A Rainy Day in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland

On our last full day in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland, rain was predicted much of the day. The sheer amount of greenery in the region indicates rain as being fairly common. If you are lucky, you will have clear skies the entire time you are in the area, but it is much more common to expect occasional morning fog and afternoon rain showers. Since we were expecting this, we debated between taking the steamers around Lake Thun or Lake Brienz, or just going out into the rain, exploring, and taking a few mini-hikes.

While we have been to the Jungfrau Region many times, we have never actually taken the steamers, even though they are included on the Jungfrau Travel Pass. While many people say they are great, (1) Interlaken is a trek from where we usually stay in Wengen, and (2) we aren’t really boat cruise people. A family vote vetoed this idea.

So, we decided that Interlaken was still where we wanted to go, but we were going to take our time getting there and once in Interlaken we were going to head up to Harder Kulm.

Our Experience

The Royal Walk

Since we had the Jungfrau Travel Pass, we had many options for getting to Interlaken without additional cost. The typical way to get there from Wengen is to take the train to Lauterbrunnen, then change to Interlaken Ost. We decided to first take the gondola from Wengen to Männlichen. While it is best to do on a clear day, we were completely surrounded in fog.

Upon arrival, we took the Royal Walk to the top of the mountain. At only 1km each way, it is signed for only 40 minutes.

Fortunately, at the top of the mountain, the fog briefly cleared and we were able to get a hint of the grandeur that could be seen on a clear day.

Here is our rainy day view of the mountains in comparison to a clear day earlier in our trip!

The wildflowers were pretty, but if you don’t have a regional pass, and don’t plan to hike the Panoramaweg Trail to Kleine Scheidegg, this really isn’t worth the expense of the gondola on a cloudy day.

Getting to Interlaken

From here, we had two choices of gondolas. We could return the way we came and take a couple of trains to Interlaken, or we could take a gondola to Grindelwald and take the train from there. We chose the Grindelwald route. The fog made the gondola less exciting, although we spotted a marmot and saw a few cows.

Interlaken

Upon arrival at the Interlaken Ost station, we were relieved to find that the fog was still in the mountains and that the rain was at a minimum. The river that runs through the town is quite beautiful!

We then chose to replicate a picture from 2009 at a koi pond, and although we didn’t get the angle quite right, it was still fun!

As we wandered through town, we kept our eyes out for a lunch spot.

Next, we did some souvenir and chocolate shopping and came away with a cow mug, a tiny stuffed marmot, and a box of delicious, but not particularly inexpensive, chocolates.

Harder Kulm

Having never made the trek up the cable car to Harder Kulm, we decided to use this opportunity to try something new.

We were still under the clouds, so the views were reasonable, but still not nearly as nice as from the mountain villages of Wengen, Schynige Platte, and Mürren.

The trail to the start of the 1 hour circular trail had some beautiful views, but we were a bit disappointed with the actual hike. It was mostly in the woods, so when we came to a “trail closed” sign and weren’t sure if the alternate path would take us on the loop, we decided to turn back. Oh well.

Coming back into town, some of our friends were arriving for a few days stay in the area, so we met them at the train station and rode with them up to Wengen! What a fun way to end our time in Switzerland’s Jungfrau Region!