Navigating through Lauterbrunnen’s single thoroughfare in the middle of July requires a snail’s pace. Our car’s brake pedal gets a workout as herds of oblivious tourists exiting the train station flow straight into the street. We even come to a complete stop to indulge a couple who are posing for an Instagramable moment. There are people everywhere. But thankfully our accommodation is set out of town.
Once past the almost 300m high Staubbach waterfall, the road clears and our home for the next seven nights comes into sight. Despite packed to the brim with holidaymakers, Camping Jungfrau feels tranquil, with our fellow campers adopting a laidback holiday pace. However, the crowds should come as no surprise. After all, it’s the peak of Swiss summer, and the no vacancy sign is upon every hotel, B&B and campground in town.
We are here for a week of hiking and fresh mountain air. A holiday I previously would never have considered relaxing, believing recharging occurred only by lazying at the pool with a cocktail in hand. But stereotypes get boring, and I now am one of those people who require a yearly sojourn into the mountains for my sanity. But little did I know that the hiking paths would be the key to avoiding the tourist mass in popular destinations like Lauterbrunnen.
Our first hike is on the Mürren side above the Lauterbrunnen valley, where most of our day trips end up being. There are two ways up, the cable car from Stechelberg, a short drive from town, or a gondola and train combination via Grutschalp, starting at the beginning of the village. Armed with a picnic lunch we collected between the campground store and the only supermarket in tow, we make our way up to Mürren via the second option.
As we squeeze into the gondola like sardines in a can, I wonder if spending a summer in the tourist mecca of Switzerland was a smart choice. But my fears subside as the crowds disperse on our arrival into Mürren and we are only a handful of people searching for the Allmendhubel funicular.
At 1907m above sea level, Allmendhubel, with its playground and picture-postcard views is a popular day trip. But the crowds are manageable, and the kids enjoy a quick play while we asses the hiking card. With promises to return another day, we leave the playground and the crowds behind and head on our way. Our trail of choice, “Mountain View”, has the towering giant peaks of the region, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (who do an excellent job at making us feel very small) accompany us on our pleasant 2-hour walk.
Passing no few than a handful of other hikers it feels like we have the mountain to ourselves. Even after calling Switzerland home for close to 19 years, the setting has me awestruck. Lunch, a picnic of fresh bread, cured meats and colourful boiled eggs, is like a scene out of the sound of music, where it feels like Maria and the VonTrapp children could appear singing “Do-Re-Mi” at any moment. Such a stark contrast to the claustrophobic feeling we felt coming up in the cable car.
Usually a 2-hour hike, we took things a little slower, stopping for plenty of Gümmibär breaks for Little Z, who navigated the sometimes rocky path like a champion. The final descent to Grütschalp was a little steep for her five-year-old legs (and my niggly knee), but we just took our time before rejoining the masses to jump back in our sardine can back down to Lauterbrunnen.
This pattern continued all week, finding various hiking paths as the solution to leaving the crowds behind.
Instead of taking the packed train from Grütschalp to Mürren, we followed the (free) Detective Trail. As we solved the clues and made our way to Mürren on foot, we found wild blueberries to pick, another great playground and a farm selling cheese and ice cream.
Alternatively, we also ventured up to Mürren via the cable cars at Stechelberg, which take tourists up to the popular Schilthorn. Hugely busy all day, I, however, noticed that the majority of the visitors stuck to the cable car stations, not daring to venture out past its comforts. At the rocky Birg outcrop, the station below Schilthorn, we ventured out of its cable car station to walk to the “Grauseewli” lake. We skimmed rocks across its glass-like surface, made snowballs with the pockets of leftover snow and enjoyed another picnic, sharing the location with just a handful other people.
After promising the kids another visit to the Allmendhubel playground, we travelled again up to Mürren and let them cheat by taking the funicular up. We, however, decided to earn our lunch and hike up. Still here, we rarely crossed the path of another hiker.
Just one single hike had an unexpected influx of busyness, Bachalpsee above Grindelwald. Compared to Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald takes the tourist scale up a level, home to many more restaurants, shops, and hotels, a great place to base yourself if you prefer a little more life in your alpine villages. It’s mountain, Grindelwald-First has plenty of exciting activities that draw the crowds, but I honestly expected the walk to the lake to be a little quieter than it was. Here hikers and tourist alike, some in footwear more suitable to the city than the mountains, walked the hour-long path. Despite the crowds, the scene that greeted us was worth it, with the Schreckhorn peak mirrored in its waters. It was here I took my favourite photo of the entire trip if not the whole year.
I am glad we took the risk and visited the Jungfrau region in peak season despite its popularity. And we will return. Because now we know the secret to avoiding the crowds – packing a pair of hiking boots.
