Staubbach Falls

Posted on September 8, 2020 by littleboysbigworldblog under Switzerland

Of all the waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen valley (and there are many!), Staubbach Falls is probably the most iconic. Depending on your vantage point, the falls appear to be pouring straight into town. For us, it was our cabin.

Also contributing to the falls popularity, is the close proximity to town and the fact that this hike is FREE. Almost unheard of in Switzerland. We were staying at Camping Jungfrau, so the walk over to the falls was very short. From the campground:

Once you get to the entrance, the hike up and back is only about half a mile. You start with a short uphill climb area.

Great views at the top of this trail section.

At the end of the trail, you come to a tunnel that will take you to the back section of the falls.

There is a set of stairs that are followed by a rough rock path. Fair warning, this path is slick. It is behind the falls and the mist keeps this area wet almost constantly so hold on to the safety rope and wear appropriate shoes. The view is worth it though.

Can you see the mist? Can you see the glacier? O is giving you a hint.

Glacier view without the water in the way. It almost looks like a cloud.

Overall, super easy hike with great views and the experience of standing behind a waterfall. Can’t be missed!

For your trip

Since the falls are free to hike to and they are located so close to town, they are extremely popular. So it is best to get there early in the morning or later in the evening when the majority of the crowd is gone. The falls are lit up at night.

When leaving the falls, if you continue down the road away from town you will come across a little hut that is selling coffee and ice cream. Stop immediately! This little hut is hiding a secret. They are serving some of the best ice cream in town. All of the ice cream is made in Switzerland from local ingredients and it is super yummy. I don’t know the name of the hut and it isn’t shown on google maps but trust me you want to find it.

If you go a little farther down the road to the end of it (again going away from town), you will find Camping Jungfrau. There is a small grocery store and a nice restaurant located here. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the restaurant is closed but a BBQ food truck parks here instead. The truck is called New Age BBQ and it was delicious. It is hard to find good BBQ in Europe so do yourself a favor and search for these guys when you are in town.

Crazy kids with food truck in back.

Happy hiking! And…. eating 🙂

Allmendhubel

Posted on August 10, 2020 by littleboysbigworldblog under Switzerland

Another day, another playground. Day 2 of our Switzerland trip and we went up the mountain early to beat the rain. We decided on Allmendhubel, which was fairly close to our base in Lauterbrunnen.

We caught the gondola up from Stechelberg, which took us to the town of Mürren. Mürren is an adorable, traditional Swiss mountain town that is completely car free. We had to walk across part of the town to reach the funicular train up to Allmendhubel.

After a short ride, we had arrived! The best part…. we had the entire playground to ourselves!

This was an excellent playground. It had all the essentials like slides, climbing ropes, swings and a zipline. It also had some bonus areas like a “cheese shop” with stackable cheese rolls, tunnels that ran under the playground, and a fake cow that you could “milk”. You had to pour water into the wooden cows mouth and kids could then “milk” the water out of the udders. Sounds crazy but was E’s favorite.

It was such a peaceful location. We were able to sit and watch the kids play with nothing but the sound of cowbells echoing in the background.

Next to the playground is a small flower trail. It has planters along the trail with all of the local wild flowers planted and labeled. There are also cute hands-on educational activities. Everything was in German and English.

The trail cuts through a cow field so watch for cow pies!

After our hike, we had an ice cream treat and retraced our steps back down.

We made it back to our cabin just in time for the rain.

Another lovely day in Switzerland in the books.

Info for your trip:

There are 2 ways to get up to Allmendhubel from the Lauterbrunnen area. You can take the train from Lauterbrunnen or you can take the Stechelberg gondola. We heard the Stechelberg gondola was more scenic so we chose this option. For either option, there are gondola switches and train change overs but they are pretty straight forward. For either option, you still need to walk across Mürren to get to the funicular but it is a short walk with great views.

We were able to buy a combined ticket for the Stechelberg gondola and the Allmendhubel funicular at the Stechelberg station. The Stechelberg station also had a ton of parking available, which might make it easier to get to compared to the Lauterbrunnen station. Oh and it has a waterfall very close to the parking lot that you can pop over to see. Win-win!

Männlichen

Posted on August 6, 2020 by littleboysbigworldblog under Switzerland

We recently did a week long trip to the Jungfrau region of Switzerland. It was the perfect place to get some fresh mountain air and some serious outdoor time. For our first full day of holiday, we headed up the Maenlichen gondola.

Maenlichen is a kid friendly area and is know for the cow trail or LieselotteTrail. We didn’t get a chance to do the trail but did see the map and it looks super fun.

The first cow stop is located at the gondola station at the bottom.

It has been awhile since we have been on a gondola so it felt like a new experience for the kiddos.

Once up top, you are greeted by a gigantic cow playground.

You go up via the backside and slide out the mouth. Ha! On the inside there are a few play items and you can climb to the top for a view of the surrounding mountains.

Surrounding the cow, there is other playground equipment with a stunning backdrop.

(These are mini trampolines. It made it look like they were jumping for the udders. Ha!)

The top of the Maenlichen gondola is also where you can start the “Royal Walk” to the peak. At the top is a viewing platform in the shape of a crown and views of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks. The kiddos and I stayed at the playground while Gav ran to the top. He literally ran to the top and back down. He will use any excuse to run at altitude. Ha!

It was a nice morning trip and a good way to start our holiday. We were back at the cabin in time for lunch.

Info for your trip:

The Maenlichen gondola starts in Grindelwald. There is a large parking lot just outside the station and it is 5 CHF to park *cash only*. They are building a new Jungfrau cablecar at this location. The building is huge and they are putting in a parking garage next to it. This wasn’t open during our trip but you may want to check if it is open when you go.

Masks are required in the gondolas at this time. They were allowing people to space out and it was usually only one family per gondola which was nice. Kids under 6 travel free. Gondolas in Switzerland are always pricey so make sure to check the current rates before you go or you may be shocked when you get there. And as always, go early!

That’s the end of day 1. More to come!

Littleboys, Big World

Tag Archives: Jungfrau region with kids

Staubbach Falls

Allmendhubel

Männlichen