Things to do in Grindelwald: sledges, trains and the north face
More than most ski resorts, because here the mountains are the outing. Plenty is free, from winter walks off the valley floor to an evening trail lit by nineteen thousand lights. For anyone not skiing, sledging comes first and the Jungfraujoch is the big day, while Kleine Scheidegg puts you under the Eiger north face without the glacier ticket.
Grindelwald is a ski resort where the mountains are the day out, not just the view. The Eiger north face stands straight over the village and the railways climb into it, so somebody who does not ski is never stuck at the bottom of the valley. Mixed groups do well here: half can ski, half can ride a train to the ice, and everybody meets for cake.
Start with what is free, because there is plenty. The walking trails that leave the valley floor cost nothing, and the Liechtliweg is a short evening walk under nineteen thousand lights. In January the Lauberhorn races are free to watch from the village in Wengen. Before anybody books, check every birthday in the party against the dates: on the day itself, the cable car up the Schilthorn is free.
For somebody not skiing, sledging comes first, and the Big Pintenfritz from the Faulhorn is a whole day on its own. The Jungfraujoch is the big outing: give it the day, and wear proper shoes, since ski boots will not do in the Ice Palace. For the Eiger rather than the summit, Kleine Scheidegg and the Eigergletscher are the same first leg with no glacier ticket on top. If the weather shuts the top, the Sportzentrum on Dorfstrasse has a pool, a sauna, an indoor rink and a boulder room.
Evenings are gentle, and that suits the people who come. The one to plan around is the night sledge at Bussalp: the bus up after dark, a cheese fondue in the mountain restaurant, then the unlit run back down. Last winter it took registrations on the day itself, so sign up in the morning. Anybody who has never slid on anything starts best at the Bussalp snowpark, on a sledge or a Velogemel, the wooden snow bike a Grindelwald woodcarver invented to get the post through deep snow.
Free, and worth knowing
Eight things that cost nothing, from walks that start on the valley floor to the Lauberhorn in Wengen, and a birthday that takes you up the Schilthorn.
The World Snow Festival
The forty second edition, free of charge, and the theme this time is animal worlds. Teams from Italy, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the USA, Argentina and Latvia carve giant snow sculptures on the Barplatz and the Eiger+Nordwandplatz in the middle of the village, with two further teams working up on Mannlichen.
The finished works can be seen from Friday 22 January from midday, and from the 22nd to the 24th they are lit in colour in the evenings. Depending on the weather they often stand into February, so a guest arriving late in January may still catch them. Spectators vote alongside the judges. It started in 1983 with a giant Heidi carved by a Japanese team.
Barplatz and Eiger+Nordwandplatz, middle of Grindelwald
Lauberhorn week in Wengen
The oldest and longest downhill on the World Cup circuit, run in the next valley on the same lift pass, and standing in the village to watch it costs nothing. Downhill training runs Tuesday to Thursday at half past twelve, the Super G is on Friday 15 January at half past twelve, the downhill itself on Saturday 16 January at half past twelve, and the slalom on Sunday 17 January with runs at ten and at one.
The Patrouille Suisse fly at twenty past eleven on the Thursday, the Friday and the Saturday, which is worth being outside for whether or not you care about the racing. The World Cup village in Wengen runs from three in the afternoon on race days with food, drink and outdoor bars, the bib draws are at quarter past six and the ski parties follow.
Wengen, by train from Lauterbrunnen or over Kleine Scheidegg from Grindelwald
The free bus, and what else the guest card carries
Every overnight guest gets the Grindelwald Guest Card from their accommodation, and it carries the local bus and the ski bus free of charge. On top of that it gives free use of the Grindelwald cross country trail and free borrowing of everything in the Graben library against a refundable deposit, which is the best wet afternoon answer in the village for a family with readers in it.
Children ski free one day a week
Up to three children aged six to fifteen get a free day pass on a Saturday when an accompanying adult buys a one day or afternoon ticket at the list price. It is confirmed for 26/27, and for a family of five it is worth building the shape of the week around, because Saturday is normally the day everybody writes off to travelling.
Over a hundred kilometres of winter hiking trails
Prepared trails run across all three ski areas and the ones that start on the valley floor cost nothing at all. The ones worth the lift ticket are named and timed. First to Waldspitz to Bort is about three hours, dropping from 2,275 m to 1,530 m, with a detour to the Bachalpsee worth taking. Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg is about two and three quarter hours with the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau in front of you the whole way.
The Faulhorn from First is the long one at about four hours and 2,678 m. The Royal Walk on Mannlichen is about forty minutes to the crown shaped summit platform. Two snowshoe routes are marked as well, Holenstein to Brandegg facing the Eiger north face at about two and a quarter hours, and Murren to Allmiboden at about two.
The Liechtliweg, lit by nineteen thousand lights
About two kilometres of winter walking trail lit by more than nineteen thousand LED lights, which turns an ordinary evening walk into the thing everybody photographs. It costs nothing and it needs no lift, which puts it in a very small group in this valley.
Grindelwald
A free ride to the Schilthorn on your birthday
On the day itself, the return trip by cable car from Stechelberg or from Murren up to the Schilthorn is free. That is a hundred and fifteen franc ticket handed over for nothing, which makes it worth checking the passports of everybody in the party against the dates of the holiday before anybody books anything.
Stechelberg or Murren cable car stations
Wengen and Murren, the two car free villages
Both villages sit on shelves above the Lauterbrunnen valley and neither has cars in it, which means walking them is the activity rather than the way of getting to one. The valley below them has seventy two waterfalls coming off its walls, so the train ride in is half the outing.
Lauterbrunnen, then train or cable car
On the mountain
The Jungfraujoch for the big day, Kleine Scheidegg for the north face without the summit, then sledging, from a first go on a Velogemel to a night run after fondue.
The Jungfraujoch
The railway climbs through the Eiger and the Monch to a station at 3,454 m, and from the terminal at the bottom of Grindelwald it takes forty five minutes: fifteen in the Eiger Express tricable gondola up to the Eigergletscher, then twenty six minutes on the Jungfrau Railway itself, including a five minute stop at around 3,160 m so everybody can photograph the ice.
Over CHF 50 · Grindelwald Terminal, by the Eiger Express · Their page
Kleine Scheidegg and the Eigergletscher
The cheap way to stand at the foot of the Eiger north face. Seventy five francs twenty returns a pedestrian from Grindelwald to the Eigergletscher or to Kleine Scheidegg, with a restaurant and a bistro at the Eigergletscher and no glacier ticket in it at all. It is the same first leg as the Jungfraujoch trip at roughly a third of the price, which makes it the right answer for anybody who wants the mountain rather than the summit.
Over CHF 50 · Grindelwald Terminal or Grindelwald Grund
Over fifty kilometres of toboggan runs
Sledging is the strongest thing here for somebody not skiing, and one pass covers all of it. The famous one is the Big Pintenfritz, 10.7 km from the Faulhorn down to Bussalp and on to Weidli, dropping from 2,552 m to 1,153 m, and it begins with about two and a half hours of walking up from Bussalp or First to the summit at 2,680 m. Allow three and a half hours for the whole thing and treat it as the day rather than part of one.
CHF 20 to 50 · Grindelwald Bahnhof for the Bussalp bus, the Mannlichen and First lifts for the rest · Their page
Bussalp night sledging with fondue
The bus leaves Grindelwald Bahnhof at ten to seven and reaches Bussalp at twenty five past, there is a cheese fondue in the mountain restaurant, and then you take the unlit run back down in the dark. Seventy francs covers the ride up, the sledge and the fondue together. The driver tells you where to be picked up at the bottom of the run, and the buses down from Bussalp leave at half past nine and are back at Grindelwald Bahnhof just after ten.
Over CHF 50 · Grindelwald Bahnhof · Their page
Fun Snowpark Bussalp and the Velogemel
A prepared area at Bussalp for practising on a sledge, a toboggan, a snow tube or a Velogemel, which is the local wooden snow bike. A Grindelwald woodcarver and sawyer invented it about a hundred years ago for delivering the post and doing the shopping in deep snow, and it is now both a sport and a collector's piece. It is the gentlest introduction to sliding in the valley for anybody who has never done any of it.
Price on request · Bussalp · Their page
In the village
The wet weather answer, in the middle of the village: a pool, a sauna, skating indoors, a boulder room and a curling hall for a group.
Sportzentrum Grindelwald
The best wet weather building in the valley, on Dorfstrasse in the middle of Grindelwald, and the guest card halves almost all of it. A swimming pool, the Sauna Oasis, an indoor ice rink, a boulder room and a gym, with skates, helmets, hockey sticks, climbing shoes, swimwear and towels all on hire at the desk. Arm bands for small children are handed over free.
Under CHF 20 · Dorfstrasse 110, Grindelwald · Their page
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.