72625 posts
Yellow lines on the Wanderkarte Schweiz indicate ‘Wanderweg’ = walking path. Red lines indicate ‘Bergwanderweg’ = mountain walking path. Bergwanderweg are officially more difficult than Wanderweg, so for example you can generally get away with trainers or even sandals on Wanderweg, but for Bergwanderweg you should wear proper walking shoes or boots.
On the ground, Wanderweg are marked by the famous yellow signs, Bergwanderweg have an additional red and white stripe to indicate the increased difficulty.
There is a third colour – blue that indicates ‘Alpinwanderweg’ these are climbers paths through the most difficult terrain.
72625 posts
There are paths all across the hills above Zermatt. Going uphill from Zermatt there are four intermediate stations on the Gornergrat Bahn: Findelbach, Riffelalp, Riffelberg and Rotenboden. You can walk down to Zermatt from any of these stations.
There is no mountain transport to or from Faulhorn
15 posts
Thank you very much. Very helpful information.
72625 posts
Hi NH traveler,
you can find hiking routes in the Jungfrau region here: http://www.myswissalps.com/jungfrauregion/activities (make sure to scroll down until you see the hiking part). This one is an easy hike in the valley: http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/lauterbrunnen-stechelberg.
Regarding your question about Gornergrat, you can get off and on if you want, or even skip 1 or 2 stations if you would like to hike. The choice is yours.
Ildiko
More hiking tips: http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking
805 posts
Hi NH
the last portion of the hike to Faulhorn is quite steep (around 1000 ft of ascent as i recall) and you must backtrack to return to Grindelwald unless you continue on to Schynige Platte, a long hike.
A much easier route from Bachalpsee that doesn’t backtrack is to continue to Waldspitz then down to Bort and cable car to Grindelwald. A slightly longer route is Bachalpsee to Bussalp then bus to Grindelwald.
Mark