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Overnighting at First, Grindelwald

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It had been a while since I was last in Grindelwald. So long in fact, my eldest son was not even on the radar. Despite my frequent trips to the Lauterbrunnen Valley for photoshoots we just hadn’t managed a trip to Grindelwald for a very long time.

I was not at all surprised by the ease of getting to Grindelwald, or to First. The rail network in Switzerland is truly a work of art! Every time we plan a trip I always wonder how they make the connections work so perfectly. On this trip we planned a big day of hiking prior to heading to our hotel for the night. Because of this we sent our overnight two days earlier through the SBB so it would meet us in Grindelwald. This magical service the SBB provides should be used more frequently! We were stoked to be able to explore more of the region without being lugged down with bags.

On the day of our adventure, we started in Basel and took the train service to Lauterbrunnen and then onto Wengen. From here, we caught the Wengen-Männlichen cable car to Männlichen. We stopped here for lunch and the kids had a blast at the playground. We were hoping the cloud was going to clear for our hike to Kleine Scheidgegg but unfortunately it never did. So we headed down to Grindelwald on the gondolas from Männlichen in time to pick up our bags and head to our overnight accommodation at the First Berggasthaus.

If have never been to First, Grindelwald, this  place HAS to go to the top of your list!

First, Grindelwald is such a great spot! It has a little something for everyone! The Tissot Cliff Walk offers adventure and panoramic views of the mountains and valley. The First Berggasthaus was such an unexpected delight I cannot wait to go back. We booked a family room, which sleeps six adults. It was clean and comfortable with traditional Swiss vibes. The bathrooms were shared with other hotel guests. Before this puts you off this was totally fine!! There were only 13 guests staying at the hotel the evening we were there and the facilities were spotless. The hotel provides a halb-pension. Dinner was a set menu of Salad, Chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon with vegetables and a dessert of Orange semifreddo. It was plentiful and delicious! The staff were so accommodating for our kids too, chicken nuggets and pommes frites for everyone!  The bar service was also in full swing for anyone who would like to imbibe!

After an awesome nights rest, we snuck out of the hotel early and hiked across to Bachalpsee. This hike is around 45 minutes, but it took us much longer as we couldn’t stop taking pictures along the way. We felt incredibly lucky to have the whole trail to ourselves. The gondolas do not start with morning tourist traffic until 0800, so it was just us and the Marmots out there! By the time we were half way back the trail was already starting to fill up and the marmots nowhere to be seen. The trail to Bachalpsee is stroller friendly….however, the first third of the trail is very steep. Most of the elevation difference is in this part of the hike and our Florida based companions certainly felt affects of hiking and altitude.

But wait! There’s more!

After our morning hike, we headed back down to Bort, one of the stops on the First gondola. There are two great places to eat and a very cool playground to enjoy the mountain air at Bort. We opted to get there with our little ones via gondola, but the big kids speed down the trails and had a blast on the First Mountain Karts. After an extended lounge around at Bort, it was time to start our journey back to Basel. However in the distance we spotted the Pfingstegg summer toboggan and couldn’t miss the chance to ride. This turned out to be a huge hit for the kids and adults alike and a welcome stall to our train journey home.

I love sharing our travels around Switzerland with you! I would love to hear your thoughts on these posts! Do you enjoy them and are they helpful to planning your own Swiss excursions? Please comment below and let me know what you think!