Grindlewald - A great place to visit in Switzerland. (Switzerland)

Member Name: Themaddog74

Product:	Switzerland
Date:	29/08/04 (4211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great scenery, very nice locals, Loads of things to do.

Disadvantages: Switzerland is expensive.

I am writing a review which will focus mainly on the ski village of Grindlewald in Switzerland, but I will also be mentioning Luzurn, Zurich and Geneve.

I have visited Grindlewald 3 times and stayed there twice. I think that it is a place that is well worth visiting. Grindlewald is about 2 hours drive from Zurich or Berne. It is 15 minutes drive up the mountain from Interlaken. Grindlewald is also accessable by train, but you will need to change trains in Interlaken. Grindlewald is in the German speaking part of Switzerland, but most people speak English very well. There are two other villages close to Grindlewald, they are Lauterbrunnen and Wengen. They are much smaller and do not have the atmosphere that Grindlewald has.

I first visited Grindlewald in January 2001 in the ski season. I found it to be a very pretty place and it had a great atmosphere about it. There are a large number of chalets and hotels dotted around Grindlewald and there are also 2 hostels. Grindlewald has plenty of bars, restaurants and shops catering for everyone's tastes. During the ski season, there are 2 shuttle buses which run from the gondola station at the bottom of the ski slope to the top of Grindlewald. You can't miss them as they are bright yellow old things with huge wheels. The ski resort in Grindlewald would suit beginner to intermediate skiers and although I haven't skied there, I have been told that ques can be a little slow at times for the lifts.

I have been to Grindlewald twice in the summers of 2002 and 2003. In 2002, I took my mother and it was the end of our 5 week trip through Europe. My mother said that it was one of her favourite places we visited. What she liked best was the friendliness of the locals and the fact that they would go out of their way to help you. She loved the scenery and the green fields. (Hard to imaging skiers tearing down them in winter really.) My partner loved Grindlewald also when I took her there. She had
a similar opinion to my mother. The wasps loved my partner though, especially when she had a drink and waved her arms around. I just sat still and they didn't bother me.......

What do you do in Summer there? There are loads of things that you can do in the area. You can go hiking, mountain biking, parasailing (when you jump off a cliff with a type of parachute attached to you), white water rafting, mountain climbing and you can go in the cog railway to Jungfraujoch.

It is expensive to go to Jungfraujoch - about £50 return, but it's £50 well spent. You take a small train, to a village called Keine Scheidegg and change trains there. Trains from the villages of Lauterbrunnen and Wengen also meet there, then you get on the Jungfraubahn to go the rest of the way up. You will see green fields and pass by the cows munching on the grass and you will hear the sound of the bells around their necks. The teain may need to stop and wait for a cow to move off the track either when she is ready, or when her friend behind gives her a nudge in the bum to keep moving. As you go further up, you will see glaciers until you enter the tunnel. There are 3 stops in the tunnel.

The first is Eigergletscher, where you are asked to get off the train and take a walk over to the windows and look out over this glacier. It's a great sight. The next stop is at Eigerwand, where on a clear day it's possible to see Grindlewald. The final stop is at Jungfraujoch - the top.

Before I go on, I will remind you that you need to come prepared. When I took my mother up there, we got out (it was the middle of August) and there was a huge snowstorm. The temperature was -3 degrees C and the altitude was 3454m. That afternoon, the snowstorm ended and it was very sunny. Last year when I took my partner, we both ended up very sunburned, as you get sunburn easily on snow, due to the sun reflecting on the ice. Basically, wrap up in layers, be prepeared for cold and
bring your sunscreen and SUNGLASSES.

At Jungfraujoch, you can have a go at skiing down a 100m slope, go tobogganing, they have sled dogs, a museum, observation deck and they have walks down the glacier. These are expensive, but DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WALK OUTSIDE THE PATHS THAT HAVE BEEN MARKED ON YOUR OWN. A glacier is a river of moving ice. New and often very deep cracks in the ice can appear at any time. Paths have been marked in areas least effected by the glacier. Jungfraujoch also has a souveneir shop, post box, and ice palace. As you are at a high altitude, you will notice that the air will be thinner and you will get short of breath easier. If this is happening to you, just take things slowly and take slow deep breaths. The first time I went to Jungfraujoch, I got a slight headache and felt a little run down. I took a break and then I was fine.

When going to Jungfraujoch, aim to be on an 8am train. The last train leaves Jungfraujoch at 5pm. If you miss that train, then find a nice corner somewhere on the floor to spend the night. You really need to budget on a whole day at Jungfraujoch. The train journey from Grindlewald to Jungfraujoch takes about 2 hours.

I stayed in the YHA Youth Hostel in Grindlewald. It is a very friendly place and it is clean with good facilities, even a drying room in the basement. Expect to pay about £15 pppn there. A decent breakfast is also included. There is car parking available there, in winter however, make sure that you have snow chains as it is a very steep and winding road to the Youth Hostel. It is about 1 mile from the village center. There is another youth hostel closer to the ski slope, but I don't know anything about it. You need to book very early to get a bed in the YHA Youth Hostel in winter. Their website is www.hostelbooking.com.

On the trip with my partner last year, we stayed in Luzurn. (Do not get this confused with Lausanne in the French speaking area.) It is a beautiful c
ity well worth visiting. The scenery and buildings are beautiful, public transport is great also. There are paddle steamers which are used as ferry services. Helen and I spent a day on the paddle steamers going from Luzurn to the end of the lake. it was a nice day out and great scenery.

We stayed at the YHA Hostel there and this was the only thing that spoilt our trip. The Egyptian Rowing team had been staying there for 6 weeks. They had taken over the place and left dirty sweaty clothes all over the areas where the rooms and bathrooms were. I found this to be very unhygenic. The only place where they were able to do their prayers was on a stair landing which was hardly convenient for them as they had people who needed to go up the stairs disturbing them. I and other guests had complained to the hostel management about their problem and their attutude was clear that they didn't care about what other guests thought.

I visited Zurich in January 2001 and found it to be a nice clean city, but to me, it was like all the other cities that I had been to in Europe with similar looking buildings and shops. One thing that I found weird was when I went into a supermarket and had to speak German, I then went to a fruit stall across the road and the man on it only spoke French. 100m down the road in a bakers shop, the shop keeper spoke Italian.

I have stayed in Geneva twice and... well I don't want to end this on a negative so I'll move on.

The only cheap thing that I found in Switzerland compared to other places in Europe was the petrol. It's well worth spending the money though as Switzerland has alot to offer. Generally the people in the German speaking section are friendlier than those in the French speaking sections. It is about an 8 - 10 hour drive from Calais to Switzerland, make sure you pay for a motorway toll sticker (£20) when you get there. it's scenery is great and there's alot to do. You could easily spen
d 3 weeks exploring Switzerland and a visit to Grindlewald is a must.

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