Is Lauterbrunnen worth visiting? Top things to do in Lauterbrunnen
Lauterbrunnen is in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps, not far from Interlaken. It’s a small village set in a valley surrounded by stunning alpine greenery and mighty rockfaces.
It’s known as the place of ‘many fountains’ because of its 72 waterfalls that gush down and out of the rocks. It is also home to the only place in Europe where you can enter a rockface and look at glacier waterfalls inside a mountain.
But is Lauterbrunnen worth visiting? And is it worth visiting if you only have a day? Spoiler alert: yes, it is!
I recently visited when I was staying in Bern and had a fantastic day out. I loved the village, the picturesque valley, and the views of all the waterfalls and surrounding mountains. It was an amazing day, and I found there were lots of things to do in Lauterbrunnen with my time. I only wish I could have stayed longer.
Below, I have outlined the best things to do in Lauterbrunnen, along with practical information on how to get there.
I’ve also included a few extra things you could do if you’re lucky enough to have longer here.
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How to get to Lauterbrunnen
If you plan to go to Lauterbrunnen by train for the day, you’ll need to catch a regional train from Interlaken Ost. You can connect to Interlaken via most of the major cities in Switzerland. Bern is around 55 minutes by train, and Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich are around 2 hours. Geneva is a little further away (just under 3 hours).
From Interlaken, the train ride is just over 20 minutes. It also takes around 20 to 30 minutes to drive from Interlaken. There are two parking areas in the village that you can use, one of which is by the station.
If you arrive at the train station, when you exit and it is behind you, turn left. You’ll see traditional Swiss chalet buildings lining each side of the road with small shops, cafes, and restaurants.
Alternatively, you can book organised tours that will take you to Lauterbrunnen and some of the surrounding villages and attractions. You can explore these here.
The Swiss Travel Pass
If you’re day tripping to Lauterbrunnen or using it as a base and sightseeing around the area, you should consider purchasing the Swiss Travel Pass. This gives you unlimited travel by train, boat, and bus, and free entry to over 500 museums.
Given that travelling around Switzerland is not cheap, if you plan to do a lot of this, the pass offers good value for money.
It’s particularly beneficial if you intend to experience any of the ‘panorama’ trains in Switzerland (e.g. the Bernina Express, Glacier Express, and GoldenPass Line). These are included in the ticket price. For mountain trips, you can get discounts of up to 50% on trains and cable cars.
You’ll quickly find the cost of your travel adds up once you start hopping on cable cars, funiculars, and mountain trains, so check out the likely cost of individual trips in advance and see whether the pass would save you money.
You can book the Swiss Travel Pass here.
Top things to do in Lauterbrunnen
Below are the top things to do in Lauterbrunnen. Some of these you can cover in a day; others will require you being in the area for a bit longer.
See the famous Staubbach Falls
The first stop when you’re in Lauterbrunnen on a day out is to head down to the Staubbach Falls. This is the waterfall that you’ll often see in photos of Lauterbrunnen.
It is a massive waterfall – the country’s highest free-falling waterfall – that plunges almost 300 metres down a steep rock face. It’s so spectacular you can’t miss it – and if you arrived by train, you’ll have no doubt seen it as you were pulling into the station.
It is quite a sight. If you take the short walk along the main road through the village, you’ll come to a couple of chalets in front of which you can get a magnificent view of it.
And in the summer, you can climb up to a platform that allows you to view it from behind.
Walk the ‘Waterfall Trail’
After staring up at the Staubbach Falls, you can then walk through the valley along what one local I spoke to referred to as the ‘Waterfall Trail’. If you walk up to the Trümmelbach Falls, this will take around 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your speed and how often you stop to admire your surroundings. You can either walk back or catch a bus.
If you are able to walk the trail, I’d really recommend it. It’s a flat walk along a wide path, and there are some incredible views along the way. You can look up and admire some of the other, smaller, waterfalls flowing down the rockface, see the pretty little village church, and stop off at some of the stalls near the start of the walk that sell drinks and ice creams.
Walking further into the valley, you can look across the green fields at the little chalets dotted around and the cows grazing on the grass. There are mountain peaks in the distance.
It’s hard to describe in words just how beautiful it is here. Even with a few other people along the route and some bike riders zooming by, it’s an incredibly peaceful walk. For me, this walk alone made Lauterbrunnen worth visiting.
Go inside a mountain and view the Trümmelbach Falls
Towards the end of the trail, you’ll see a path that veers off to the left. Take this turning and walk across the fields, past a small stream, and out across the main road. You’ll then see signs to the Trümmelbach Falls.
The entrance is up a pathway beyond a restaurant along the side of the road (top tip: if you need a comfort break after your walk, there are toilets by the restaurant, but none in the falls complex).
The Trummelbach Falls are the only waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen that you need to pay to see. But as it’s the only place in Europe where you can look at glacier waterfalls inside a mountain, I think it’s worth it.
Inside the Trümmelbach Falls
When you’re inside, you can get up close to 10 waterfalls. These take water from the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains at a rate of up to 20,000 litres per second.
So, although the waterfalls vary in size, they’re all pretty powerful!
Four of the waterfalls you observe from the outside. After walking along the trail and then up the steps to see them, the spray they give off is really welcome if you need to cool down.
You then catch a lift, which takes you up inside the rock to see six more waterfalls. These stream out and run down from different rocks and can be viewed from various viewing platforms. As you go further inside, it gets darker, and the tunnels and falls are illuminated.
It’s quite something to see – and hear – these falls: a reminder of the power of nature (in some cases, I didn’t want to go too near to them!).
A note of caution, however: the walkways are dark and quite wet in places, so I wouldn’t wear sandals or flip flops inside. If you have mobility problems, this is probably not suitable for you – even though you go up in a lift to some of the falls, there are also some sets of stairs to ascend.
Leaving the Trümmelbach Falls
When you exit the Trümmelbach Falls, you’ll come out onto an outside staircase/slope. This gives you more great views across the valley of Lauterbrunnen.
Look up and you might see paragliders in the air: this is a popular activity in the area, and I saw many gliding around above me when I was there.
You can then walk back to Lauterbrunnen or catch the bus (number 141). It stops right outside the restaurant along the main road and runs every 30 minutes (at 14 and 44 minutes past the hour) until 7 pm when it drops to one an hour. It stops several times along the way and ends up at the train station.
Go up to Mürren village
If you have enough time on your visit, you could go up to the village of Mürren, which sits high above the valley, looking out across the surrounding mountains.
To do this, you need to catch a cable car up to Grütschalp. You can catch this from across the road from Lauterbrunnen train station. It is a ride of about four minutes. You then swap to a small train that takes you along and through the mountain scenery.
It is a really picturesque ride. Sit at the back on the left on the way up and the front and right on the way back to get the best views. The journey is 10 to 15 minutes.
Things to do in Mürren
When arrive in Mürren, you’ll discover another charming village. It is about a five-minute walk from the station.
As with Lauterbrunnen, it is littered with pretty alpine chalet-type buildings. But in contrast to Lauterbrunnen, it is car-free, which makes for a particularly peaceful environment. As you wander, you’ll spot a few scenic viewpoints where you can look out into the valley.
Depending on how long you have in Mürren, you might find that you’re limited to strolling through the area, taking in the views, and stopping for a drink or some food. This was fine for me, not least because the actual journey to Murren made it all worthwhile.
However, if you do have more time, there are several things you could do, all of which would be amazing.
Ascend to the top of Schilthorn in the Bernese Alps
One of the most popular things to do if you have enough time in Mürren is head up to the Schilthorn, a summit in the Bernese Alps. It sits at nearly 3,000 metres high. If the image below is familiar, it’s because it’s famous for being featured in the James Bond movie ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’.
When you get to the top, you can see the Eiger, Jungfrau, and Monch (and apparently another 200 mountains!), experience the Piz Gloria (a revolving restaurant at the highest point), go into the interactive Bond World exhibition, and hike. In the winter months, you can ski and toboggan.
Check out trips to Schilthorn here.
Go hiking
If you fancy doing a bit of hiking up in the mountains, you could catch the cable car up to Grütschalp and then walk the rest of the way to Mürren.
The 4.4 kilometre route takes you through the forest and out to views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. This walk roughly takes an hour and is rated as an easy hike here. If you don’t have enough time for this, an alternative would be to walk to Winteregg and then hop on the train to Mürren.
You can discover other hiking routes and trails in and around Mürren here.
Go paragliding over the valley
Mürren’s high elevation means it’s a perfect place to do some paragliding. As mentioned earlier, I saw people gliding earlier on my trip, and some landed in the Lauterbrunnen valley. No doubt you will experience some epic views should you do this.
You can explore and book paragliding here (including tandem paragliding).
Other things to do in Lauterbrunnen if you have longer
If you’re fortunate to have more time in Lauterbrunnen, there are even more things you could do outside of the village.
Depending on what you choose, consider purchasing the Swiss Travel Pass so that you can benefit from the savings this brings.
Look out at two alpine lakes from Harder Kulm
You could actually cram doing this into a day out in Lauterbrunnen if you plan for a full day of sightseeing.
It’s easy to stop off en route and take a quick trip up to Harder Kulm, which sits at an elevation of over 1320 metres. This is what I did, as the funicular station for this is just a short walk from Interlaken Ost station, and I had to change here to take an onward train to Lauterbrunnen.
The funicular ride up to Harder Kulm takes less than 10 minutes. When you arrive, you’ll walk up a slope with a traditional restaurant at the top. From here, you’ll see a viewing platform with people peering out into the valley below.
You enter the viewing platform by walking through the restaurant’s terrace. When you’re on it and looking down, you’ll get incredible views of the area. You can see the entire valley and the town of Interlaken which sits in between two lakes (hence its name). On one side is Lake Thun, and on the other, Lake Brienz. It’s quite something.
You could then spend a bit of time sitting on the terrace relaxing with a drink and/or food and admire the scenery. You could also take a short walk around the area.
I enjoyed my short time up here, but do note that the train ticket is quite pricey if you haven’t purchased the Swiss Travel Pass. If you have, you can get a 50% discount on the ride.
Alternatively, you can hike to Harder Kulm from Interlaken. This is listed as a hike that takes two and a half hours.
Visit Wengen and the Jungfraujoch
Wengen is another small pretty village in the Bernese Oberland. As with Mürren, it sits overlooking the valley of Lauterbrunnen (you can look out over the Staubbach Falls in places), and it is car-free. If you’re coming from beyond the Bernese Oberland, change trains at Interlaken Ost for Wengen. You can also take the train from Lauterbrunnen.
A visit to Wengen offers the opportunity to go higher into the mountains – most notably to the Jungfraujoch, which has Europe’s highest train station at over 3,400 metres and links to Mount Jungfrau in the Bernese Alps. It’s often referred to as the ‘top of Europe’.
When you’re at the top, you can take a lift to a viewing platform to look out over the Alp’s longest glacier, tour an ice palace, go hiking in the mountains, or zipline between them.
To get to the Jungfraujoch from Wengen, you can catch the train via Kleine Scheidegg.
Spend a day in the capital, Bern
Bern, Switzerland’s charming capital, in the western part of the country, is just an hour and 20 minutes by train from Lauterbrunnen, including a change in Interlaken. I day-tripped from Bern to Lauterbrunnen, but you may prefer to do it the other way around.
There’s lots of things to see and do in Bern. But as it’s closer in size to a large town, it’s easy to get around, and you can see pretty much see everything it has to offer in a short time, even if you’re only on a day trip.
The city’s old town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features medieval buildings. It is also home to some excellent museums, most notably the ones about Albert Einstein, one of the city’s most famous residents. Nearby is the 12th century Zytglogge clock tower, which you can climb to the top of.
The city also has a family of bears that live along the Aare River in a fenced area and a church with the Switzerland’s tallest spire.
My fuller post on one day in Bern will give you more information on the top things to do here.
Explore Thun and sail on Lake Thun
The city of Thun lies on the banks of Lake Thun and the River Aare flows through it. On a day out here, you can take a boat trip and see some of the surrounding scenery from on the water. Some of the boats go to Spiez, a nearby town with a castle. Oberhofen also has a gorgeous castle that sits right on the water.
Thun also has a small, charming old town that’s worth exploring, with a 12th-century castle notable for its four towers that sits above the city. If you walk up to the castle during your visit, you’ll get some excellent views down below to the city centre and its medieval streets and squares. You can also see across the lake to the mountains.
So, is Lauterbrunnen worth visiting?
To sum up, yes, Lauterbrunnen is worth visiting. In fact, I would say it’s unmissable if you’re in the Bernese Oberland area.
When you visit, you can experience the natural beauty of Lauterbrunnen, see lots of incredible waterfalls, and do a bit of walking (some are easy walks, others are for more experienced hikers). Depending on the time of year that you visit, you can enjoy many outdoor activities, including skiing and paragliding. The village also has a mini-golf course and an open-air, heated, swimming pool perfect for the summer months.
Lauterbrunnen is also in a great location for access to other nearby towns and cities: Interlaken is very close, with its funicular up to Harder Kulm (you can look out over the picturesque valley that sits in between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz), and Wengen with the chance to go up to the Jungfraujoch and Europe’s highest railway station.
The capital, Bern, is also a short train ride away. So, if you chose to stay longer, it would be a great base from which to explore other destinations.
It’s a top place to put on your Switzerland itinerary!
Other top places to visit in Switzerland
If you’re looking for information on other top places in Switzerland, I have lots on my website. These include:
And more…which you can find here!
