my 1st day, I looked at the live cams on Jungfraunoch and found that the skies were clear.  I ended up taking one of the first trains up to Jungfraunoch and it was jam packed with visitors. Unfortunately for me, access to Aletschgletscher (the largest glacier in Europe) was closed off and the outdoor areas of the Sphinx observation decks were also closed to the public.  This meant that everyone was packed into the indoor areas and you could barely move around. It was really cool to see the snow sticking to the windows though, which proved how high up and how cold it was.

From the Sphinx, pass through the Alpine Sensation to arrive at the Ice Palace, where they displayed a bunch of ice sculptures.  The interesting thing is that they didn’t lay any mats down on the ground, so you were walking on ice and it was quite easy to slip on.

After the Ice Palace, I proceeded towards the Jungfrau Panorama 360 Experience.  There were probably a couple hundred people, all trapped inside a very small waiting area, and since I was near the back, I couldn’t see exactly what was happening.  Eventually, the doors opened after about 10 minutes and we were all allowed to go outside to roam in the snow for a bit.  The area they allow you to walk around in isn’t that big, so that explains why so many of us were trapped inside and had to wait to come out to the viewing area. 

Right before I was to leave, I visited the café and noticed that one of the hottest selling items is a Shin Ramen cup noodle. I couldn’t believe how well this was selling, even though it was selling for 7.80CHF!

In totally, I only spent about 90 minutes up at Jungfraunoch.  Since I went first thing in the morning, the place was busy but I never had to wait very long for anything.  I was actually quite surprised by this as I had heard that most people recommend you go up as early as possible.

Seeing as how there are so many different mountains in Switzerland, I really find it difficult to justify paying the cost to go up to Jungfraunoch.  The coolest part about Jungfraunoch is obviously that it is the highest point in Europe, but even with a Swiss Travel Pass, it costed 132CHF, which is much more expensive than most of the other mountains.

Before leaving the Bernese Oberland region, I was fortunate enough to be met with a very clear day.  I decided that on my last day, I would make my way up to Schilthorn.  Of the 5 mountains that I went up, this was the one that offered the clearest view.  Even though the journey up to Scilthorn is not a short one (it included a train, a bus, and a cable car), I was fortunately enough to make it up there before the clouds started rolling in.  Even as I was leaving, the clouds were already starting to mask the mountains from view.

The cable car to and from Schilthorn includes a stop at Birg, and if you choose to get off the cable car, there is a really cool new attraction they’ve installed called the “Thrill Walk”.  It is basically a steel bridge that has several different segments including a tightrope walkway, a glass floor, and a wire tunnel.  It is definitely worth the stop and experience (if you aren’t afraid of heights!). Be prepared for the steep stairs that take you to the Thrill Walk as it’s not the easiest to climb.

The very last mountain that I would ascend is Gornergrat, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Matterhorn.  With a Swiss Travel Pass, it costed 49CHF for the train ride, which took about 30 minutes to reach the top.  The train ride started out very promising, as we were presented with amazing views of Zermatt and then of a snowy wonderland.  It eventually took a turn for the worse and although I was able to take this picture as soon as I arrived:

Within minutes, it turned to this:

Even waiting it out in the cafeteria didn’t help as the skies remained this way for a couple of hours.  In the end, I headed back down to Zermatt without being able to fully enjoy any views of the Matterhorn.

I really love how each mountain’s website has a live cam that you can view, before making the decision to head up.  The only downside to this is that the journey usually takes so long that it could be a very different story by the time you get to the top, but at least the cams do offer a glimpse of what might be there and you’re not going in completely blind. 

Many people asked why I would spend so much time (and money) going up to all these places when I could have just enjoyed the views from one or two mountains.  For me, each of these places offered something different, and I’m really glad I got to experience all of them.  Each of them were similar but also unique at the same time.