Guides · Grindelwald
5 Best Hikes in Grindelwald
By Tomas Achmedovas · CEO and co-founder
CEO and co-founder
The best hikes in Grindelwald all begin within a short walk or a single lift ride of the village, which is the practical argument for basing yourself here rather than down in Interlaken. The Firstbahn valley station is an 8 to 10 minute walk from Grindelwald railway station. Grindelwald Terminal, where both the Eiger Express and the Männlichen gondola depart, has its own stop on the Bernese Oberland Railway. That proximity is what makes half-day walking realistic here in a way it is not from the lakes.
This guide covers five routes and orders them by what they put in front of you rather than by difficulty. Each entry carries the official signposted distance and time, the ascent and descent in metres, the elevation range, the 2026 operating season for the trail and for the lift that serves it, and either the published fare or a plain statement that the operator has not published one. Entries one and four share the same lift and belong in the same half day. Entry two finishes on a different railway line, so read the return leg before you set off. Entry five is the only one in the guide that a Jungfrau Travel Pass will not get you onto.
A workable three-day order from a Grindelwald base: Grindelwald-First on day one for Bachalpsee and the First Cliff Walk, the Eiger Trail on day two, then Männlichen in the morning and Pfingstegg after lunch on day three. If you have only a half day and want mountains without effort, take the Männlichen Panorama Trail. The First cableway and the Eiger Trail both close on wind more often than on snow, so check Grindelwald weather the evening before rather than building the week around a three-day forecast. Walkers who want the lake side of the region as well as the Eiger side usually split the trip with Interlaken, twenty minutes down the valley railway. The hotels in Grindelwald within walking distance of the Terminal put the First gondola and the Eiger Express on the same short approach.
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1Bachalpsee from Grindelwald-First - The Reflection Walk You Can Do Before Lunch
Leave a Grindelwald breakfast table at 08:00 and you can be at 2,167 m before 09:00, which is the whole case for doing this walk from the village rather than as a day trip. The Firstbahn valley station is an 8 to 10 minute walk from Grindelwald railway station, and the gondola takes 25 minutes to the top in three sections, calling at Bort and Schreckfeld. From the First top station, route No. 1 to Bachalpsee and back measures 5.8 km, signposted 1 h 40 min for the round trip, with 202 m of ascent and 202 m of descent between 2,164 m and 2,280 m. Jungfrau Railways quotes 1 h 50 min on its own page, so budget somewhere in that band.
The lake sits at 2,265 m and is graded T1, easy, on a broad path that stays wide enough to walk two abreast the entire way. The reason it is the most photographed water in the Bernese Oberland is the Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn standing directly behind it, and the reason it disappoints people is that the wind puts a chop on the surface by late morning. Snow normally clears around mid-June and returns in late October. The Firstbahn itself runs 29 November 2025 to 25 October 2026, then shuts for maintenance from 26 October to 27 November 2026.
On fares, be careful with what you read. Jungfrau Railways advertises a Grindelwald to First return "from CHF 38", which is a reduced rate and not the walk-up adult price; the full adult fare is roughly double that and the operator does not publish it prominently, so check the counter before you commit. Jungfrau Travel Pass holders ride free. The Swiss Travel Pass, the Swiss Half-Fare Card and the Berner Oberland Pass each take 50 percent off.
2Eiger Trail (Eigergletscher to Alpiglen) - Two Hours Under the North Face
Trail No. 36 runs along the foot of the Eiger north face, and from a Grindelwald base it is a door-to-door morning. Grindelwald Terminal on Grundstrasse 54 has its own railway stop, and the Eiger Express tricable gondola covers the 6,483 m to Eigergletscher at 2,320 m in 15 minutes, running 44 cabins of 26 seats at a capacity of 2,200 people per hour. That capacity matters in August, when it is the difference between walking on and waiting an hour.
The trail itself is 6.1 km, signposted 2 hours, with 78 m of ascent and 779 m of descent as it falls from a high point of 2,346 m to Alpiglen at 1,615 m. It is graded T2, moderate, and there are rope-secured sections where the path crosses steep ground, so this is a walk that wants proper boots rather than trainers. The season is July to October. Nothing about the route is technically hard, but the exposure is real and the surface is loose in places.
You finish at Alpiglen, which is a Wengernalpbahn halt rather than a village, and the train takes you down to Grindelwald Grund. Because the return uses a different line from the one you rode up on, this is a point-to-point walk and not a loop. The Jungfrau Travel Pass covers both the Eiger Express and the Wengernalpbahn leg; the Swiss Travel Pass, Half-Fare Card and Berner Oberland Pass give 50 percent on the Eiger Express. Jungfrau Railways lists a reduced "from" price for the gondola rather than a clear walk-up adult single, so ask at the Terminal desk.
3Männlichen - Royal Walk and the Panorama Trail to Kleine Scheidegg
Männlichen gives you two walks off one lift and they are not the same proposition, so decide which you want before you board. The 10-seat gondola from Grindelwald Terminal on Grundstrasse 54 reaches the Männlichen station at about 2,225 m in 19 minutes; from the Lauterbrunnen side, the Wengen aerial cableway does it in 5 to 10 minutes. The Royal Walk is the short option: 2 km there and back along the ridge to the Tuftgrat summit at 2,343 m, signposted 25 minutes up and 15 minutes down, open May to October. The operator publishes no ascent figure, but the station and summit elevations put it at a little over 100 m of climbing on an easy graded path.
The Panorama Trail, trail No. 33, is the better walk and the easiest route in this guide. It covers 4.3 km from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg in a signposted 1 h 10, with zero ascent and 151 m of descent, dropping from 2,220 m to 2,068 m, and 98 percent of it runs on dirt road. Grindelwald Tourismus grades it T1. Snow-free June to October, it is then groomed as a winter walking trail. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau sit on your left the whole way, which is why walkers who cannot face a climb still come up here.
The Männlichen summer season runs 23 May to 25 October 2026, and the winter season ran 13 December 2025 to 6 April 2026. Jungfrau Travel Pass and Berner Oberland Pass holders travel free, while the Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss Half-Fare Card give 50 percent. Fares need a caveat: maennlichen.ch publishes its tariff only in PDFs that are closed to indexing, so the 2026 figures in circulation, around CHF 68 return from Grindelwald Terminal and around CHF 58 return from Wengen, come from a secondary source and should be confirmed at the ticket window. The Royal Ride, the open-air balcony on the front of the gondola, adds a CHF 5 surcharge.
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4First Cliff Walk by Tissot - The 45-Metre Platform at the Top of the Firstbahn
Calling the First Cliff Walk by Tissot a hike would be dishonest, so here is what it actually is: a steel walkway bolted to the cliff beside the First top station at 2,167 m, finishing in a viewing platform that cantilevers 45 m out over the drop towards Grindelwald. That 45 m projection is the only length Jungfrau Railways publishes. Total walkway lengths and walking times circulate widely on aggregator sites and appear on no official page, so ignore them.
It costs nothing extra. Entry is included with any Firstbahn ticket, which is exactly why it belongs in the same half day as the Bachalpsee walk rather than in a plan of its own. Both start from the same gondola and you will already have paid for the lift, so the only question is whether you step onto the platform before you set off for the lake or after you get back. It is open year-round whenever the Firstbahn is running, winter included, and closes only during the maintenance window from 26 October to 27 November 2026.
The floor sections are grated, so the valley is visible straight down through your boots, and the structure hangs close enough to the rock that the exposure hits you in stages rather than all at once. Allow fifteen to twenty minutes to walk out, stand at the end and come back, bearing in mind that the operator publishes no official timing. Anyone genuinely uneasy about heights should know that the final section is the worst of it and that there is no way round, only back.
5Pfingstegg to Bäregg - The Glacier Gorge Walk Without the Crowds
The Pfingstegg cable car is the one lift in Grindelwald that Jungfrau Railways does not run, and anyone holding a pass needs to hear the consequence plainly: the Jungfrau Travel Pass does not cover it. Adult return is CHF 32, paid at the valley station on Rybigassli 25, about ten minutes on foot from Grindelwald railway station or a short ride on GrindelwaldBus line 121 to the stop named Pfingstegg. The operator publishes no pass discounts at all, so budget the full CHF 32 and treat any reduction you are offered as a surprise.
From the Pfingstegg station at 1,368 m, UNESCO Theme Trail No. 24 climbs to the Bäregghütte, the mountain inn at 1,774 m. The round trip measures 5.6 km with a signposted time of 2 h 25, 428 m of ascent and 405 m of descent. The operator's own estimate is looser at 1.5 hours each way, or 2.5 to 3 hours there and back. Grindelwald Tourismus grades the route easy, which undersells it: the middle section is a sustained climb on a narrowing path, and T2 is the honest grade.
What the climb buys is the view the crowds at First never see: a direct line into the trench the Lower Grindelwald Glacier gouged out, with the scoured walls of the gorge falling away below the hut terrace. The whole basin sits inside the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site. The cable car season runs 25 April to 25 October 2026, which makes this the first of the five routes to open each year and the only one on the list you can reliably walk in spring.
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CEO and co-founder
Tomas is the co-founder and director of trip1, an European company specializing in reservation services. He launched the company in 2025 with a focus on building scalable, efficient operations.
5 Best Hikes in Grindelwald - Bachalpsee, Eiger Trail & More - FAQ
The walk from Grindelwald-First to Bachalpsee, the lake whose still surface mirrors the Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, and the most photographed water in the Bernese Oberland. The other famous route is the Eiger Trail, two hours under the Eiger north face. Bachalpsee depends on the Firstbahn, which closes for maintenance from 26 October to 27 November 2026.
It's easy. From the First top station, route No. 1 is 5.8 km there and back with 202 m of up and down, graded T1, on a path wide enough to walk side by side. Allow 1 hour 40 minutes to 1 hour 50 minutes. Snow usually clears by mid-June, and wind ruffles the reflection by late morning, so take an early gondola.
Moderate, graded T2. Trail No. 36 is a one-way walk from Eigergletscher at 2,320 m, reached by the Eiger Express from Grindelwald Terminal, to Alpiglen at 1,615 m: 78 m of climbing but 779 m of descent in a signposted 2 hours. It has rope-secured stretches and loose ground, so wear boots, and it is open July to October.
For mountains with no effort, the Mannlichen Panorama Trail: 4.3 km to Kleine Scheidegg in 1 hour 10 minutes, all downhill, with the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau beside you the whole way. For a quieter view, Pfingstegg to the Baregg hut looks into the gorge carved by the Lower Grindelwald Glacier, inside the Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site.
July to September, when all five main routes are open. Pfingstegg opens first, on 25 April 2026, and Mannlichen runs 23 May to 25 October. Bachalpsee is usually snow-free from mid-June, and the Eiger Trail is a July to October route. From 26 October to 27 November 2026 the Firstbahn is shut for maintenance, so Bachalpsee and the Cliff Walk are out of reach.
All but one. It covers the Firstbahn to Grindelwald-First, the Eiger Express, both Mannlichen cableways and the Wengernalpbahn back from Alpiglen and Kleine Scheidegg. The Pfingstegg cable car is run by an independent operator, so you pay the full CHF 32 adult return. The Swiss Travel Pass and Half-Fare Card give 50 percent off the Jungfrau lifts.
