Trip report 4 Sept/Oct 2012 Lauterbrunnen, Murren

PART 4 TRIP REPORT LAUTERBRUNNEN VALLEY WALK and MURREN.

Part 1 was Beatenberg and Brienz; Part 2 was Wengen and Jungfrau. Part 3 was Mannlichen

There is so much to do in the Bernese Oberland especially Jungfrau region and 8N wasn't enough for us to do everything. This is because we wanted to take our time enjoying the scenery and soaking in the whole alpine experience. So the next trip, we will also stay a few nights at Murren and do some walks from there.

We took the train from Wengen down to Lauterbrunnen where we walked all the way to Stechelberg cable car station. The Lauterbrunnen valley walk was very easy and pleasant. Flat terrain all the way (unless you want to make a short slight uphill walk to one of the waterfalls on the way (not the Trummelbach falls but an outdoor one). Just bear in mind there may not be any toilets once you walk out of the town area. The alps are in front as we walked, enjoying the green pastures with the cows grazing, the faint sounds of their cowbells ringing in the background.

At the end of the walk, we took the Stechelberg cable car up and decided to stop at Murren. Wow! the mountains at Murren are really in your face and pretty magnificent - walking through the town was a different scenic experience from Wengen where the alps are further away.

If given a choice, I would still pick Wengen because having the mountains so close by in Murren for too many days can make me a little "claustrophobic". However, for the next trip, we may stay for 3N and do the Murren Grutschalp walk and Allmendhubal area.

After walking from the Murren Stechelberg cable car station to the other end of town where the Murren train station is, we sat down at one of the open air cafes to have coffee and yummy hot apple pie. Ah...nothing like chilling out in the alps. After which we took the train from Murren to Grutschalp and then changed to the ropeway down to Lauterbrunnen. From there we took the train back to Wengen. This was a long day because of the transportation but still very enjoyable.