After a smooth departure from the lovely Alsace region, it was time to enter a new country- and one which we’d been trying to get to since May 2020- Switzerland 🇨🇭!
We’d pre booked Camping Jungfrau via the Camping and Motorhome club website as it was Easter Weekend and we made our way there smoothly. On entering Switzerland, it was easy to get the required motorway Vignette (which cost 40 CHF or €45 payable in cash) a police officer comes to your vehicle as you cross the border, you don’t even need to get out. We also didn’t need to show any identity documents for us or the dog.
As we delved deeper into the Swiss road network, the scenery became more and more dramatic. I was literally squeeling, I’m such a mountains girl! The final 30 mins into the Lauterbrunnen valley was incredible! By the time we reached the campsite I was practically hyperventilating with excitement! The staff at Camping Jungfrau checked us in with big smiles and were extremely knowledgable and helped us with maps of the area and explaining the various passes on offer to help us explore the area.
We were shown to our pitch, and we wasted no time, managing a quick set up before a beer or two in the lovely campsite bar and a quick wander around the large site. The mountains rose from every side of the campsite and just provided a perfect backdrop for our Swiss mountain adventure.
During dinner we discussed which (if any) pass to purchase and settled upon the winter ski 3 day pass. This is only valid until the end of April and was 220CHF each (just under £200 pp). This was to give us unlimited travel on the Jungfrau network of mountain trians and cable cars, and included one journey to the “top of Europe, Jungfraujoch”. Jazz the dog was free apart from the “top of Europe segment in which we had to pay 30CHF for a dog ticket.
Thursday
Today has just been simply awesome!
We made use of our train passes and took a train from Lauterbrunnen where our campsite is, up the mountain to Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg. The views were incredible and we had perfect blue sky to compliment the green pastures and snowy peaks.
At Kleine Scheidegg we changed onto another train- a cog train, which took us to Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe, one which is completely inside the mountain and gives us access to the top of the UNESCO range of mountains.
We enjoyed a couple of hours up here at 3454m high admiring the views, visiting the Lindt shop, and enjoying having a beer with a view.
before making our way back down to Kleine Scheidegg for another beer to celebrate. The hotel which we enjoyed our beer at Kleine Scheidegg was a film location for the Clint Eastwood film “The Eiger Sanctions”.
We then went uphill again to Eigergletscher where we caught the Eiger express- a cable car which took us right past the north face of the Eiger, and down into Grindlewald.
From there we ascended back up another cable car to Mannlichen and back down another cable car to Wengen, where we reconnected with our return train to Lauterbrunnen.
It’s been scenery overload but we absolutely loved every second!
Looking forward to more adventures here over the next few days but it’s safe to say today has lived up to our highly anticipated visit here!
Friday
The weather wasn’t so generous today so we decided to venture out of the valley and using our Swiss rail pass as far as Interlaken, and then an additional ticket from Interlaken to Bern, we had an (UNESCO) city day.
Exploring the UNESCO city of Bern in Switzerland 🇨🇭
We solely used trains from our campsite, Camping Jungfrau. We took Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken and Interlaken to Bern on the direct train via Spiez. All trains were running every 30 mins.
The public transport here is just so brilliant (albeit a little £££) but it runs to time, there are lots of services, has convenient connections and the trains are modern, comfortable, and clean, so in our view it’s money well spent and saves the hassle of driving our campervan off site and worrying about city parking.
We used our 3 day winter pass to get us to Interlaken and then paid for tickets from Interlaken to Bern. Don’t be like us… use the SBB (Swiss Rail) website prior to travel to book your ticket in advance as there is no time at Interlaken to purchase tickets and buying on the train incurs a 10CHF fine 😂. Dogs went free.
Bern is an interesting city to wander, we spent 3 hours enjoying the historical buildings, and clock tower, with many buildings dating back from 1500-1600s.
The city also has actual live bears in its city bear pit; a tradition dating back from the first founder of Bern, who derived the name Bern from the Germanic word bären, meaning bear, after a successful bear hunt. Bears have been a part of Bernese culture ever since. As early as 1513, the city has kept live bears on display.
It was a perfect way to spend a cloudy grey day and actually a great contrast to the spectacular mountainous scenery in Lauterbrunnen. I even got to try a Bern gin!
Saturday
I can only describe Saturday as “we’ve had an awesome adventure mountain hopping!”
I think we surpassed ourselves in levels of wanting to fit it all in(pleased to say we fitted it all into an 11 hour day!) We were keen to make use of our final day of a £200 pp 3 day rail pass, plus make the most of the glorious sunshine. So we set an alarm, left Gandalf the VW at 8am complete with food flasks full of soup and pasta pots and hit the trains!
We started by taking a train up to Wengen and transferred onto the cable cars which we took Thursday but this time did them in reverse back to Grindlewald ( peaking at 2230m and a short stretch of walk on The Royal Walk) as the first skiers of the day emerged.
We then walked a mile through Grindlewald
to get to the Cable car to take us 25mins to First (2168m) and this crazy Cliff walk elevated walkway/ bridge thing. Really loved that and the views were just awesome. You can see the cliff walk video in the middle of the video below.
After a couple of quick drinks and some lunch high in the mountains,
we made our way back down to Grindlewald,and back up the Eiger Express cable car in glorious weather and with tremendous views of the north face. We had a schnapps and apple strudel at Eigergletscher, took the train down a stop to Kleine Scheidegg, where we changed to the mountain train service back to Grindlewald. Again amazing views!
From here we took the longer loop through the valley back to Lauterbrunnen via Zweilutschinen. These last two journeys were 40 mins each and a good time to recharge for a while.. before shooting back up the hill with some Toblerone to keep us going , on another cable car then mountain train to Mullen. This time we got views high above Lauterbrunnen and although the blue skies were no longer we enjoyed the different view from the other side.
After a beer stop here we retreated back down the mountain satisfied that we’d ridden every single route possible on our Winter ski pass – some twice- and actually although it made our eyes water when we brought it, honestly it’s been tremendous value for money not to mention a fabulous way of seeing some of the best scenery we’ve ever encountered anywhere in the world – in style and comfort.
So happy to have one more day exploring this area tomorrow before we move onwards on Monday
Sunday
Switzerland really is the country that keeps on giving! I didn’t think we could top yesterday, but apparently yes- the views never do get old. Today was supposed to be a chill day, with just one thing planned, going up to the James Bond mountain of Schilthorn, and back down for a chill at the van this afternoon. Obviously with it being Easter Sunday, everyone else had the same idea and our Britishness and excellent queing skills came in extremely useful in a 2.5 hour queue (when it should have only been 30 mins journey from base to top). Once we made it to the front of said queue, 4 cable cars later and a 3000 m ascent and we were at the top and thank god it was well worth the long wait, the views were amazing.
As were the bar drinks and the James Bond Exhibition which was interesting too.
On our descent we stopped off at Birg, had another beer and then decided to do the “thrill walk” which is basically an elevated tight rope walk. Not the best move for someone as afraid of heights as me- I’m blaming the vodka martini but I got across it even if it did cost me my dignity- see video 😂
From here we had a 3+ hour queue to get off the mountain so we decide to spend some time in the bar at Mullen killing time, and watching the queue- thinking we were movie stars (the James Bond crew stayed here for 6 months whilst filming) until we realised the problem of if we didn’t get down before the cable cars stopped we’d be stuck up there!
We swiftly re joined the queue and made it down on the second to last cable car (crammed in like sardines) but then missed our bus connection, so ended up hitch hiking back to the van (it was almost 8pm by now 😂) This genuinely happened 😳😂
Luckily we had the foresight to put the lamb in the slow cooker whilst we were out today so despite our later than anticipated return, we had a fab Lamb dinner.
To visit the Piz Gloria at the top of Schilthorn, we required a new ticket as it’s not included on the Jungfrau network pass. We took a free bus from the campsite to Lauterbrunnen train station (we could have walked) then got on another free bus to Schilthornbahn at Stechelberg (about 10 mins bus ride). We then got our tickets up to Piz Gloria from the booth at the cable car because we were told dogs needed a ticket too. In fact, dogs went free so we could have got our tickets from the campsite. On staying at the campsite we were given a discount card which gave us 30% off tickets- this reduced our ticket to 73CHF rather than 110CHF (around £70pp).
The journey up (because of Easter Sunday) took ages, and we were beginning to get grumpy having spent such a lot of money on this experience, it didn’t match the efficiency of the previous days network of transport. However once at the top, and having travelled 4 cables cars a significant distance to get up there, plus the views being incredible and the James Bond experience also being free once up there, we did feel it was worth the money.
The time had come to leave Jungfrau- and we were sad! We’d had a terrific time. There’s always a lot of chatter online about this campsite – in fact many say it’s their favourite campsite in the world. Everyone of course has their own requirements and expectations- and here is our honest opinion about a Camping Jungfrau. We loved it…….
But….
I’m sad to say there is a but.
Location- 1000% brilliant.
Facilities also really great, it’s definitely a 5 star site. The loos and showers were clean, warm and had great pressure in the showers. The washing up block also good and even have dishwashers for you if you’d prefer (at a small cost). There was a lovely restaurant, bar, great transport links, laundry – you name it, it’s there.
The but comes in regarding the pitches. Now granted we were there Easter Weekend and the last weekend in the skiing calendar so I’m sure this was not helping as the campsite was full to bursting. But the pitches were relatively small and had a feeling of cramming every last space in as a pitch. When you see pictures of this site you image and it suggests being able to sit outside your van and enjoy the panoramic views however that just wasn’t our experience. We were on the row of hard standing alongside the river and had a stunning view down to the head of the valley – until a large high van completely blocked our view when it pulled into its pitch next to us. And this was the case for the whole of the site. No matter where you were pitched it was impossible to enjoy your view without invading someone else’s view or privacy, with a bbq or whatever (if the site was full ) because of the way the pitches were organised. As it happened it didn’t bother us at all because we were barely at the site and when we were it wasn’t really sitting out temperature. Plus by the time we’d got back from our explorations we had seen enough scenery for the day anyway. But if you’re going with the hope to literally just sit outside your van and take in the views, and you’re then on a busy weekend- you may well be disappointed especially if like us you get a high van parked next to you.
Having said that, it will still remain a special place for us and we’d wholeheartedly recommend staying!
Monday
We were up early and left Jungfrau at 8am. The weather was good and we were on a mission… The Matterhorn.
Our original campsite at Zermatt from our original plan didn’t open until May, so we found a campsite at Visp, which is on the train line to Zermatt, (the base of the Matterhorn and is car free).
On our way to Visp from Jungfrau, we travelled on a car train through the mountains which was a fun experience too!
Our campsite, Camping Mühleye Visp allowed for us to check in at 10am and by 11:30 we were at the train station (a ten min walk)
Our tickets were fairly pricey at approx £70 pp return, plus we had to pay for Jazz, however, like in the Jungfrau region, the train was glorious, ran to time, smooth comfortable and the journey was so scenic. We’d chosen to spend the money on the train rather than drive to Tasch, the nearest you can get in a vehicle to Zermatt, because the parking was pricey and I really relax on train journeys, plus I can have a drink if I want to. We made the most of the journey by having a train picnic and it was lovely.
When we arrived in Zermatt we crossed the road and brought tickets for the cog mountain railway to take us to Gornergrat. This was another pricey blow to the budget but one we knew we’d regret if we didn’t do it. Dogs went free.
The train journey was amazing with fabulous views of the Matterhorn from every angle and we ascended to 3089m in about 35 mins. Honestly the second we left Zermatt station we knew we’d made the right decision. At Gornergrat we spent ages taking pictures and marvelling at the magnificent Matterhorn. We spent hours up there just admiring the views. It really is the best way to get those Matterhorn views and worth every single penny.
On our descent we were lucky and bagsied the very front seats- next to the driver! Therefore we got a different angle for the descent and it was brilliant!
We had a quick look round Zermatt on our return but it was very busy and having seen the Matterhorn in all its glory from Gornergrat, Zermatt really couldn’t compare.
So if you’re thinking of visiting Zermatt and wondering if the ticket to Gornergrat is worth it. YES IT IS! It’s a beautiful and historic mountain cog railway route but it also knocks socks off the views from Zermatt. Definitely definitely don’t play it cheap!!
Our return to Visp was relaxing and we couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces.
Switzerland had been everything we’d hoped for and more. Just an incredible place- expensive yes- but the scenery was honestly staggering. The transport network brilliant. We loved it!
It was time to leave Switzerland on Tuesday but we had one more chapter left of our road trip. Stay tuned for the next part!
Until next time
Lx
