Project Solotrip - Part 3: The First Hike
The first real hike of the trip.
This series is about my solo trip to Switzerland in May 2026; the first two parts are already live on my Substack. You can read the first and the second part here:
The next morning I woke up really early, even earlier than I had planned. I could take a train prior to the 6:54, and I hurried to the Thun station. The sky was still dark-ish. With the mountains in the background, it was a perfect morning to go hiking. The first one.
I boarded the 6:24 train. Because the transfer in Interlaken Ost is so short, I had to think of a strategy to be able to make the train to Lauterbrunnen. We always have to run for this train because the 1st class of the Intercity train to Interlaken is at the front of the train and the stairs are at the center/rear end of the platform.
I figured that if I knew the direction of the train, I could predict where the stairs to the other platforms would be. So I walked up to the rear end of the train from the front end (where I sat in 1st class), and I could exit the train right before the stairs.
It actually worked out, and I made the train to Lauterbrunnen and even had a couple of minutes to spare to look out the window. It was a moody but beautiful morning - I was still waiting for other passengers to board the train, but my car remained empty and only for me.
Perfection. A private train cart to the mountains.
One of the things I like about these trains in the Bernese Oberland region is that the windows can be opened. When they’re open, I can take a lot better photos of the journey to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.
The one above is just after leaving the Interlaken West train station. It’s such a cool route. Especially if the sun isn’t up completely, just look at those snowy mountains in the picture below.
Do you like the mountains?
In the summer, it’s really easy to travel from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren. You take the cable car up to Grütschalp, and from there it’s just a train to Mürren itself. But that one doesn’t run outside the summer season. I’m not sure when it starts running, but when I got there it wasn’t running, so I had to figure out an alternative.
The SBB app - the Swiss national railway application - advised me to use a local bus that would take me to a cable car station called Stechelberg. I had never heard of it, but I guessed it worked.
Normally I find taking buses in unknown countries pretty scary because you don’t always know where they’re going and what the workflow is with buying and scanning tickets. The day prior, I found out about a public transportation app that I could use to buy the bus tickets. It was around 16 CHF up to Mürren, I believe.
The bus ride was amazing. I loved the views, and it was so quiet in Lauterbrunnen before 8 a.m.
So when the bus arrived at the Stechelberg parking, we (there were other hikers too) had to wait for 15 minutes or so to take the gondola to Mürren. That specific ascent would take around 10-20 minutes. Usually it’s a lot faster than is predicted in the travel apps.
Once I arrived, I felt so happy. Finally back in the mountains. Take a look at the first pictures I took when I left the gondola:
And after taking the initial photos, I started my hike.
I didn’t really plan a specific route, but I knew I wanted to go via Gimmelwald - this cute town in the middle of the mountains. So I used that as a ‘via’ destination in my Google Maps.
The first thing that I noticed on this moody morning was that there aren’t as many people around the town as there are in summer. So that’s a good thing if you want peaceful hikes. Not as many locals as well. But still, a couple trying to move their way using these mini trucks. It’s advised to notice them and stand on the side of the road so they can pass because the paths are very small and there’s only 1 road for everyone.
I crossed this cute tennis court right before I left the town of Mürren - it looked so photogenic, so I took a photo of it. Digitally and analogue.
Poll
Can you spot which one is digital and which one is analogue?
But then it really was time to leave Mürren. I couldn’t remember what route we took last time, but I’m sure I had to take another route this time.
I couldn’t help but take pictures every 5 seconds, but GOD, the views of the mountains are so pretty there.
Like a big rock but with snow.
The problem with traveling alone is that there is usually no one around to take photos of you.
Not that this happens much when I travel with other people either.
And when they do take photos of me, I’m usually not happy with them.
The curse of having a photographer’s brain, I guess.
Luckily, the mountain helped me out being my tripod.
And as you can see I’m wearing long trousers and a hiker’s jacket because it was really cold up the mountain. It was around 3-4 degrees celcius (that will change towards the end of this article).
Slowly, I made my way into Gimmelwald.
It is a small mountain village above Lauterbrunnen, the kind of place that almost feels too beautiful to be real. I had seen it on TikTok before, of course. Those quiet little clips of wooden houses, green hills, cowbells, and mountains in the background.
But being there was different.
Especially in that season.
It was so peaceful. Almost strangely peaceful. There were no crowds, no groups of tourists, no people stopping every few meters to take the same photo. For most of the time, it felt like I had walked into a village that had been paused for a while.
I saw cows in the fields. A few other mountain animals moving around. I heard cowbells, water somewhere nearby, and the wind passing through the valley.
But people?
Almost none.
Every now and then, a car would slowly drive down the road. Then the silence returned again.
That is what made Gimmelwald feel special to me. Not only the view, although the view is incredible. But the quietness around it.
It felt like one of those rare places where you do not need to do much.
You just walk around, look at the mountains, listen to the bells, and feel your mind become a little less busy.
When you stand there on one of those small mountain roads, you really start to feel how small you are.
Not in a bad way.
Just very clearly.
You look down into the valley, then up at the mountains above you, and everything feels huge. The houses, the roads, even the village itself suddenly feel tiny compared to the landscape around it.
I had that a lot in Gimmelwald.
You walk through this quiet little place, hear the cowbells somewhere in the distance, and then you look up and there is just this massive wall of mountain above you.
It makes your own thoughts feel a bit smaller too.
Less important, just for a second.
And that is one of the reasons I like being in the mountains so much.
I saw more cutie cows on the way down.
After saying goodbye to Gimmelwald, I slowly walked into a more wooded area.
The path changed quite quickly.
One moment I was still surrounded by open views, wooden houses, cows, and mountains. The next, I was walking between trees, with the sound of the village slowly disappearing behind me.
It also started to get warmer.
So I got rid of the jacket.
After the forest, I slowly ended up back down in the valley.
Back on the ground.
Back on asphalt.
And from there, it was still quite a long walk to Lauterbrunnen.
By that point, the walk had changed again. The mountain paths were behind me, the forest was behind me, and now I was just following the road back through the valley. It was less dramatic, maybe, but still beautiful in that very Swiss way where even a normal road has mountains around it.
Near the end of the road, close to the Staubbach Falls, I came across a small coffee stand.
I think the man is probably there on most beautiful days.
I noticed he used locally roasted coffee beans and local milk from cows in the area. So at that point, I basically had to buy a cappuccino from him.
He asked me, “How strong?”
“As strong as possible,” I said, laughing.
Then he asked if I wanted the larger one for one franc extra.
That sounded like a very good idea.
There was something nice about it too. Not just the coffee itself, but the idea of supporting a local barista standing there in the valley, making coffee with local beans and local milk, right under the mountains.
I handed him a 10 franc note and got some change back.
Then I continued walking, drinking the cappuccino as I slowly made my way back toward Lauterbrunnen station.
And honestly, it tasted amazing.
By the time I reached Lauterbrunnen station again, it felt like I had already been through a full day.
And it was still only 1 o’clock.
That is what I like about starting early in the mountains. You can take a train before the world is properly awake, walk through quiet villages, descend through forests, drink coffee under a waterfall, and still have hours left.
Lauterbrunnen was busier now.
More people had arrived. More cameras. More movement. More of that normal daytime energy.
It made the quietness of Gimmelwald feel even more special.
I was tired, but in a good way. My legs had done enough, my camera had done even more, and my mind felt calmer than it had when I left Thun that morning.
So I finished my cappuccino, walked to the platform, and waited for the train.
The first hike of the trip was done.
And now it was time for the next destination.
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