Switzerland Travel Series - Part 8 - Schilthorn

Another weekend means another trip to the Alps. And it was the last trip this year as we're going to Slovakia in a few days and we will be staying there for two weeks. We decided to go to Schilthorn as it offers one of the best views in Switzerland.

When we woke up on Sunday we were disappointed with the weather and thought that we would have to stay at home. We kept checking the live stream and decided to give it a go when the clouds began to disperse.

It took us almost 3 hours to get to Lauterbrunnen and guess what? It was raining. We checked the live stream and it looked 'so, so' (this is how the guy selling tickets described the weather conditions). We were skeptical because the return ticket price is CHF 105 per person which is not cheap.

At the end we purchased our tickets as going back without seeing anything would be just a waste of our time. We agreed that if there will be no views we will just skip a few meals this week to compensate for the tickets. Just kidding 😊

Would you like to join us?

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We got on the cable car at Stechelberg. There are three stops on the way before you reach Schilthorn: Gimmelwald, Mürren and Birg. We had to change the cable car at each stop. It's very smooth and we just had to walk from one cable car to another that was already waiting there.

It takes about 30 minutes to get to Schilthorn. We were in the clouds until we reached Birg. Everything was good again as soon as we saw sunshine.

Schilthorn station is in the back of the photo..

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You can make a break at each stop (there is a cable car every 30 minutes going up and down) but we wanted to go to Schilthorn first as the weather was changing quickly. We would stop at the other stations on our way back.

Here we are on the way to Schilthorn leaving Birg behind..

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We enjoyed the promising views from the cable car..

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There is a bar, a restaurant and a shop at the Schilthorn station but we didn't want to waste time and went directly outside to enjoy the views before it gets cloudy again. It was -9 degrees Celsius and very windy so it wasn't that enjoyable after all 😊

Schilthorn

Schilthorn is a summit in the Bernese Alps. At 2970 meters, it overlooks the valley of Lauterbrunnen and it offers breathtaking panoramic views of more than 200 peaks. It makes you feel like you were on the top of the world!

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Schilthorn was also featured in the 1969 James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. You can get a glimpse behind the scenes of the movie starring George Lazenby as James Bond. There is an exhibition called the Bond World where you can learn some interesting details about the movie. You can also watch some scenes from the movie in the Bond Cinema or go on a 007 Walk of fame (this one was closed because of the weather)

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But back to the views 😊

We admired spectacular views of main summits of the Bernese Alps such as Eiger (3967 meters), Mönch (4107 meters) and Jungfrau (4158 meters) - from left to right.

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You are used to seeing blue skies on my photos but I must say I enjoyed that it was partly cloudy. It was mysterious and magical.

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It was like I was taking photos from the plane above the clouds..

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After half an hour we went inside to warm up a little bit and get some gluehwein. We could see the weather changing and decided to go back outside and take last photos before the views disappear behind the heavy clouds.

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At this point we decided to go back to Birg and see if the weather conditions there are better. And it was good that we did 😊

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Birg skyline walk platform is at 2677 meters above the sea level. The platform extends from the terrace and it's constructed from steel and glass. You feel the vibrations when you walk on the platform and it makes your stomach squeeze a bit. The platform is attached to a cliff and there is a big nothing under the glass that you're standing on except of the clouds.

There was a big group of Chinese tourists (around 50 people) with us jumping up and down on the platform and trying to take best selfies while I was holding on to the railing and hoping that the platform is strong enough to carry so many people. Not that holding on to the railing would help me if anything happened there 😊

I hope that you will enjoy these photos as I was risking my dear life while taking them 😊

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Another adrenaline attraction is the Thrill walk. It is a 200 meters long steel construction attached to the rock. You will again be hanging above the clouds. For the brave ones there is a 9 meters long rope bridge, 8 meters long crawl-through tunnel, 20 meters long glass-bottomed floor and many more things to do. It's important to follow the instructions of the guide to avoid any injuries especially when it's a lot of snow there..

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Can you see the moon?

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We wanted to stay a little longer but the last cable car was coming from Mürren so that we had to hurry back to make sure we don't have to stay there overnight.

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On the way back we were squeezed in the cable car with that group of Chinese tourists. I'm not that good with crowded places (especially when it's a vehicle hanging on cables), so I was trying to focus my attention on breathing when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and there was an older Chinese lady pointing to the screen of her smartphone. I thought that she wanted me to take a photo of her but she wouldn't give me her phone. I didn't get what she wanted but she kept pointing to her phone and smiling. Then my husband told me that she probably wants to take a photo WITH ME 😊

And he was right! I let her friend take a photo of me and her when other people started to point to their phones. I ended up smiling into many phones not knowing why (blame it on my inability to say no). When we were back in the car my husband explained to me that it's probably because I have fair skin, dark blonde hair and blue eyes 😊 This explains why they were not interested in him as he looks a little bit like them 😊

We came back home totally exhausted but happy. It was a great day and I hope you have enjoyed it too!

(that could be anyone but I promise that it's me )

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,
Martina

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