Lauterbrunnen Valley, Grindelwald and Eiger Day Trips from Interlaken

Twenty to thirty-five minutes south of Interlaken Ost, the narrow Lütschine gorge splits at Zweilütschinen (652 metres) into two contrasting alpine landscapes: the vertical limestone trough of the Lauterbrunnen Valley (drained by the Weisse Lütschine) to the west, and the wide green amphitheatre of Grindelwald (drained by the Schwarze Lütschine) beneath the north wall of the Eiger to the east.

Because both valleys lie within easy reach of the Bödeli plain, travellers staying in town can explore sheer waterfall cliffs, subterranean glacier gorges, car-free cliffside villages, and high mountain tarns on a single day ticket. The contrasting geology of the two branches makes visiting both on a circular route one of the most rewarding excursions in the Bernese Oberland.

How the Coupled Bernese Oberland Railway Splits at Zweilütschinen

Opened in 1890 with a mixed adhesion and Riggenbach rack system on 1,000-millimetre gauge, the Bernese Oberland Railway (Berner Oberland-Bahn, BOB) runs a clever operating pattern from Interlaken Ost. Half-hourly trains depart as coupled two-unit sets: the front carriages carry destination boards for Lauterbrunnen, while the rear carriages are marked for Grindelwald. After calling at Wilderswil, the junction for Schynige Platte, the train reaches Zweilütschinen, uncouples in two minutes, and sends each half up its respective branch line.

Clear electronic signs on the platform at Interlaken Ost and on the exterior of every carriage indicate which section goes to which valley, so boarding the proper unit at the start of the journey means you never have to change seats at the junction. On the return trip toward the lakes, the two branch trains meet again at Zweilütschinen and couple smoothly into a single train for the final run down the gorge.

Lauterbrunnen (797 m), Staubbach Fall and Trümmelbach

Twenty-two minutes from Interlaken Ost, the western branch terminates at Lauterbrunnen (797 metres), set in a U-shaped glacial valley framed by sheer calcareous cliffs up to 1,000 metres high. Directly above the western edge of the village plunges the Staubbach Fall (Staubbachfall), a single-drop waterfall nearly 300 metres high whose wind-scattered spray inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write his poem Gesang der Geister über den Wassern during his stay at the vicarage in October 1779. In summer, a rock-cut gallery lets walkers climb behind the falling water. Three kilometres further south up the flat valley floor (linked by PostBus line 141 toward Stechelberg), the ten glacier-fed cascades of the Trümmelbach Falls thunder inside a narrow corkscrew gorge drained from the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. From Lauterbrunnen station, the Wengernalp Railway climbs east to Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg, while the BLM cableway and narrow-gauge railway ascend the western cliff to car-free Mürren.

Walking or cycling the level roadside path between Lauterbrunnen village and the Trümmelbach gorge lets you appreciate the scale of the vertical rock walls that enclose the valley floor. Inside the mountain at Trümmelbach, an inclined tunnel lift and a series of lit rock galleries, stairs, and bridges bring visitors within arm's reach of the roaring glacial meltwater as it carves potholes and spiral chutes through solid rock.

Grindelwald (1,034 m) and the Eiger North Face

Taking thirty-five minutes from Interlaken Ost, the eastern branch climbs a 12 percent rack gradient to Grindelwald (1,034 metres). The village spreads across green pastures directly beneath the 1,800-metre limestone wall of the Eiger North Face (Eigernordwand, summit 3,967 metres), first climbed from 21 to 24 July 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer, and Fritz Kasparek. From Grindelwald Terminal (943 metres), the Männlichen gondola rises west toward Kleine Scheidegg and the Eiger Express ascends to Jungfraujoch, while from the upper village the First aerial cableway climbs to 2,168 metres for the two-hour round-trip walk to the twin alpine tarns of the Bachalpsee (2,265 metres).

Making a Full Loop via Kleine Scheidegg

You do not need to retrace your steps to Interlaken: ride the BOB train up to Lauterbrunnen, take the Wengernalp Railway over the 2,061-metre pass at Kleine Scheidegg beneath the Eiger, and descend through Grindelwald back to Interlaken Ost on a single circular day ticket. Travellers who are not ascending all the way to the high glacier station can pause at Kleine Scheidegg or Männlichen to walk the panoramic alpine trail connecting the two ridges with the towering rock wall of the Eiger directly overhead, then return to town for a traditional dinner from our Interlaken food guide.

Because Grindelwald occupies an open bowl rather than a narrow canyon, sunlight lingers across its south-facing meadows while the dark limestone precipice of the Eiger towers opposite. On calm mornings, the surface of the Bachalpsee above the upper cableway station acts as a natural mirror reflecting the glaciated peak of the Schreckhorn across the valley.

Exploring both branches of the Lütschine in a single day demonstrates how dramatically alpine topography can change within a few kilometres. In Lauterbrunnen, the landscape is defined by verticality: sheer limestone walls rise directly from flat green meadows while white ribbons of water plunge from hanging valleys far overhead and glacial torrents roar inside dark rock clefts at Trümmelbach. Across the pass in Grindelwald, the horizon expands into a wide, sunlit amphitheatre of pastures and timber chalets backed by the immense rock and ice bastions of the Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn, and Eiger North Face. Thanks to the coordinated split-train operations at Zweilütschinen and the continuous rack railway over Kleine Scheidegg, moving between these two mountain worlds from your base in Interlaken is effortless, scenic, and completely car-free from morning until evening. Even travellers who prefer gentle valley strolling over high ridge hikes can ride the train to Lauterbrunnen to walk the flat meadow path beneath the waterfalls, then take the cogwheel carriage over Kleine Scheidegg to enjoy an afternoon coffee facing the Eiger wall before rolling back down to Interlaken Ost. Checking the branch destination boards on the carriages before departure makes the entire valley loop straightforward from start to finish, giving you time to linger at both waterfall gorges and alpine pass terraces along the way while admiring the surrounding glaciers and mountain meadows of the Bernese Oberland.