Bernese Oberland: Murren - Schilthorn

Our last day, we explored the far side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and the town of Murren. Like a Swiss themed version of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” our day included a train, a cable car, another train, a funicular, several additional cable cars, another train, another cable car, and one last train to get back home.

The first part of our day was maybe my most favorite experience in the Jungfrau region and the second part was definitively our least favorite.

 The highlight was Allmendhubel, which is a plateau above the town of Murren reached by funicular. Here, again, we found friendly Swiss bell-wearing cows, a wonderful playground, and a café. We spent a long time here.

Ben ponders his future as a Swiss cheese maker.

Norah gets acquainted with some really friendly cows.

This girl was interested in coming home with us.

Eli and I took a moment to savor a beer on a sunny patio while the kids played.

From there, we set out on an excellent trail called the Children’s Adventure Trail. I didn’t exactly understand why the trail was so named until we discovered a long green slide in the woods. A little bit of exploration revealed additional play equipment including a tree house, a see saw, and a really fun zip line that Eli and the kids rode 20 times each and I rode exactly once. The trail continued down the hill to a great picnic spot right beneath the Murren-Birg cable car station.

Our next stop up the mountain, the thrill walk at Birg, was also worthwhile. The sweeping views of the valley were extremely photogenic. The walk, bolted into the side of the cliff, included a tight-rope, a glass floor, and a wire tunnel.

During this walk, we learned that Ben is absolutely fearless and has no anxiety at all about heights. He must have done this tight-rope walk at least 5 or 6 times and several Chinese tourists will now feature this brave American kid in their personal videos as he was jumping on the wire while others clung to the cliff-wall.

Going up!

Just casually walking a tight-rope bolted into the side of a cliff, NBD.

If tight-ropes aren’t your thing, there is also a glass floor.

Or, this full-on wire tunnel that we allowed our children to take, but that Eli and I wouldn’t dare try!

We took the additional cable car to Schilthorn, a mountain top outpost made famous by the 007 film “Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” This stop offered the same views as Birg, only from a higher altitude. They make a big deal about James Bond here, with some exhibits and trail markers with information about the history of the film series. They also play clips of the movie soundtrack everywhere, including in the bathrooms, which Norah and I both found to be totally weird.

I mean, come on.

The downside of this last stop was that it was extremely overcrowded, particularly with large tourist groups. On the trail earlier in the day we passed few others, but here, we were packed in like sardines. Because of this, it took us almost 90 minutes in line to get the cable cars back down the mountain and these delays meant that we didn’t make it home until nearly 7 pm. Tired and cranky, we made a frozen pizza for dinner and called it a day.