The Lauterbrunnen Valley and Gimmelwald

The Lauterbrunnen Valley is one of those achingly beautiful places.  The near endless sky, the cliff faces rising out of nothing, and the bright green pastures come together in such a way you almost need help convincing yourself that it's all real.  We visited the Lauterbrunnen Valley with my parents during their visit to Switzerland.  After seeing pictures from my sister and her husband's trip to the area, my parents decided that the region was a necessary addition to their itinerary.  We were not disappointed.

Our route took us through Interlaken on a train that originated in Frankfurt.

 We snagged a quiet compartment- prime real estate.

Once upon a time, my family spent the night in a converted train caboose for my birthday.  It had buttons you could press to play recorded train sounds.  This was almost as good.

 In Interlaken, we transferred to the Berner Oberland- Bahn, a cog-rail train.

We took this train directly to Lauterbrunnen.  Lauterbrunnen station is also a primary transfer point to reach the famous Jungfraujoch.

Welcome to Lauterbrunnen.  Yes my friends, that is bright blue sky, snow-capped mountains, timber chalets and a waterfall all in a single photograph.

We stopped for an early lunch before heading off on our hike.

Lauterbrunnen Valley is home to the highest waterfall in Switzerland,...  

but it also hosts sights extraordinary in their simplicity.

Farmhands were working the hay, residents waved as they drove down the dirt road in their tractors, and the sheep and cows seemed to soak up the beauty the same as us.

Sheep- living the good life.

This cow had a heart on her forehead.

We walked to Trummelbach Falls, a giant complex of subterranean waterfalls.

A special lift built underground took us inside the mountain.

You could hear the waterfalls before you could see them.  The Trummelbach Falls carry melt water from the Aletsch Glacier.  

Some falls carry up to 20,000 liters of water per second.

 

Deeper inside the mountain, the temperature dropped and the sound of the falls filled the small passageways.  

Overtime, the mountain has been sculpted by water creating some very interesting shapes in the rocks.

After leaving the falls, we walked to the very end of the valley but, we couldn't resist taking a cable car up to see the small towns at the top of the cliffs.

We made the quick trip up to Gimmelwald.  If you are familiar with Rick Steves, you know that this little village is his Swiss happy place.

It doesn't get much cuter than this.  Despite its relative isolation, every building, garden, pasture and pen was meticulously well-maintained.

The views alone were worth the trip up.

After taking the cable car down to the valley floor, we took the bus to return to Lauterbrunnen and headed back to Zurich.

Thanks for reading!

-The Merry Swiss Ms