I just didn’t get enough of Switzerland for New Year’s I guess because I was so excited to get back there. I should note this whole trip was purely inspired by Instagram posts I’ve had saved for several months and I just had to go see the places myself. No part of the views disappointed! Would do this whole trip all over again next summer and see more things, it was really wonderful.
Lauterbrunnen // Valle Verzasca // Lichtenstein
Lauterbrunnen
I was completely exhausted after four hours of driving 240+ miles. I drove past Lucerne lake which was the most vibrant blue water I’ve ever seen due to the clear skies as I made my way down to Interlaken and walked around the water’s edge there for a while because it was so nice outside and I knew the rain was coming.
As the weather started to change I drove the next 10 miles into the valley in the pouring rain. I drove all the way down the single valley road until the rain finally let up and the views completely changed once the rain was gone; it was SO spectacular.
Thankful for very easy parking right across the street from the hotel. Super easy checking in with a very nice lady who spoke great English and had lots of good info about things to do in the valley. She told me I could use a week there to see it all, not just one day, she wasn’t wrong! I quickly got into my cute little room, dropped my stuff, changed, packed my hiking bag, and headed out to see everything I could. Went to Staubbach Fall and went on a trail with built in stairs behind the water. I went on a hike around the countryside and enjoyed the views and suffered through the humidity.
Finally made my way back to the hotel at 7 to shower and had dinner outside on the hotel patio. Really great food and tried a new beer that actually wasn’t terrible. Friendly restaurant cat wandered around and got lots of attention, reminded me of Sam Hooper’s cat, Shadow. Figured I should go out for another walk because I still had at least an hour of daylight left; luckily I did change out of jeans and sandals and put on a new pair of hiking pants and my hiking shoes. However as I headed out for what was supposed to be a 30 minute walk to a viewpoint, the rain started and then was really heavy by the time I got to the point so the view wasn’t clear and by the time I got back to the hotel my pants and socks were completely soaked. Turns out my new pants are not waterproof at all. Good to know. Finally got some rest while I planned the next day’s adventures.
Travel info: I stayed at the Oberland Hotel in the center of Lauterbrunnen. It was perfect, my room was the perfect size for just me with a comfortable bed and clean facilities. Breakfast and that free parking spot was included in my price of $77 and I would definitely stay here again and highly recommend it, plus because it was super nice to come back after my day, shower, and walk right downstairs for dinner. Also, I had a view of Staubbach Fall right outside my window!
Day two started well, had breakfast at the hotel, packed up my stuff and headed out. Planning for this day was hard because the weather wasn’t going to be great. I was back-and-forth several times if I wanted to go to the cave-like waterfall, or if I wanted to go up to Mürren because the sites are supposed to be fantastic and there’s a four mile hiking loop that’s recommended; so I decided to go up to Mürren for the good hike. I bought a ticket for the cable car and made my way to the lift entrance. There were four Americans on the first ride who were all going to do some hike together; small world. I got off at the first stop, turns out that’s wrong because this is just where you have to change cars to go up to Mürren. So of course, unorganized me got off at this tiny village where there’s only one hundred residents. I didn’t know this wasn’t the right place until five minutes after the gondola took off so I had 30 minutes to kill; I found some pretty horses and cute houses before I got back to the lift and made it up to Mürren. It was super foggy, really I don’t even think I could call it fog, just clouds. So I followed the hiking route anyway because I paid over $20 to come up here; but I got about a mile in and I was just over it. My mood turned south since the weather was so crappy, there was nobody around, I felt like the only human in this small abandoned village which was creepy, and for views purposes there was nothing since I couldn’t see past 200m. I turned around to catch the next ride back down.
Originally I wanted to spend all day here again and planned to drive late to the next place but at this point I’m really not enjoying anything because I can’t see anything and it was 20° warmer where I was headed south toward Italy so I took off earlier. I did stop to see the Trümmelbach Falls which was really incredible actually. I loved it more than I thought I would and would really recommend it. The water is loud rushing through the cave-like atmosphere and it’s so cold! But it was really awesome for as simple as it was.
Travel info: The gondola lift ticket from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren cost me $23.75 and the Trümmelbach Falls entry was 11 CHF ($11.70).
Valle Verzasca
I made it to Ascona where I planned to stay for the next two nights in order to hike Valle Verzasca. It was definitely hotter here which was great, except that I really should have packed some sundresses instead of just shorts and shirts. The hotel was not at all what I was expecting; the room was a single room next two three others and we all shared a bathroom. This area was tucked away in a corner of the hotel like an airbnb or hostel situation. Not a bad thing, I’m used to it, but weird when I’m checking into a hotel front desk. I was told there was parking in the garage under the hotel, great! Or so I thought. Months later I regret that I didn’t set up my go pro to record me trying to get into this tiny parking space. It was not fun and I’m really lucky I’m not worried about the bumpers getting a few scratches because I never thought I’d make it out of here. Whats even worse is the next day I pulled into the garage to find out there wasn’t a spot so I had to back out of the steep incline and make a 90 degree angle back into the busy road. After going through that nightmare I ended up parking four blocks down the street and paying $11 for overnight parking. Never again. Luckily, the rest of the trip made up for all that stress. Overall, my Jeep is not made for the tiny streets in this area, even though it’s Switzerland, it has more Italian influence than I ever imagined before, especially since there surprisingly a lot of Americans in Lauterbrunnen.
The first night in Ascona I was eager to get out and enjoy the warm weather. I made my way down to the lake which was a short walk from my hotel. The water was beautiful, the ‘boardwalk’ was lively and the weather was wonderful. I walked up and down the strip a couple times, taking it all in. I finally settled at a place where I had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table, but it paid off. I got a table alone right on the edge of the water and enjoyed my view for evening with good food and a $10 mojito.
Travel info: It was about 120 miles from Lauterbrunnen to my hotel, Hotel Polo, in Ascona on the edge of Lake Maggorie which goes through Switzerland and Italy. It was very warm all night long and the room didn’t have AC.
The next day was going to packed with hiking and sites. I took off early to get all the way to Valle Verzasca. Luckily since I got there early it wasn’t too packed yet and I got a parking spot. I remember this being especially annoying because I only had a few CHF left for the parking meter so I didn’t get much time here. I stopped to walk across the bridge that made me come all the way here. I saw this posted by Danny Tanner (I mean Bob Saget) on Instagram so I knew it was worth stopping at, I had no clue how popular it was, especially on a really hot day.
I took advantage of the time I had and took off on a trail to hike around. It all turned out to me so much more beautiful that I imagined. The giant rocks and the way the water flowed through them so smooth, not to mention how CRAZY clear and cold the water was .. it was truly phenomenal. I got some really great GoPro videos of me climbing around on the rocks.
The earth is such a great playground and a little danger produces really awesome views.
After this quick pit stop I went further down the road. The road here was so awesome, for me atleast. I love tight curving, switchback roads, especially since I took the top of Amos and the sun felt great. I heard of a waterfall all the way up the valley so I went there first before working my way back down the valley throughout the day. The waterfall was outside the town (village) of Sonogno, roughly a mile walk from the town. Here I struggled with paying for the parking meter again so I went to an information building and asked to exchange euros for francs but the wonderful girl showed me their day parking pass for 10Euro which worked anywhere along the valley. Hallelujah. I walked the road out to the waterfall, but I had no idea how great the waterfall until I was fully under it. You could see it for quite a while and no doubt was large, but sitting at the bottom of the pool and feeling the cold mist was truly awesome. The water was COLD so I found a seat in the rocks and enjoyed a snack while I watched a guy from Germany jump in and swim to the falls. I totally would have if someone else would have been with me and I’d had a big towel to dry off. It’s something I would totally go back to and make the effort to swim across it.
I took a different path on the way back to my Jeep and drove down the valley a little more to a cool bridge I wanted to walk across. I repeated this rhythm for a while to get out and do a loop and drive further south again. I eventually stopped for lunch somewhere and ended up at this tiny mom and pop place on the side of the road. They didn’t speak english, I used google translate on their handwritten menu, ordered a beer and a salad. It was interesting and was actually glad to get out of there because ordering can be so intimidating and embarrassing when others are around. At the next stop I decided I should actually relax somewhere instead of the constant going. I did a couple miles and wandered down to the river edge and found my own little spot to hangout. The sun was really warm, the rocks had dammed up a small, still pool for me to enjoy alone.
Of course the relaxing thing only lasted a little over an hour before I couldn’t sit still anymore and I needed to get on to the next place. I drove back to where I had started at the bridge and quickly found out this was the most popular hangout spot on these summer days. It was packed with people, and I got to watch a few people prove why the bridge is named “Ponte dei salti” (jump bridge). Again, something I totally would have gotten in line to do if I had someone to watch and take a video for me.
The day was winding down and I was getting hangry so I made my way back to Ascona to shower and get dinner. This night I was hypnotized by a sign that said ‘American’ and I stumbled into Papa Joe’s American Restaurant. I was not impressed.. I got a glass of wine and a plate of less than average fajitas for a price I won’t say out loud, granted Switzerland is expensive, this was robbery.
Travel info: Get the day parking pass for the one price so you can park anywhere along the river anxiety free all day long. Do not go to Papa Joe’s restaurant, get something small and local outside on the lake. Get to the bridge early and bring your towel to layout and swim when you want to. Bring a camera, this place is phenomenal. Small tip, wear your swimsuit on warm days under a hiking shirt and shorts so when you want to get in the water it’s easy and then you’ll dry off fast in the sun before taking off again.
The last day I took my time getting up, drove over to Locarno just a few miles away but with a different view of the lake. I stopped at a cafe for breakfast. I’ll never get used to seating myself at these places but as I sifted through the menu I couldn’t find anything in english, so I asked for one, they didn’t have one, which only bothered me because they were playing Tom Petty on the restaurant speakers. So I got a cappuccino and a croissant and enjoyed the weather again. Before taking off the for the long drive home I realize one route would take me right along the west side of Lichtenstein, a tiny country between Switzerland and Austria. I decided to take that route, took the top off my jeep again and headed north.
The drive north was about 300 miles that day, with wonderful clear views, perfect sun on my skin with the roof off, and my favorite windy roads.
Lichtenstein
I knew Lichtenstein wasn’t going to be much, but it doesn’t hurt to cross off another country on the way home. It was crazy going into though because I literally took an exit off the autobahn, when right, crossed a river, and suddenly was in another country like it was no big deal. Its like driving down 71 highway, exiting at Passaic, and driving to my house, which is a different country. I stopped at the capital city, Vaduz, saw a castle, walked around the town, got a souvenir and left. It was wayyy too hot to be walking around in the sun with nowhere to really go. I did stop in at their stamp museum which surprisingly was open on Sunday, but mostly just to use a free restroom and cool down a bit. I figured I’d get something to eat there but I got (typical) poor service at the first place I stopped so after only consuming one small drink over an hour time I took off back home. I did however find a sunflower field along the way and had to stop to cut one and take a few photos.
Other fun facts: On the gondola up to Murren I snapped a photo of this James Bond poster. This gondola goes all the way up to Schilthorn where he filmed “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” On the dam of Valle Verzasca there is a bungee jump spot which was in a James Bond movie and The Amazing Race. They really love James Bond around here.
My favorite trip to date. The whole thing would be family friendly too, could definitely fit in more things but all I wanted to do was see Lauterbrunnen and Valle Verzasca bridge, the rest just happened because I’m adventurous and walk around aimlessly, a lot! Could spend a lot more time in Interlaken, another few days hiking all around the upper villages from Lauterbrunnen (especially on a clear day, even on on the winter if you take the gondola), more time around Lake Maggorie, or anywhere else in Switzerland because it’s so magically beautiful.
So, Live; Through Travel 