Winter hiking in Grindelwald and overall itinerary

  • Removed user
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    72625 posts
    7 October 2019 at 3:00:59 #824107

    Hi all,

    i will be travelling to Switzerland for my honeymoon between 26th December 2019 to 2nd December 2019. Below is my planned itinerary. Since it’s my first trip to Switzerland, any advise regarding the below would greatly be appreciated

    26th December – arrive in Zurich at 8:00 AM. Catch the flybus to Grindelwald, which is our base for the next 3 days. Hotel is ‘Hotel Spinne’

    Please suggest some activity to do for 26th afternoon / evening. I was planning to go to the Glacier Canyon. Would there by any other places that one would recommend?

    27th dec – day trip to Jungfraujoch

    28th dec – could someone recommend winter hiking trails near Grindelwald? We haven’t done any hiking in the snow before and are not very fit.. Sledging day trips would work too. We are not sure what exactly to do on this day. We have kept 28th as a spare day as if the 27th dec is cloudy/raining, we will do Jungfraujoch on 28th.

    29th dec – Grindelwald to Zermatt. We’ll reach Zermatt at around 4 o’clock Pm. Please suggest some activities to do that evening.

    30th dec – visit the Matterhorn glacier paradise.

    31st dec – Zermatt to Chur via glacier express and chur to Zürich.

    01st jan – Zürich day tour and visit Rhine Falls

    02nd jan – depart from Zurich.

    Is the above itinerary doable? Would you suggest anything else?

    Thank you,

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    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    7 October 2019 at 6:55:29 #923273

    Hello Moizbandukh and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

    Nice to hear you’ll be spending your honeymoon in Switzerland.

    For winter activities in the area of Grindelwald please see below link. You’ll find hikes at the bottom of that page and can also select “winter sport” in the activities drop down menue .
    http://www.myswissalps.com/gr indelwald/activities
    http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/sports
    http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king

    It’s always recommendable to ask for more input on current weather conditions locally upon arrival.

    You will be travelling by bus to Grindelwald, not by train?!
    http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain
    http://www.myswissalps.com/bu s

    Make sure you get familiar with the below timetable to find out about possible train connections for any of your trips.
    http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

    This will also allow you to calculate if your day trips and travelling days are do-able, which I would say they are.

    Happy planning and get back to us anytime.

    Best,
    Steph

    Also check:
    http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress
    http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt/activities

    Robertkelly1
    Participant
    14 posts
    7 October 2019 at 16:20:28 #923274

    Hi Moizbandukh.

    For your sledding check out grindelwaldbus.ch as they run a bus to Bussalp where you can rent a sled at the drop off point behind the cafe. From here you can climb up the mountain to make the run down longer and take in the views or take various sled routes down from the sled hire hut.You can relax at a bar on the way down too, weather permitting of course.

    Also you can take the train to Kleine Scheidegg and rent a sled from the sports shop, choose your route down and hand your sled in at the train station at the end of the runs. There is a faster route you can choose, you will have great fun.

    We did these activities last winter and enjoyed it so much will be returning again this winter, the same times as yourself.

    Have fun.

    Robertkelly1

    Removed user
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    72625 posts
    7 October 2019 at 21:04:47 #923275

    Hi Robert,

    Thank you so much for your help!

    How was your trip last winter? Since the sun sets early at around 5Pm, I am just wondering if there’s enough things to do after sunset in Grindelwald and Zermatt? How was your experience when you visited last year?

    Thanks,

    Moiz

    Mark
    Participant
    794 posts
    7 October 2019 at 22:27:20 #923276

    Hi Moizbandukh

    If you want to do some winter hiking there are several trails that are maintained and open in winter from December till the end of March. They are detailed on the website Jungfrau.ch. You must swipe to the left to get to winter activities and click on winter hiking. They include the Royal walk at Mannlichen which takes 30 minutes, First to Bachalpsee, First to Waldspitz to Bort. There are also several snowshoe trails listed which are maintained as well.

    Mark

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    10 October 2019 at 9:31:42 #923277

    Hi Mark,

    The royal walk looks great. We have 2 days in GR. Looking to spend 1 whole day at jungfrau, the top, and for the second day, we are planning to go to First, do the cliff walk and then either do the Eiger run sledding or the Royal walk hike. Which one would you recommend?

    Also, is there a sledge trail from First to GR?

    Thank You,

    Moiz

    Mark
    Participant
    794 posts
    10 October 2019 at 11:09:29 #923278

    Both the Eiger Run and Royal walk will be a nice adventure. The Royal walk will likely have the best views. I would think you could easily do both in a day.

    I don’t know for sure but would doubt there is a sledge run directly from First to Grindelwald as it it quite steep.

    Mark

    Robertkelly1
    Participant
    14 posts
    10 October 2019 at 18:44:43 #923279

    Hi Moiz.

    Just a suggestion that I think would be possible and make for very good day out (Weather permitting of course).

    By catching an early train you could be at Jungfraujoch by 10am. If I remember correctly, three hours would be enough time to enjoy Jungfraujoch and then you could grab some lunch at the Hotel Bellevue at Kleine Scheidegg on the way down (If you’re a Clint Eastwood fan you can check out the Eiger Sanction photos and many other interesting ones in the corridors of the Hotel Bellevue). Then you can pick up a sled from the sports shop nearby and ride the Eiger Run down to Grindelwald Grund station where you return your sled. When you come to any signs for fast or slow route take the fast one, so much fun.

    You asked about things to do after sunset:

    I can’t help you much here as we had long, full days out usually ending up in Grindelwald at sunset so we would grab a beer and maybe a snack and walk back to our digs just out of town so we would be home pretty early.

    I’m sure if you dig around enough you’ll find something to your liking. I see you will be on your honeymoon so do your best. Not sure if you can get a horse-drawn carriage/sled ride in the vicinity of Grindelwald but these are wonderful in the snowy scenery. Good luck!

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    10 October 2019 at 21:07:04 #923280

    Hi Robert,

    Thank you so much for that! I reckon doing the Eiger run along with Jungfrau makes sense as we’ll be going to the Kleine mountain anyway! For our second day in GR, we could do the first cliff walk and the Royal walk.

    Since it’s going to be winter, with early sunsets, I’m struggling to find activities to do in GR and Zermatt in the evenings!

    Appreciate your help though!

    Anna
    Moderator
    6274 posts
    11 October 2019 at 6:30:33 #923281

    Hi Moizbandukh,

    During your visit to Grindelwald, you should definitely try the night sledding on Bussalp or the Eiger Run. The whole stretch on the Eiger run is illuminated at night, not sure about the one in Bussalp though. You could end the run with a fondue right after!

    Be sure to check the links given by Steph in an earlier posts. Since you mentioned about the Glacier Canyon,here’s a link that you might find also useful. Gives you some ideas what to expect.

    Anna

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