2027 Prague, Bavaria and Salzburg. See where we're going
Personal Euro Tours
Menu
Grindelwald First, Switzerland

Grindelwald First

About 76 francs to get up, and the Cliff Walk, the terrace and the alp are free once you are

Morning — Up the mountain before the cloud arrives

  • The Firstbahn leaves from the top of Grindelwald village and climbs in three stages, through Bort and Schreckfeld, to First at 2,168 meters — the sign on the mountain restaurant gives it in feet, 7,100.
  • Go early. The Eiger, the Wetterhorn and the Schreckhorn are all clear first thing far more often than they are at two in the afternoon, and the cloud that builds over the Grindelwald basin tends to arrive from below.
  • The ride itself is worth looking up from. The cabins cross open pasture with hay chalets scattered across it, then swing over the trees with the glacier ahead.

What it costs

  • Grindelwald–First return, adult: CHF 76, on the operator’s own price calculator at jungfrau.ch for a date in October — checked 8 October 2026. It prices by the day, so put your own date into it before you budget. That is the whole cost of the day; the walkway, the terrace, the views and the paths are all free once you are up there.
  • Half price with a Swiss Travel Pass, a Swiss Half Fare Card or a Bernese Oberland Pass. Free with a Jungfrau Travel Pass.
  • Prices move each season. Treat these as the shape of the cost, not a quotation.

Budget tips

  • Check the webcam before you buy the ticket. Paying to stand inside a cloud is the single most avoidable waste of money in the Bernese Oberland.
  • If you hold a Swiss Travel Pass or a Jungfrau Travel Pass, this is one of the rides where it makes a real difference. Work out which pass fits your week before you buy a single ticket.
Timber barns at Bort, the Eiger behind in cloud
Timber barns at Bort, the Eiger behind in cloud

Midday — The Cliff Walk, and the view it was built for

  • The First Cliff Walk is a steel walkway bolted to the rock face, running around the cliff below the station and out along a suspension bridge to a platform standing off the end of the ridge.
  • It is included in the price of getting up here, and it takes about twenty minutes if you stop at every railing, which you will.
  • The platform is where the Schreckhorn and the Upper Grindelwald Glacier line up, and on a warm afternoon there are paragliders launching off the slope behind you and crossing the face while you watch.
  • Nobody needs a head for heights to do it. It is a wide walkway with a solid rail, not a via ferrata — but the drop below the bridge is real and it is the reason people come.

Budget tips

  • The Cliff Walk costs nothing extra. Do not let anyone sell it to you as an add-on.
  • The mountain restaurant terrace has one of the best views in Switzerland, and you pay accordingly. A coffee bought there is worth it for the seat; a full meal is a decision, not a necessity.
  • Bring your own lunch and eat it on the grass above the station. Half the people up there are doing exactly that, and the view is identical.
The Cliff Walk bridge above the drop
The Cliff Walk bridge above the drop

Afternoon — Walk out onto the alp

  • The path north from the station leaves the crowd behind within ten minutes. It is open alp — cattle lying in the grass with the Wetterhorn behind them, meltwater running in small stone channels, hay huts every few hundred meters.
  • Bachalpsee is the classic walk from here, about an hour each way on a well-made path, and it is the reason many people come up at all.
  • If you would rather come down under your own steam than in a cabin, First is set up for it: mountain carts and trottibike scooters run down the mountain in stages — the carts from Schreckfeld down to Bort, the middle station, and the scooters from Bort on down to Grindelwald. Each is CHF 25 an adult (CHF 19 for children 6–15), bought at the valley station or on the spot rather than in advance.
The whole valley from the shoulder of the mountain
The whole valley from the shoulder of the mountain

Bergrestaurant First — the seat is what you are paying for

The building at the top station is a proper mountain restaurant, not a kiosk. The sign on the front gives the altitude the way the Swiss do it for visitors: 7,100 feet.

  • Eat inside if the weather has turned. The window tables look straight out at the Eiger, the Schreckhorn and the Wetterhorn, and a bowl of goulash at a table with that view is one of the better hours you will spend in the Bernese Oberland.
  • Eat outside if it has not. The terrace has loungers as well as tables, facing the whole wall of peaks and the glacier. Nobody hurries you off them.
  • It is the last thing open up here. Late in the day the crowds have gone down and the terrace empties, and that is the best time to be on it — the photograph on this page of the wet tables at dusk is what that looks like.

Budget tips

  • Our earlier advice stands and this does not contradict it: a coffee bought here is worth it for the seat, and a full meal is a decision rather than a necessity. We have done both.
  • If you are bringing your own lunch anyway, buy one drink and sit down properly rather than eating standing up outside. The seat is the thing you are actually paying for.
  • Nothing at 2,168 meters is cheap and nothing here pretends otherwise.
The wet terrace at dusk, after the crowds have gone down
The wet terrace at dusk, after the crowds have gone down

Ride a mountain bike down off the mountain

The single best afternoon we have had in the Bernese Oberland, and the one nobody plans for.

Everybody rides the gondola up to First and everybody rides it back down. You do not have to. You can hire a mountain bike in the village, send it up the mountain on the outside of the cabin, and ride the whole way back down to the valley floor yourself.

How it works, in order

  • Hire the bike in Grindelwald village. We used BikeBox, which sits in the middle of the village immediately beside the First cable car station — you walk the bike about thirty seconds from the counter to the lift. Helmets come with it.
  • You will know it by the lit bikebox sign and the blue BIKE RENTAL banner over the entrance, with a rack of bikes on the sidewalk outside. The photographs on this page are the shop itself, on the morning we collected ours.
  • The bike goes up on the outside of the gondola in a rack, and you ride up inside the same cabin watching it swing along beside you over the pasture.
  • Spend the morning at the top anyway. The Cliff Walk, the terrace, the alp — the bike is not going anywhere and the descent is better ridden in the afternoon light.
  • Then ride down. From the top station the track drops past the hay huts and the cattle on the open alp, swings through a long series of bends, into the trees, and comes out in Grindelwald a couple of hours later.

What it is actually like

  • It is a made road the whole way, not a technical trail. Gravel at the top, tarmac lower down. If you can ride a bike you can ride this — it is not mountain biking in the sense that phrase usually means.
  • It is downhill for almost the entire distance, so the effort is in braking and in stopping to look, not in pedalling.
  • It took us most of an afternoon and the distance did not warrant it. We kept stopping — for the cows, for the huts, for the Wetterhorn coming in and out of the cloud, for the sheer fact of being up there on a bike instead of behind glass.
  • It ends in the village, so there is nothing to carry back and no lift to catch.

Who it suits, honestly

  • Anyone comfortable on a bike, of any age, with working brakes and the sense to use them.
  • Not for small children on their own, and not for anyone who does not want a long continuous descent.
  • Weather matters more than fitness. Wet gravel and a two-hour downhill are a bad combination; if it is raining, take the cabin.

What it costs

  • Three separate things, and nobody tells you that in advance: the bike hire, carrying the bike up on the gondola, and your own ticket up. Ask at the shop for the combined figure rather than assuming the lift ticket covers the bike.
  • Judged against the mountain carts and scooters, which are charged per stage, a bike for the day covers far more ground for a comparable outlay.

Of everything on a nine-day trip through four countries — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy — this is the afternoon the family talked about afterwards. If you take one suggestion off this page, take this one. And if you would rather someone else worked out the bikes, the timings and the weather window, that is the job.

The whole group with the bikes, ready to go up
The whole group with the bikes, ready to go up

Evening — Down into the valley

  • Take the last stage down in the low sun. The light comes across the valley from the west and the whole Grindelwald basin goes gold underneath the cabin.
  • Back in the village, the walk from the top station down the main street is ten minutes downhill and takes you past most of the places worth eating in.

Budget tips

  • Check the time of the final descent when you buy your ticket, not when you are standing on the alp. Missing it is an expensive walk.
  • Grindelwald village is where dinner belongs. Anything eaten at 2,168 meters carries the mountain on the bill.
Riding the last of the descent into the village
Riding the last of the descent into the village

Would we plan this exact day for you?

Almost certainly not. The day above assumes you are happy on your feet for most of it, that you have the whole day, that you are comfortable working out Swiss trains and buses as you go, and that nobody with you is managing a pushchair, a bad knee, or a six-year-old at four in the afternoon. Change any one of those and the order changes, the pace changes, and sometimes the valley changes.

Rearranging a day around the people actually traveling is the part we do.

Grindelwald First in photographs

87 images, every one taken on one of our own trips.

The Cliff Walk, bolted to the rock face above the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The Cliff Walk, bolted to the rock face above the valley The walkway running along the cliff — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The walkway running along the cliff Looking back along the Cliff Walk railing — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Looking back along the Cliff Walk railing The viewing platform at the end of the Cliff Walk — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The viewing platform at the end of the Cliff Walk The Swiss flag at the top station, cloud coming in — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The Swiss flag at the top station, cloud coming in The Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, a paraglider off to the right — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, a paraglider off to the right The top station terrace, the peaks straight ahead — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The top station terrace, the peaks straight ahead The whole wall of peaks from the terrace — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The whole wall of peaks from the terrace The glacier at the head of the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The glacier at the head of the valley The Wetterhorn above the alp — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The Wetterhorn above the alp Cows lying out on the alp below the station — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Cows lying out on the alp below the station A timber barn on the slope, forest behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 A timber barn on the slope, forest behind
Show the other 75 photographs
Walking out onto the alp from the top station — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Walking out onto the alp from the top station A stream cutting down through the pasture — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 A stream cutting down through the pasture Gondolas on the wire above the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Gondolas on the wire above the valley The station building perched on the shoulder — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The station building perched on the shoulder A mountain bike on the outside of a gondola — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 A mountain bike on the outside of a gondola The graded track down, riders ahead — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The graded track down, riders ahead The valley from inside the gondola — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The valley from inside the gondola The track winding down the open slope — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The track winding down the open slope Timber barns at Bort, the Eiger behind in cloud — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Timber barns at Bort, the Eiger behind in cloud Riding the descent through the trees — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Riding the descent through the trees Two riders on the switchbacks — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Two riders on the switchbacks Coming down the gravel road — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Coming down the gravel road The track curving away below — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The track curving away below A chalet on the valley side, the Wetterhorn above — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 A chalet on the valley side, the Wetterhorn above Grindelwald spread out below at the end of the ride — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Grindelwald spread out below at the end of the ride Helmets on in the gondola, going up — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Helmets on in the gondola, going up At the top station before setting off — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 At the top station before setting off Riding the last of the descent into the village — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Riding the last of the descent into the village Stopped on the road down — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Stopped on the road down The gravel road running down through the pasture — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The gravel road running down through the pasture Outside the Bergrestaurant, 7,100 feet on the sign — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Outside the Bergrestaurant, 7,100 feet on the sign The terrace furled up as the weather turns — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The terrace furled up as the weather turns The peaks through the restaurant window — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The peaks through the restaurant window Inside at the window table — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Inside at the window table Goulash at a table by the window — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Goulash at a table by the window The wet terrace at dusk, after the crowds have gone down — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The wet terrace at dusk, after the crowds have gone down The bike rental in the village — Grindelwald First, Switzerland The bike rental in the village The rental bikes racked up before the start — Grindelwald First, Switzerland The rental bikes racked up before the start The whole group with the bikes, ready to go up — Grindelwald First, Switzerland The whole group with the bikes, ready to go up Riding up in the gondola — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Riding up in the gondola The signpost at the top, and the bikes — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The signpost at the top, and the bikes The ibex statue at the top station — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · November 2022 The ibex statue at the top station The station building on the ridge below the peaks — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The station building on the ridge below the peaks Cloud sitting on the wall of mountains — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Cloud sitting on the wall of mountains The viewing platform and the Swiss flag at the top — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The viewing platform and the Swiss flag at the top The whole valley from the shoulder of the mountain — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The whole valley from the shoulder of the mountain The Cliff Walk bridge above the drop — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The Cliff Walk bridge above the drop Low cloud over the ridge line — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Low cloud over the ridge line Bachalpsee, the lake up on the alp — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Bachalpsee, the lake up on the alp On the walkway above the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 On the walkway above the valley Autumn on the meadow above the village — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · November 2022 Autumn on the meadow above the village A yellow tree against the peaks — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · November 2022 A yellow tree against the peaks The road out of the village, cloud on the peak — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · November 2022 The road out of the village, cloud on the peak Chalets under the big faces — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · November 2022 Chalets under the big faces A waterfall beside the path — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 A waterfall beside the path On the suspension bridge — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 On the suspension bridge The valley from the ridge — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The valley from the ridge Outside the mountain restaurant at 7,100 feet — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Outside the mountain restaurant at 7,100 feet On the path with the cliffs behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 On the path with the cliffs behind Evening light on the ridge — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Evening light on the ridge On the cliff walk, the Eiger behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 On the cliff walk, the Eiger behind The terrace closed up, the peaks still out — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The terrace closed up, the peaks still out Above the lake, the massif behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Above the lake, the massif behind With the bikes at the lake — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 With the bikes at the lake On the path down — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 On the path down The glacier under cloud — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The glacier under cloud The falls off the cliff above the trees — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 The falls off the cliff above the trees Lunch outside, the peaks behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · August 2023 Lunch outside, the peaks behind A chalet in the meadow — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 A chalet in the meadow The glacier hanging above the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The glacier hanging above the valley The path through the meadow — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The path through the meadow Down the valley from the ridge — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Down the valley from the ridge The pasture below the big peak — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The pasture below the big peak Gondolas with bikes on the back — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Gondolas with bikes on the back Five of us on the cliff walk — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Five of us on the cliff walk The walkway pinned to the cliff — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The walkway pinned to the cliff Out along the cliff walk — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Out along the cliff walk Taking the picture from the walkway — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Taking the picture from the walkway The suspended section, full of people — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The suspended section, full of people In matching soccer jerseys, the peaks behind — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 In matching soccer jerseys, the peaks behind The hut above the valley — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The hut above the valley A barn under the cloud — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 A barn under the cloud Cows on the pasture — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 Cows on the pasture The track past the hut — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The track past the hut The dark barn at the top of the meadow — Grindelwald First, Switzerland · June 2026 The dark barn at the top of the meadow

This is one day. The trip is the harder part.

Notice what the guide above never tells you. It does not name a hotel, or say where to stay at all — it assumes you already have a bed. It gives you no way into Grindelwald First from wherever you woke up, no view on whether it belongs on the second day of your trip or the ninth, and nothing about the week it rains.

Those answers change with your budget, your dates and who is traveling with you. Working them out, and booking them, is the job.

Tell us about your trip

The day above is free and yours to use. What it cannot do is decide where this fits in a two-week trip, which hotel works with your arrival time and your walking pace, what needs reserving months ahead, or what happens on the day it rains. That is the part you would be hiring me for, and planning starts at $750.

Or read the questions we are asked most — what a trip includes, how far ahead to book, deposits and cancellation.