Hiking the Panoramaweg Trail in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland

One of my favorite travel destinations is the tiny town of Wengen, high in the Jungfrau Region of the Swiss Alps. Within that region, my favorite activity is hiking and one my favorite trails is the Panoramaweg Trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, just a short gondola ride away from Wengen.

The Panoramaweg is a beautiful 2.75 mile trail that is fairly accessible to different age groups, although it’s also possible to extend this into a much longer hike by continuing on from Kleine Scheidegg to various destinations. It’s also the one trail that we went on when briefly visiting the area for the first time in 2007, which started my love affair with this part of the world.

When people come to the area in the summer, they often come for a day or two to just see Jungfraujoch, or for a week or so for hiking. There are plenty of other great hikes in the area – e.g. Bachalpsee, the longer Faulhorn trek, or the Eiger Trail but this is a great hike to get introduced to the area.

Hike Details

Difficulty: Easy
Starting Point: Männlichen
Ending Point: Kleine Scheidegg
Distance: Approximately 2.75 miles (though there are many follow-on hikes, we often make it a 9 mile hike)
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, longer with young children, elderly, avid photographers, or picnickers.
Elevation Loss: 530 feet
When to Go: The trail is usually open from mid-June until October, but closes for snow or other poor conditions. With the amazing views, try to do this hike on a clear day. If clouds are your only choice, it is still fun and slightly mysterious, but not nearly as stunning.
Trail Details: Click here to get more details and updated information.

Our Hike

Getting to the Trailhead

If you are starting in Wengen, you will want to walk through town until you reach the gondola station that takes you to Männlichen. Alternatively, you can get to Männlichen by gondola from Grindelwald, which is either a long walk or a short train ride from the center.

Make sure you have the right type of one-way ticket to go to the top. One observation about Swiss train tickets – it’s worth looking into passes and discounts. As an example, the full-fare ticket from Wengen to Männlichen costs 26 CHF ($28). For a family of 4, the $100+ price tag sounds steep for a 10 minute ride! That said, we typically get a Half-Fare Card for the adults when visiting. And children under-16 effectively pay CHF 30 for a week pass. Thus in practice, a family of 4 might just pay a single CHF 26 fare (half the CHF 26 far for the two adults, and children free), making the end price much less scary.

And on many trips, we get the Jungfrau Travel Pass, which will also cover the route, and can be nice if you’re doing lots of gondola-style lifts. There are also other discounts available.

The ride up from Wengen is lovely, so make sure you get a spot by the window, preferably a window facing the Lauterbrunnen Valley. If you are really brave, they recently replaced the gondolas and you can now upgrade your ticket to ride on the rooftop balcony!

If you are coming from Grindelwald at a non-busy time, you might get a gondola to yourself, but if it is busy, you will be expected to share.

The Männlichen Playground

If you are traveling with kids, make sure you budget some time for them to play at the playground in Männlichen. Here’s a picture of James from our 2019 trip:

Playground at Männlichen while hiking the Panoramaweg to Kleine Scheidegg in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland.

While the kids are playing, there are plenty of photo ops, so use the time to get some amazing pictures.

The Sign Posts

There are a lot of different hikes that start from Männlichen.

If you have extra time and energy, consider first hiking the Royal Walk up to the peak of the mountain.

After finishing everything that you want to do while at Männlichen, head past the playground and follow the Panoramaweg signs to Kleine Scheidegg.

On another day, you may want to consider the Romantikweg Trail from Männlichen to Alpiglen, although this appeals to me less since a portion of it is now located directly under the new Eiger Express.

The Hike

The hike to Kleine Scheidegg will be beautiful. Note that if you are hiking in early summer, there might be a little snow on the side of the trail, so you might want to throw some gloves in your day pack for young kids. Failing to have any available, I have been known to put a spare pair of socks on my kids hands to give them a little frostbite protection. Now that the kids are older, they usually have enough sense to stop playing with the snow before the point of frostbite.

Depending on the time of the year, you are also likely to see plenty of mountain wildflowers.

As you get closer to Kleine Scheidegg, you will see a restaurant with a small playground, a pond, and signs that you are getting closer to civilization.

Kleine Scheidegg

Upon arrival to Kleine Scheidegg, you will be greeted with the sight of many tourists switching trains to go all the way up to Jungfraujoch, the most visited tourist spot in the Jungfrau Region.

We always like stopping at a self service sausage and rosti stand with a few picnic-style tables. Rossi is a popular Swiss potato dish that will likely remind you of hash browns. This particular stand is located right next to the train tracks.

Restaurant prices in Switzerland are always quite high, although they don’t seem to have gone up in price as much as American restaurants since Covid, and this particular place is really quite reasonable for basic fare.

The Return to Wengen

From Kleine Scheidegg, there are many options to get back to Wengen:

By Train

If you wish to return by train, it is free if you have the Jungfrau Travel Pass and more if you don’t. The Half-Fare Card will get you a 50% discount, and there are also other discounts available. You can expect the full-fare ticket to cost 29 CHF.

Hike to Wengernalp and Train to Wengen

There are several different hikes you can take from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengernalp. The trails marked with red and white lines indicate more challenging trails that are best done by people with decent physical fitness and hiking boots/shoes with good traction. The ones without the marking are less strenuous.

The most direct is a wide, somewhat steep path that also allows mountain biking – see the path on the right in the picture above. We usually just take this, but there are several longer options that will take you on real hiking paths with lots of meadows, beautiful alpine flowers, and an occasional cow on the path – see the path on the left in the picture above. But, you will still see all of these things on the more direct path too.

You are likely to see a few cows, and we were lucky enough to spot a deer!

Many people will wish to return from Wengernalp by train. It is covered by the Jungfrau Travel Pass, but otherwise, expect the full-fare ticket to cost 21 CHF.

Hike All the Way to Wengen

If you are feeling more ambitious, you can do what we usually do and continue past Wengernalp and hike all the way to Wengen.

Note that parts of the hike from Wengernalp to Allmend is on the steep side, wearing boots is better if you have them.

Take the Train to Eigergletscher

There are also other hikes you could consider from Kleine Scheidegg, two of which you can do by taking the Junfraujoch train to Eigergletscher (covered with the Jungfrau Travel Pass). Otherwise, expect the full-fare ticket to cost 8 CHF. Just make sure that you get off at Eigergletscher! (the staff are keen to make sure you get off as well)

While we usually do the Eiger Trail as a standalone hike, if you have lots of energy and good hiking boots, consider walking under the Eiger North Face to Alpiglen. It is quite rocky in some sections and quite steep in others, but it’s a very cool trail.

A shorter and easier alternative is the Eiger Walk, which will take you back to Kleine Scheidegg, where you can choose one of the options above for return to your final destination.

Or, if you are tired, or your final destination is Grindelwald, there is now a gondola called the Eiger Express that runs between Eigergletscher and Grindelwald. It is covered by the Jungfrau Travel Pass, but otherwise, expect the full-fare ticket to cost 38 CHF.