Mürren, a perfect chocolate box village located at 1638m, and above the famous Lauterbrunnen Valley of waterfalls in the Berner Oberland region. Mürren is a small and car free village, surrounded by beautiful nature, and with majestic views on the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger mountains.
The nature of the Lauterbrunnen Valley has been the inspiration for the landscape in the movies Lord of the Rings, with its green fields, high cliffs, and waterfalls.
Things to do in Mürren and the Lauterbrunnen Valley
Allmendhubel, a playground with a view and hikes
Allmendhubel is Mürren’s local mountain and is easily reached from the small town center by a funicular which takes you to the top in only 4 minutes. It offers a beautiful view on the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger.
At the arrival at Allmendhubel, kids will be happy to see a beautiful playground with a view, and there is a mountain restaurant on site. A short Flower trail is an educational short hike you can take with kids, while plenty of signs will explain them all about the flowers they see.
North Face Trail, from Allmendhubel to Mürren
We decided to take the North Face Trail back down to Mürren. A beautiful hike which will take you about 2h30. The trail offers the best panoramas, and signs with explanations about the mountains you are facing are found along the way. There are a few mountain huts on the trail, so you could stop for refreshments. The trail going down to Mürren first takes you through alpine meadows, then you will have a short climb, and the trail continues through a forest a bit, and then the road to Mürren. Really highly recommended hike, as the views really are amazing!
Schilthorn Piz Gloria from Mürren
My name is Bond… James Bond… Yes! Schilthorn Piz Gloria was a famous James Bond film location from the movie ‘Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. The cable car that goes up to Schilthorn leaves directly from Mürren. It is a steep, and long cable car that first takes you to the intermediate station Birg. At Birg, you can try the thrill walk along the cliff, yikes!
Then up to Schilthorn, another cable car. On top of Schilthorn there is a James Bond exhibition, a helicopter flight simulator, and a turning restaurant. Make sure you reserve your spot by the window in advance, and try out their famous 007 hamburgers.
If you stay in Mürren, take advantage to go up early so you avoid the crowds that come up to Schilthorn from further away.
Other activities in Mürren
Mürren has a Sports Center with an indoor swimming pool. There even is an outdoor jacuzzi with a view, but that is accessible as of 12 years old only. There also is a cool pump track in Mürren in summer, so if you go to Mürren with kids, you may want to bring their scooter bikes.
Where to eat in Mürren
Café Liv is a cute small coffee place on the main street in Mürren with a terrace, trampoline and big chess play for kids. It serves biological and vegan products, banana bread and home made ice-tea.
Hotel Alpenblick: Not everyone will stumble upon Hotel Alpenblick as it is in the opposite direction when you arrive at the train station in Mürren, just 15 meters back, right besides the train line. Someone gave us the tip to eat here and we were not disappointed! We had the roasted chicken and the spicy curry sausage, very good. The staff was also very friendly. Good address for dinner in Mürren!
Where to stay in Mürren
We rented a perfect apartment in the center of Mürren and loved staying here. The evenings in Mürren are quiet since the day visitors will have gone. The apartment has a view on the Jungfrau and had plenty of space. To see this recommendation, you can click on the image.
Excursions from Mürren
Wengen
Wengen is in easy reach when on a holiday in Mürren. You just go down to Lauterbrunnen, and a scenic train ride takes you to Wengen in less than 15 minutes. The mountain top Männlichen with its beautiful playground with a view is a must-do for families. An easy Panorama Hike or a ready-to-go Cheese fondue backpack for a fondue in the outdoors is highly recommended as well. For all the information on this trip, check out our article on Wengen here: https://letsexplore.ch/2020/07/28/wengen-mannlichen-a-playground-with-a-view-and-a-panorama-hike/
Grindelwald, cliff walk and Bachalpsee hike
Beautiful scenery and mountain fun! Grindelwald is another fun day trip from Mürren!
Grindelwald has something for everyone! Whether you are looking to hike to a beautiful mountain lake, or you are interesting in thrilling cliff walks or mountain adventures such as big tyroliennes, karting or scooter bike trips down the mountain! Check out our article on Grindelwald to see all there is to do on the beautiful First mountain: https://letsexplore.ch/2020/07/31/grindelwald-first-the-tissot-cliff-walk-and-the-bachalpsee-hike/
Jungfrau Top of Europe
One of Switzerland’s highlights is the train ride to the Jungfrau Top of Europe. The Jungfrau train is the highest altitude train in Europe and takes you in 35 minutes from the Kleine Scheidegg station to the top of the Jungfrau. This train is best to reserve online in advance as it can get busy. From Lauterbrunnen you can take the train to Kleine Scheidegg directly. This train ride is definitely already beautiful and gently takes you up the mountain. At Kleine Scheidegg you will then change trains to get on the Jungfraubahn. The Jungfrau train has a first stop at an ice lake, where you can get off the train to see the glacier for a few minutes before the train continues. When you arrive on top, you can get up to the sphynx to take in all the views. The Aletsch Glacier can be very well seen from here. You can also walk in the eternal snow, have lunch, or just buy a sandwich. Recommended time on top: for us 2 hours of time was enough.
At Kleine Scheidegg you can either have a drink at the historical Hotel Bellevue, or go a bit further to one of the mountain restaurants.
Lauterbrunnen and the Valley of 72 waterfalls
Beautiful Lauterbrunnen! Lauterbrunnen is most known for its waterfall the Staubbachfall, which makes an impressive drop right off the cliff and which can be seen in almost the whole village. You can walk towards the waterfall, and even go partly up on a rather steep path.
The main street of Lauterbrunnen can sometimes be a bit busy as Lauterbrunnen always attracts many visitors. The best lunch we had in Lauterbrunnen was at the restaurant of Camping Jungfrau. They serve local food, and you still have a view on the waterfall.
Trummelbachfälle
We loved visiting the Trummelbachfälle, 10 impressive waterfalls, partly underground, with water running down at 20.000L per second! When you visit Trummelbachfälle, you will first go up inside of the mountain with an elevator, and then you walk down, partly inside and partly outside. We had never seen anything like this site and were very impressed! Do not miss these waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen!
Swimming pool in Lauterbrunnen
If you visit Lauterbrunnen in summer, make sure you bring your bathing clothes as Lauterbrunnen has a small, but nice public swimming pool with probably one of the best views in the world!
Where to stay in Lauterbrunnen
Hotels in Lauterbrunnen can be a bit expensive. In case you would however like to stay in the town itself we saw this hotel which looked good, centrally located, and less expensive.
How to get from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren
There are 2 cable cars in Lauterbrunnen going up to Mürren. The first one leaves right from the train station and is well indicated. This cable car takes you up in only 4 minutes and after that a short scenic train ride takes you to Mürren.
The second cable car is the Stechelbergbahn, which is a more spectacular cable car as it goes up along the impressive cliff and waterfalls. It takes you to Gimmelwald first, and then you get on a second cable car to Mürren. The Stechelbergbahn arrives in Mürren exactly where you take the cable car to Schilthorn Piz Gloria.
Getting there by car
Mürren is a car-free town, and if you plan on going there by car, you will have to park your car in Lauterbrunnen. Best is to park your car at the parking lot at the train station, but as this region is very popular, you may want to reserve your parking spot in advance! If you don’t reserve, you may end up waiting in line for a while. More information on reserving a parking space: https://www.jungfrau.ch/shop/en/parkticket/. A second parking option would be at the Stechelbergbahn.
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Is it possible to bring bikes on the trains to the town?
To Mürren? On the train yes, but not sure about the cable car, allthough you can bring big luggages etc