Any awesome cable car rides lower than 8000 feet?

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    10 June 2017 at 23:34:06 #812210

    I had a heart attack 1.5 years ago that left me with some heart damage. Doing great – I can even jog for short distances – but I’m slightly worried about elevation, since I’ve heard stories about people with heart issues having difficulty at high elevations. Where I live, we are at 3000 feet, so I’m not really worried about elevation until it starts to get above 7000 to 8000 feet. Most of the areas we are visiting in Switzerland are below 8000 feet (based in Montreux for 4 nights), but I was hoping to take my family on an awesome cable car ride, perhaps on our day trip to the Interlaken area.

    Just thought I’d present this question to the “experts” to see if anyone has any good suggestions for a cable car ride that is incredible, that isn’t perhaps as high up as probably most are.

    Thanks!

  • Effortlessly learn from the questions and answers in the forum. Receive a daily e-mail with new discussions.

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    11 June 2017 at 1:32:48 #864896

    Hi Swissdreamer-

    Switzerland is full of cable cars of various types, since they are an important component of the transportation network

    Here are a couple of ideas..

    Wengen to Männlichen ( see attached) and Weggis to Rigi Kaltbad. Männlichen is just below your altitude limit, at 2340 meters above sea level.

    Perusal of this map, with traffic turned on in the menus for “Mountain Transport,” will let you see other options as you scan through the map.

    map.search.ch/?pos=639308,162372&z=64 &poi=bergbahn

    Look into the 4 stage route from Stechelberg to Schilthorn. If you go all the way up, you are at 2970 meters, which exceeds your limits. But, the intermediate stops could work for you. Birg is only a bit over your limit, at 2684 meters.

    If those are too high. the ride up to Mürren is nice, but not as spectacular. Mürren is only at 1640 metrs, well within your limits.

    Slowpoke

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    11 June 2017 at 4:51:25 #864897

    Perfect! Thanks! Appreciate the effort/detail of your comments!

    AlanPrice
    Participant
    279 posts
    11 June 2017 at 7:14:56 #864898

    Hi,

    From memory, the first section of the cable car out of Stechelberg is quite exciting because of how steep it is. It gets very close to the vertical valley wall and Muerren is a very pretty town.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    11 June 2017 at 19:36:43 #864899

    ….. and you can also do a nice roundtrip : Lauterbrunen to Stechelberg (bus), to Murren (cablecar), walk in the small village to station, Murren to Grutschalp (train, sit on the right site), Grutschalp to Lauterbrunnen (cablecar).

    greeting from the Netherland, Brahms

    Drexelius
    Participant
    20 posts
    12 June 2017 at 0:11:10 #864900

    One of the nicest (and longest) cable car rides in the area of Interlaken is the ride from Grindelwald to Mannlichen. Our family always tries to go on that one when we are in the area. It’s a long, slow, relaxing ride over farm pastures and then mountain as it ascends up to Mannlichen. According to Wikipedia, it is the 3rd longest passenger carrying gondola ride in the world. The ride takes about 30 minutes. If you wanted to, after exploring the Mannlichen area (and there is a nice cafe style restaurant at the top), you could then ride another, much shorter but steeper cable down the other side from Mannlichen to Wengen. You could, of course, also do the trip in the opposite direction (Wengen to Mannlichen to Grindelwald). That would give you three new areas to explore and could easily use up the better part of a full day.

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    12 June 2017 at 0:17:42 #864901

    Hi Drexelius-

    As noted earlier in the thread, Männlichen is marginal for the altitude limits noted by Swissdreamer.

    Slowpoke

    Drexelius
    Participant
    20 posts
    12 June 2017 at 0:34:57 #864902

    Yes – that was already noted earlier in the thread as I’m sure the OP saw in your post. I was just pointing out the cable ride on the other side of the Mannlichen as I believe it is a nicer (certainly longer) cable car ride. It is indeed just under 8000 feet as so dutifully noted.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    12 June 2017 at 2:40:41 #864903

    Hi Swiss dreamer

    As I have also been thinking about the altitude of places we might visit, I took some time to create an excel sheet with the altitudes in descending order. While this does not directly answer the question about cable car rides, you might find it useful information. The altitudes given are all in metres not feet but I guess if my maths conversion is accurate, anything from Maennlichen or lower on the list could be OK. See attachment.

    Maggie

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    12 June 2017 at 5:39:42 #864904

    Fantastic Maggie, thanks for sharing – indeed very useful!

    Lucas

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    12 June 2017 at 5:57:54 #864905

    You guys are great – thanks!

  • The thread ‘Any awesome cable car rides lower than 8000 feet?’ is closed to new replies.

About MySwissAlps

We’re passionate tourists and locals. We share tips about how to plan a trip to Switzerland. MySwissAlps was founded in 2002.

Get a free account for a worry-free trip

  • Join our 10730 members and ask us questions in the forum
  • Access to member-only promotions
  • Detailed maps and weather forecasts

Planning your first Switzerland adventure?

Get a jump-start with Annika’s 20-minute e-mail course, “Switzerland for beginners”. Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock the course.