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The Jungfrau Region
The image is borrowed from the Jungfrau Region Railroads, with appreciation. This graphic is pervasive in the region, illustrating brochures, placemats and more! (We've not found it in WCs.) This relatively small image is admittedly difficult to see. If you have a fast connection or time to kill we have a larger version (109 kB). The Eiger - Mönch - Jungfrau range is
in the center of the background. To the right of center you'll see the Lauterbrunnen
Valley running from Interlaken (bottom) toward the upper-righthand corner. At the end of
the Lauterbrunnen Valley running up to the right-hand side of the image is the cable
taking one to the Schilthorn mountaintop.
Below that mountaintop, in the center right, is our favorite
village of Mürren,
set on its ledge above the valley. In the upper center is Kleine Scheidegg, and in between
KS and Mürren is found
the village of Wengen, overlooking Lauterbrunnen. At the bottom, Interlaken, between the lakes. (Making clear the
origin of the city's name.) Reaching to the left inside the ring of hills is the
Lütschine Valley, ending at Grindelwald, below the Eiger (the left- most of the three
largest mountains. Hard to understand except on the spot, the most advantageous views are from Mürren and Schynige Platte. (The Platte is identified by the red title found between the image center and Interlaken at the bottom.) From Schynige Platte you have an unobstructed, glorious panoramic view, from a distance, of the entire massif. From Mürren, on the west (right), one has a superb unobstructed view of the entire range looking obliquely to the east. The view is even better from the Schilthorn, above Mürren. No better views ... or equal ... can be found. Wengen is too close to the Jungfrau and the Eiger is not visible. Grindelwald has a better view of the Eigernordwand (North Wall), but an inferior view in all other respects. Lauterbrunnen at the heart of the valley has restricted mountain views, though the valley itself with its waterfall and sheer walls is quite scenic. The panorama clearly shows how Interlaken is well beyond the mountainous area, with virtually no view of the heights. It's a lakefront city, not a mountain city. Wilderswil, three kilometers to the south (up), is even more cut off visually from the mountains by the foothills. |
From this image one can begin to catch a notion of how lovely is the approach to Mürren. The trip up the funicular from Lauterbrunne to Grütschalp is relatively pedestrian, though newcomers will enjoy it, especially when many waterfalls are in full display. The short train ride from Grütschalp to Mürren provides spectacular views of the Jungfrau range.Auto Visitors to the Berner Oberland
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Gehrlein Traveling
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ere's a view looking south at the Jungfrau
region ... as it would appear from 15,000 feet in a helicopter about 5 miles due north of
Interlaken.
f, for some reason we can't fathom, your car is
an important part of your visit here, consider Lauterbrunnen's Hotel Staubbach for your
base. Mürren and Wengen, of course, don't permit cars. While Lauterbrunnen is not our
favorite village in general we think it works best for those with cars, because:
