Liechtenstein & Switzerland
Grüezi und wilkommen to my post detailing our special trip to Liechtenstein and Switzerland! Chris and I just celebrated our one year wedding anniversary and we originally planned on going back to Bavaria, Germany to where we got married, but decided to try a different route with a similar feel, which led us to Switzerland and a bonus day in Liechtenstein. And we were not disappointed! In fact, it was probably one of the most scenic trips we have ever taken. If you don’t have Switzerland on your bucket list right now, I hope you add it after reading this. Now, grab a lager and chocolate to enjoy the read. You’re going to need it for the amount of times you’ll have to say “Liechtenstein” in your head…
Thursday, September 27th - Day 1:
We left Dublin early on a beautiful morning and were so excited to get away for a long weekend to celebrate one year of marriage!
We landed at the Zürich airport around 10:30 a.m., made it through passport control, and found our way to the Hertz car rental counter to pick up our ride for the trip. We had gone back and forth about renting a car because we knew we would be taking a lot of trains / gondolas once we got down to Interlaken, Switzerland, but the car rental ended up being only 68 Swiss Francs [CHF] for the four days. [The US Dollar and Swiss Franc are nearly 1:1.] I was pretty adament on driving to Liechtenstein and roadtripping through Switzerland, so it was a no brainer to go ahead with the car. We ended up getting upgraded to an SUV, which made it all the more worth it! Also, for anyone wondering, they drive with the steering wheel on the left-side of the car and on the right side of the road. :)
LIECHTENSTEIN
Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country in the world and nestled between Switzerland and Austria. The population is roughly 37,000, one of those being the Prince Hans-Adam II, the reigning royal of the tiny principality. It is a mountainous haven with some of the wealthiest and happiest people in Europe.
The drive from Zürich to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, is only an hour and fifteen minutes and we enjoyed every second of it. It didn’t take long after leaving the airport that we were on the open road wedged between mountains and green pastures filled with Swiss chalets and cows.
Thanks to a treaty between Switzerland and Liechtenstein, there is no border patrol between the two countries. I actually didn’t even notice the sign saying we were in Liechtenstein — that’s how non-descript it is.
We drove into Vaduz, which is located in a valley between the mountains, and is the cutest little town. Believe it or not, Vaduz is not the largest city in Liechtenstein with it’s whopping population of 5,500. The city, er, town just up the road of Schaan barely edges it out with a population of 6,000. #themoreyouknow
There is one main road through Vaduz where the majority of the sightseeing can be done. There is free parking in town, which made us love Vaduz from the start. Before our trip, I did a tiny bit of online research to see what there is to do in Vaduz and found this guy’s blog post about the 11 Things To Do In Liechtenstein. Turns out that most of those 11 things were within a quarter-mile right in the heart of the capital city.
Visit the Tourist Office to Get One of the Rarest Passport Stamps in the World
Located on Vaduz’s pedestrian street, Städtle, is Liechtenstein’s Tourist Office and where you can get your passport stamped for the price of €3. Since there is no international airport and no border patrol from Switzerland, this is how you get your stamp! Because Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country in the world, it is one of the rarest passport stamps and there was no way we were missing out on that.
We also took the opportunity to send out a few postcards from the Tourist Office since their postage stamps are just as rare as their passport stamps!
Walk Städtle — Vaduz’ Main Street
With our passports stamped, it was time to see what Vaduz was all about. We walked the main street Städtle from start to finish in about 10 minutes. There are lots of shops and cafés that line the street, but for every other shop there was a modern art statue, which was unexpected and fun to see. All the country’s museums are also located along this street, including the Landesmuseum, Kunstmuseum, and Postage Stamp Museum.
Lunch at Burg Brasserie
Having scoped out what our afternoon would look like, it was time to sit down and grab a little lunch. Fun fact: Liechtenstein has an official lunch break from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. every day and residents are to refrain from mowing their lawns or doing any other noisy activities. There are several options for food and we settled on Burg Brasserie, which is right at the base of the path that leads up to the Vaduz Castle. We both ordered a pint of the local Liechtenstein beer, along with some homemade pasta and a chicken curry sandwich. It was so good, like better than a café restaurant should be. I still think about that pasta…
Hike Up to Vaduz Castle
Sitting high above the capital city is Vaduz Castle, a 16th century medieval castle that is the official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein. Because the royal family actively lives in the castle, it is not open to visitors, but you can still get pretty close to admire the estate. The pathway leading up to the castle starts next to Burg Brasserie and ascends into the hilltop above the city. It is a relatively steep climb, but there are plenty of places to stop and take in the views. There are also facts about Vaduz and the royal family along the way that you can stop and read and catch your breath. It’s a very scenic walk and it only takes about 30 minutes to get to the top.
Once you get to the top, there is an “s curve” road the leads right up to the castle and is the perfect spot to stop and take a picture.
The best part about the walk from here to the castle was getting to see the cows up close and personal. Their bells were jingling away as they chowed on the grass. They were SO cute!
We tried catching a glimpse of the Prince himself with no avail, but that didn’t stop us from taking in the views of the castle and mountains. With the sun shining down on us, it was the perfect moment to breathe the fresh air and take it all in.
Our trip up to the castle and back down took us about 90 minutes, but you could do it faster than that, or take more time. Either way, enjoy the views of this regal city!
Josef Rheinberger Memorial & Liechtenstein School of Music
One of Liechtenstein’s most famous people in history is composer and musician Josef Rheinberger, who was born in 1839. He was a musical prodigy and because of that, there is a memorial to him on the west end of Städtle.
The memorial is appropriately placed next to the Liechtenstein School of Music. We saw several kids coming and going out of the school. It was very cool to see so many kids studying music.
Cathedral of St. Florin
On the other side of the Josef Rheinberger Memorial and at the very end of Städtle is Vaduz’s Cathedral of St. Florin. It is a beautiful church that reminded me a lot of the churches where we are from back in Minnesota. Simple, but elegant. It was built in 1874 and in 1997, Pope John Paul II promoted the church to cathedral status. The royal family has its own box to sit in during mass and their family burial plot is a vault behind the cathedral.
Tour Vaduz with the Citytrain
Vaduz offers a unique way to see the city through its Citytrain tour. The tour is only 35 minutes long, but takes you outside of the main drag, past the city’s sports stadium, up into the hills by the Prince’s vineyard, stops at the Rotes Haus where you can get the best picture of the city, and back into town down the Städtle. [lol — yes, we choo-chooed down the pedestrian street] Along the way, the train played audio-guided facts about the town.
Chris and I giggled about 75% of our time on the train because we felt like kids on a choo choo train ride, but were happy we took the tour because it showed us more of the city than we would have explored for ourselves. In particular, we really enjoyed seeing the Rotes Haus, the oldest house in Vaduz, which is right next to the vineyards, and the best view of the city.
The tour only operates from April through September. During those months, it runs twice daily at 1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and is €10.50 per person.
Overall Impressions
I LOVED Liechtenstein. How could I not love such a cute little country? Our lunch was delicious, the views were breathtaking, there is a royal family that still lives in their centuries old castle, and they produce wine. One of the best parts of visiting Vaduz was that there were hardly any tourists there. The town was so quiet and wasn’t crawling with bus loads of visitors. It felt like we were getting a special glimpse of a place not many people go.
We only spent five hours in Vaduz, so you can cover a lot in little time. We missed out on the museums, so those would be on my “to-do list” if we ever make it back. An entire museum dedicated to postage stamps? Yep, count me in. There is more to Liechtenstein than Vaduz and someday I hope we get back to the sixth smallest country in the world to explore more. I read about some fantastic hiking trails, so I would love to go back to do some hiking and roadtrip the entire country.
Wir lieben dich, Liechtenstein!
SWITZERLAND
Thursday, September 27th - Day 1 Continued:
Before saying Auf Wiedersehen to Liechtenstein, we grabbed a Toblerone [because does a trip to the Swiss Alps even count if you don’t eat your way through a Toblerone] for a treat and hit the road to head back to Switzerland. When Chris and I were planning this trip, we originally thought we would drive back to Zürich for the night, see what we could see, and then drive to Lucerne and Interlaken the next day. The more we thought about it and the more expensive accommodations in Zürich were getting, we decided to scrap Zürich altogether. By the time we would have gotten back to Zürich, it would have been dark and museums would have been closed, so what was the point? We decided instead to drive straight to Lucerne from Vaduz, which was one of the best decisions we made.
The drive from Vaduz to Lucerne was only an hour and twenty minutes. We drove at sunset surrounded by mountains and it reminded us of when we were reunited in Munich last year to drive down to Schwangau to get married. #aww The funny thing about watching a sunset in the valley of mountains is that the sun disappears pretty quickly since the mountains are so big. We enjoyed what we could with the waning sunlight and the number of tunnels we drove through.
We rolled into Lucerne around 7:00 p.m., found parking in a public carpark adjacent to our hotel, and checked in. We stayed at the Romantik Hotel Wilden Mann, which is a boutique hotel in the Old Town of Lucerne. There are only 48 rooms and each one is decorated differently. I love places like that. Our room was so cozy, the location was as good as it gets, and the service from the hotel staff was fantastic.
Fun fact: Switzerland does not use the same outlets as most of mainland Europe. They, along with Liechtenstein and Rwanda, have their own special outlet — Type J. I had just assumed they used the Type C outlet, so I wasn’t prepared for that at all. Lucky for us, the hotel had a whole drawer filled with adapters, so we were set.
For a late dinner, we did a quick Google search to see what would still be open and found a place called Soul Chicken. It was just across the river that runs through the middle of Old Town and down a quiet side street. I don’t think you would ever stumble upon it, but if you ever visit Lucerne, you have to go to Soul Chicken. It is exactly what it sounds like — soul food served up in an eclectic space. We could have been in the swamps of Louisiana for all I knew.
We ordered the dinner for two, which included a mixture of dry rub wings, legs, and thighs, served with a secret sauce, fries, salad, and bread on the side. YUM. My mouth is literally watering right now thinking about it. Talk about comfort food. We stuffed our faces! It wasn’t very Swiss, but I am so happy we found this place and I can’t recommend it enough. Forewarning, this meal introduced us to how expensive Switzerland dining is. This meal plus two beers and a glass of wine cost us 81 CHF, which is pretty steep for some fried chicken. However, this restaurant was not alone in its pricing as we were to find out throughout our trip.
Friday, September 28th - Day 2:
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Lucerne, checked out of our hotel, and hit up the Old Town to explore the cute riverfront. The city of Lucerne is located in Central Switzerland and has a population of about 80,000, making it the largest city in the area. It is best known for its historic Old Town where the river Reuss runs right down the middle creating a beautiful riverfront.
One of the most famous sights in town is the Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge, which is a covered wooden pedestrian footbridge spanning the river Reuss. The bridge was originally built in 1365 and is the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe. The city adorns the outside with hanging flower baskets, which brings out its beauty, and on the inside, are paintings dating all the way back to the 17th century. It is the most popular spot in town, so expect to see a lot of people around.
After walking through the Chapel Bridge, we perused the riverfront restaurants and chose the Rathaus Brauerei to have some brunch. We got a table outside on their patio, so we could enjoy the beautiful day while we ate. The food was fantastic. Chris got a cheese pie, which was basically a quiche, with a market salad, and I got a pretzel sandwich with roast beef and a market salad as well. Everything was so fresh and crisp. We washed it all down with the restaurant’s own brew. So good!
With the last swig of our beer, it was time to leave Lucerne and head to the neighboring town of Kriens to make our ascent up Mount Pilatus. Mount Pilatus is a massive mountain overlooking Lucerne. Its highest peak, Tomlishorn, stands at a height of 2,128 m / 6,982 ft. There are several ways that you can get to the top of the mountain: 1) cable car from Kriens; the world’s steepest cogwail railway from Alpnachstad; or hike it yourself.
For timing reasons, Chris and I opted for the cable car experience. The tickets for the cable car will make you gasp a bit at 72 CHF per person. The best part though is that for the first two-thirds of the journey, the cable cars are small, so we got to have a car to ourselves. Up along the way, we enjoyed riding above the tall pine trees, admiring Lake Lucerne down below, and listening to the clanging bells of the Swiss cows as they grazed on the grass of the mountainside.
There are a couple stops on the way up to the top and we got out at Fräkmüntegg to explore a bit. It turned out to be a super fun stop because it was full of activities. We could have done a ropes course, paragliding, and toboggan riding. We chose to do the toboggan ride, which was a giggle fest. I may or may not have gone so slow [because the signs read “slow”!] that Chris caught up with me. I don’t think he will ever let me live that one down. For 8 CHF each, it was a fun break to take in the views in a different way. The best part is that you get towed back up the hill going backwards.
After the “thrill” of the tobaggan and a little ice cream treat, we hopped into the next cable car to complete the last part of our journey to the top. This cable car is much bigger to accommodate more people as they run less frequently. The ride to the top involved a lot of sheer rock as we ascended above the clouds.
At the top of the mountain, there is a hotel, so yes, you can stay overnight on top of the mountain if you wish, restaurant, a few hiking trails to go all the way to the top, and some lookouts to take in the views. Nearly the moment we got out of the cable car, cloud cover moved in below us, so our views were short and sweet, but well worth the trip!
After enjoying the cable car views on our way down Pilatus, it was time to hit the road and get to our base for the weekend, Interlaken. The drive took about two hours and got especially stunning when we snaked our way down into the town [valley?] of Brienz. There were sheer mountainsides, waterfalls, and beautiful Lake Brienz. We rolled into Interlaken around 6:00 p.m., stopped at the local Aldi to pick up a few groceries, and settled into our AirBnb for the night.
Our AirBnb was located in the city of Interlaken in a quiet neighborhood. It was the upper floor of a traditional Swiss chalet, had mountain views on every side, and free parking. It was a great space and located about a 15 minute walk from the train station, but there are lots of amazing spots to stay.
After an amazing day in Lucerne, it was time for us to drink a little wine and take in the sunset from our balcony. Once I realized I was getting bit by mosquitos, the novelty wore off and it was time to make dinner. One of our favorite things about staying in AirBnbs is making home-cooked meals. On this particular night’s menu was spätzl, salad, and garlic bread. It was such a cute way to spend our night in such a magical place.
Saturday, September 29th - Day 3:
Now that we were in Interlaken for the weekend, we were so excited to explore the Jungfrau Region, do some hiking, see all the cute villages up in the mountains, and possibly do something adventurous like paraglide or zipline.
The Jungfrau Region has to be one of Switzerland’s most scenic places — and that’s saying a lot since most of Switzerland is unbelievably beautiful. Most notably in the region is the mountain peak Jungfrau, the “Top of Europe” as its called because it is the highest point on the continent. This area of the Swiss Alps is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site. Besides Jungfrau, there are many other peaks, including Schilthorn, which was used in the filming of James Bond. Throughout the mountains, there are picturesque villages, including Wengen, Mürren, Grindelwald. Mountains aren’t the only natural wonder in the area as there are many waterfalls to be seen, especially in the town of Lauterbrunnen. The Jungfrau Region is a nature-lover’s paradise.
We were up early and out the door before 9:00 to get to the rail station of Interlaken Ost. We had gotten a tip from a friend who had just visited the area to get on the trains as early as you can before the masses from the tour buses arrive, which was great advice.
The entire Jungfrau Region is connected by trains and cable cars and many of the mountain towns are car-free, so there is no need for a car to travel around this area. We bought our Jungfrau Travel Passes at the train station. This pass gets you unlimited access to most of the trains and cable cars in the area, but not all. The passes can be bought anywhere from 3 to 8 days. We bought the 3-day pass since we were only there for two days and that cost us 180 CHF per person. It’s expensive, but the individual prices for the trains and cable cars are insanely priced, so it’s a much better deal to go with the pass. Plus, it gives you the freedom to change your route, or do a little more than you planned since the travel is unlimited. One thing to note is this pass is only available during the warmer months of the year. If visiting the “Top of Europe” is on your bucket list, that is a separate ticket, but with the Jungfrau Travel Pass, you get a discounted price at 69 CHF.
Once we had our passes, we hopped on the train to go from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen. This waterfall-filled town is a good starting point for many of the routes in the Jungfrau Region, whether you are hiking the trails or taking the cable cars. For us, this day was all about hiking and Chris had mapped out our trails for the day. Our mission was to hike from Lauterbrunnen to the town of Wengen and then from Wengen to Männlichen, which is about a 4 hour and 30 minute journey.
Lauterbrunnen to Wengen
The town of Lauterbrunnen is situated at the base of the mountain valley and has lots of cute shops, hotels, and a few cafés, but it is best known for its waterfalls. We didn’t go exploring much through Lauterbrunnen, but we were able to see one of the biggest ones as we made our way through the town, across the river, and up the hiking trail to the town of Wengen.
[From this point on, I will be spamming you with lots of pictures, so enjoy!]
The hike from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen is classified as “medium difficulty.” It is only a 2.6 km / 1.6 mile trail, but it is entirely uphill. And not like gradually uphill, I’m talking 45° incline, calf muscles burning uphill. I kept hoping for the trail to level out, but as Chris would aptly point out, we were hikng a mountain, so that wasn’t going to happen. The nice thing about the trails in the Jungfrau Region is that there are signs along the way telling you which way to go and how much longer it will be to get to your destination. We reached the town of Wengen after 90 minutes, which included several breaks along the way. We had climbed 494 m / 1,621 feet and made it above the clouds.
Wengen is another one of the region’s Alpine villages dotted with chalets. As we found our way to the “main” part of town next to the railway station, we admired the homes. I took particular interest in the real estate agent’s advertisements of some of the home’s that were for sale. If you have a cool 600,000 CHF lying around, one floor of a four-story chalet could be yours. Or, if you want, a whole chalet could be yours for 4 million CHF.
In town by the railway station are several restaurants and hotels. We settled in on the patio of Restaurant Eiger, aptly named for one of the mountain peaks you can see while you eat. It was such a beautiful day. The temperature was only 53℉ / 11℃, but the sky was clear and the sun was warm. For lunch, we ordered the pumpkin soup and chicken curry salad, both of which were great. This was a perfect little spot to rest up, refuel, and enjoy the mountain air and sun.
After lunch, we walked through the rest of Wengen, which had more cute shops and hotels. There was even a sports pitch and a slack line that Chris couldn’t refuse. No surprise, he was very good at the slack line!
Wengen to Männlichen
The next part of our hike was no joke. Before, we had hiked from one village to the next. This time, we were going to the top of the mountain. This part of the trail is considered an actual mountain trail and is not for the faint heart. Again, most of the trail was at a steep incline and my heartrate was beating as if I were running. It.was.so.hard… but with every step, the views got bigger and better. The first part of this hike is a bit forested and were zig-zagging up through the pine trees, but then there was a point where we got above the trees and we could see mountain peaks for days.
Once above the trees, the trail was wide open and zig-zagged up the mountain and through the avalanche barricades. The sun was beating down on us, I was out of breath, but I had to pinch myself every minute. We were so high up! We could barely even see down below to Lauterbrunnen because of the fog coverage. There were mountain peaks as far as our eyes could see, including Jungfrau. It was AMAZING! I couldn’t believe where we were, what we were doing, and what we were seeing. It was breathtaking.
Can you believe these views?!
We could see the top of the mountain — we were so close! With about 30 minutes left in our hike, we picked up our speed a little as we neared our final destination.
After 3 hours and 30 minutes and 1,000 m / 3,281 feet climbed, we had made it to the top!!! WOW! What a feeling! We had literally just climbed up a mountain. It was one of the hardest things I have ever physically done and I am so pumped we did that! It was so special to be up in the mountains celebrating our one year wedding anniversary in such a monumental way.
At the top of Männlichen, we could see the peaks of Jungfrau, Mönsch, and Eiger clear as day. It felt like we were so close to them, and what’s crazy is they were still thousands and thousands of feet above us. We didn’t go up to Jungfrau on this trip, but I almost think this was better. There was hardly anyone out there with us. On our hike, we only encountered two other couples who were doing the same hike. At the top of Männlichen, there were maybe 20 people. It was so quiet and peaceful and we had such incredible views of all three monster peaks. From what I hear about actually going to Jungfrau is that it 1) costs more money; and 2) is very crowded. So I was perfectly content with the path we had chosen. It was definitely one of the best days of our lives.
After a total of 4.5 hours of hiking and climbing nearly a mile into the sky, we could have also hiked our way down, but instead chose the easy way out and snuck onto the last cable car at 5:05 p.m. heading down the other side of the mountain towards the town of Grund. Pro tip: I say “snuck onto” because technically the cable cars closed at 5:00 p.m., which we were oblivious to, but the nice Swiss man let us go down, so make sure you know when trains and cable cars stop running ahead of time! We were very lucky. With the the sun peaking over the mountains, it was such a beautiful ride down!
The town of Grund was another cute, little Alpine village. There was a tiny bar right next to the train station, so we grabbed a celebratory brew to enjoy the views while we waited for our train to Lauterbrunnen.
From Lauterbrunnen, we trained to Interlaken Ost, and painfully walked back to our chalet. Chris had planned a special meal for us. He made his favorite chicken parmesan with noodles, salad, and wine. So yummy! He also presented me with his gift for our anniversary. The traditional gift for the first wedding anniversary is “paper” and he knows how much I love to do crossword puzzles, so he made me my own crossword puzzle with clues from our first year of marriage. He’s a keeper! What an incredible day celebrating our anniversary.
Sunday, September 30th - Day 4:
Happy One Year Anniversary to us! Sunday was our actual anniversary and I was happy we were going to take it a bit easier. After packing up our stuff and loading the car, we walked back to Interlaken Ost, hopped on the train to Lauterbrunnen, and took the cable car up to Grütschalp. This day, we decided to take it a little easier and hike an “easy” trail from Grütschalp to Mürren.
Grütschalp to Mürren
There are a lot of different trails that start in Grütschalp. I really wanted to see the town of Mürren, so I was relieved when Chris saw there was an easy hiking trail to get there. What was really cool about Grütschalp was Männlichen was directly across the valley and so we got to see exactly what we had hiked the day before. My jaw needed picking up after seeing just how steep that climb was and just how high we had gone by foot. The picture below shows Wengen to Männlichen.
The walk to Mürren was about as flat as it comes and only took us 90 minutes. This path had a few more people than the previous day, but it was still very quiet. Again, we couldn’t believe the views. The Swiss Alps are so gigantic, it was hard to fathom what we were looking at. We loved the mountain views.
We got to Mürren, which was probably the busiest town we had visited up in the mountains, and grabbed a table at the restaurant at Hotel Bellevue. The restaurant’s patio was elevated above the main street, so we had views of the chalets and mountains. For lunch, we tried the traditional Swiss dish of fondue and then devoured some comfort food in schnitzel. We spent most of our lunch admiring the views and watching the paragliders soar through the valley.
After lunch, we started our descent and hiked the path down to the town of Gimmelwald, where I made friends with a pony!
From Gimmelwald, we took a cable car down to the next village of Stechelberg. This was one of the cable cars we discovered that was not included in the Jungfrau Travel Pass. I think the tickets for this cable car ran us about 8 CHF. That was a bit annoying, but the salt in the wound came when we got down to Stechelberg and were told that we had to pay for the bus ride to Lauterbrunnen, which cost us another 8 CHF. The only reason this annoyed us even more was because it didn’t seem like anyone else bought tickets for the bus except for us, and then the ticket lady said they didn’t take credit cards, but then when we said we didn’t have any cash left, she scolded us, but then magically accepted credit card for payment. I can’t stand that type of customer service. The entire 10 minute bus ride was crammed with people and we were so relieved once we got to Lauterbrunnen, which meant we were able to ride the train for free, and get back to Interlaken.
At that point, it was time for us to hit the road and head back to the Zürich Airport. Our drive was supposed to be about two hours, but ended up being three because of traffic around Lucerne. Luckily, we had left with plenty of time to spare. Plus, our flight ended up getting delayed anyway, which just meant we got to enjoy the Zürich airport lounge a little longer. [if you are ever in this airport, this lounge was one of the best ones we have been to because they served a full spread of hot food — soup, pasta, meatballs and rice, etc., and it was really quiet.] And with that, we were headed back to Dublin!
Overall Impressions:
Switzerland should be on everyone’s bucket list.
The food and beer were fantastic.
We are so happy we rented a car! For 69 CHF + 60 CHF in gas, it was worth it alone just for our day in Liechtenstein, but made for a ton of fun getting to road trip around Switzerland ourselves. In case you want to do the same, I booked directly through Hertz’s website.
As far as our itinerary goes, Chris and I think Lucerne is a must, but in hindsight, we would have probably skipped going up Mount Pilatus and gone down to Interlaken after lunch instead. There is so much to do in the Jungfrau Region. We would have liked to explore Interlaken, which we didn’t get to do, go paragliding, and I would have loved to see Grindelwald and go zip lining there. Oh, and take a boat ride on one of the lakes! To truly experience the area, you probably need 3-4 days, and even then, you’ll have to pare down what you want to do.
Hiking was incredible. There are different trails for different experience levels. What we did was hard, but not hard enough where we needed hiking poles or special equipment. I do recommend bringing a backpack of sorts to have water and snacks for along the way. We burned over 1,500 calories on that hike, so the one banana I had was necessary. If you are more adventurous, there is actual mountain climbing you can do, so there is something for everyone’s skill level.
Switzerland has to be one of the most beautiful, scenic countries in all of Europe. From the turquoise colored lakes to the tallest peaks in the Alps, it was the perfect setting for Chris and I to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.
Thank you for reading! Until next time…
Prost! xo,
