A 1,800 m wall, first climbed in July 1938, over four days. With binoculars, you can sometimes spot a rope team on it.
Getting there on foot
Eiger Trail1 h 55From Grindelwald (Eigergletscher) to Grindelwald (Alpiglen)
3Kleine Scheidegg
Two cog railways meet here, facing the Eiger North Face. Just above runs the Lauberhorn course, which the Jungfrau Railways call the longest downhill in alpine ski racing.
Two lakes on a marshy terrace at 1,380 m, of 9 and 1.5 hectares, with the Tungelschutz waterfall to the south-east. The Federal Inventory of Landscapes counts it among the highest nesting sites in the Alps for a few water birds.
A valley carved by a glacier, where the Kander is still largely natural and keeps reshaping its gravel banks and alder woods. People from Valais settled it in the Middle Ages, coming over the Lötschenpass.
Thunersee Tourismus says the stretch from the Niederhorn to the Gemmenalphorn won a gold medal as the most beautiful hiking trail in Switzerland. From the summit, you look east to the Sieben Hengste and the Hohgant.
1.5 km² of water held back by a rockfall from the Doldenhorn, with no stream flowing out. The Federal Inventory of Landscapes counts it among the largest alpine lakes in Switzerland.
Our nearest hike, Kandersteg to Selden, is 4.2 km away.
Jungfraujoch
At 3,454 m, the station the Jungfrau Railways call the highest in Europe. The Jungfrau Railway has run up here since 1912, through the Eiger and the Mönch.
Our nearest hike, the Eiger Trail, is 3.1 km away. It starts at Eigergletscher, on the line that goes up there.
St. Beatus Caves
Their website calls them one of the largest stalactite caves in Switzerland. 14 km explored, 1 km open all year round, between 8 and 10 °C.
Our nearest hike, the Niederhorn, is 2.9 km away.
This weekend
Hikers' favourites in the Bernese Oberland
Ranked from the walks told on this site.
Rating = average of the diamonds given by hikers, from 1 to 5. A hike joins the ranking once it has 5 reviews, each checked before it goes online.
Nature, month by month
When things flower, when the animals show up: the mountains, month by month.
JFMAMJJASOND
Alpenrose (rusty-leaved)It flowers on heaths and in mountain forests and pastures.
Alpine skullcapIt flowers on stony limestone slopes.
EdelweissIt flowers high up, on stony grassland and limestone rocks.
Alpine columbineIt flowers in damp limestone meadows, among shrubs and on scree. In the Iffigtal, it grows in large numbers.
Alpine ibexIn August, the males fight to settle who's in charge, before the December rut.
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Red deerIn the Justistal, you can hear it roaring from mid-August.
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Rock ptarmiganAll year round, but not common; pure white in winter, speckled grey-brown in summer.
Alpine choughAll year round, and common; it will happily join your picnic.
Bearded vultureAll year round, but rare: 24 to 30 pairs in Switzerland.
The ibex of the Güggisgrat
At the Burgfeldstand lives a colony of ibex that has lost all fear of people. In August, the males clash, before the December rut.
From the Burgfeldstand to the Gemmenalphorn, you're in ibex and ptarmigan country. The ptarmigan changes its plumage with the seasons: pure white in winter.
It flowers from July to September on stony limestone grassland. You'll see some on the Allmendhubel Flower Trail. The one in the photo grows on the Schynige Platte.
Local produce, the ones with an official designation.
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Berner Alpkäse
A raw-milk cheese made every day of the summer on the alpine pastures of the Bernese Oberland, sold at no less than 4.5 months. In the Justistal, every September, the farmers share out the cheese from the alp.
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Berner Hobelkäse
The best wheels of Alpkäse, dried standing up for another twelve months, then shaved into thin curls with a plane.
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Berner Zungenwurst
A spiced scalded sausage of pork, beef and bacon, made in the canton of Bern; despite its name ("tongue sausage"), there's no tongue in it.
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Sbrinz
An extra-hard cheese from Central Switzerland. It takes its name from Brienz, where Italians bought it from the 16th century.
Weekend ideas
Two hikes close together, the train or bus in between, and a good reason to do both.
Below the Eiger, from the Lauberhorn course to the North Face
At altitude there can be snow even in summer, and in late autumn some bridges or safety cables are taken down. Before you set off, ask the mountain railway, the municipality or the tourist office about the state of the trails. Randa council information
Stories from the region
What happened where you're about to walk.
Hotels, a tunnel and a firing range
After 1890, Kandersteg's tourism reached up into the Gasterntal, and the hotels still standing today were built. Under your feet runs the Lötschberg tunnel: on 24 July 1908, water and rock burst into the tunnel right below the valley, and 25 Italian miners lost their lives.
The Lauberhorn races have been held in Wengen since 1930, on a downhill their organisers call the longest in the world. The fastest skiers race down it in about two and a half minutes. In 2026, the start was set on the Hundschopf for the first time, the very spot you cross on foot.
Mürren was probably an alpine pasture until people from the Lötschental arrived, after 1300. Before the railway of 1891, tourists could only come up by mule; yet by around 1888, Mürren and Gimmelwald already had more than half the hotel beds in the municipality. Until the First World War, the British were the largest group of visitors.
11 hikes, from 1 h 55 to 5 h 45 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility: Eiger Trail, Panoramaweg Schynige Platte, Mountain View Trail, Lauberhorn Trail, Kandersteg → Selden, Iseltwald → Brienz, Niederhorn-Panoramaweg, Höhi-Wispile-Lauenensee-Weg, Iffigsee-Rundweg, Adelboden → Lenk and Schynige Platte → Grindelwald, First.
Which is the shortest hike in the Bernese Oberland?
Eiger Trail: 1 h 55 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 6.0 km, 100 m of climbing.
Which is the longest hike in the Bernese Oberland?
Schynige Platte → Grindelwald, First: 5 h 45 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 16.8 km, 1,100 m of climbing.
Which hikes are technically easy in the Bernese Oberland?
SwitzerlandMobility rates these stages as technically easy: Adelboden → Lenk and Iseltwald → Brienz.
Can you do these hikes by public transport?
11 of the 11 hikes end at a public transport stop; each page shows the next departures from the finish.
BobYour hiking guide. Hikes, nature and Swiss mountains.
Bob relies on the site's data (SwitzerlandMobility, MeteoSwiss, official timetable) and can be wrong. On the ground, the signposts come first. Emergency: 1414 (Rega) or 112.
OeschinenseeJungfraujochSt. Beatus Caves1Bachalpsee2Eiger North Face3Kleine Scheidegg4Allmendhubel and its Flower Trail5Lauenensee6Iffigsee7The Gasterntal and the Kander8Gemmenalphorn
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